Baby I Read Down: Adults Get More Into YA Books

When you're climbing or walking somewhere high, they all tell you not to look down.  You can tell someone's lying if they look down. Troublemakers get sent down to the principal's office. Some people might suggest never marrying down. See the common trend here? But what about when it comes to reading? Do it down.

There's a major trend happening. Reading down. Reading below your "age" level. I'm hooked on young adult fiction that is most likely geared toward teenagers anywhere from five to ten years my junior. I'm an adult, it's time to move on, right? Of the near thirty books I have purchased in the last month (we can get into my addiction at a later time), about 90% of them are YA. Divergent, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Matched, The Alchemyst, and Gone, to name a few, including their sequels, round out some of the best recent reads I have encountered. But what is it that hooks me as a reader?


Young adult books are getting darker. Sure, most of them have some sort of romance. Either it's blossoming young love between two unsuspecting people, lovers who can never be together in their society and who unite to stand up for their world and union, or a classic paranormal love triangle. But there is murder. There is scheming. There is blood. Young adult books are getting more and more "grown-up" nowadays. The characters feel more adult. Heroines must make decisions about fighting for what's right, deciding who to love, leaving their homes and families, breaking the rules. They fall in love. They face death and fear. These are all ideals that we "adults" face on a less grand scale and who among us can't relate to the rough waters of adolescence. We identify with the characters in some way--much like the demographic the writers and publishers market these books toward.

But I think the construction of the book has something else to do with it. "Adult" books when we were teens were the classics. Now, they might be the erotic fantasy novels marketed to adult women. (I'll have to ask my students what they think are "adult" books). Young adult books are fast-paced. They hook you immediately. From page one, you are in the middle of what's happening. Within the first few pages, the plot, dilemma, characters, and essential information are laid out for you. Readers go from there, joining the characters along for the ride. Sometimes those "classics" we read in high school could take eons to get interesting (and a vast majority of students I know, never even make it that far... or the book never got interesting coughFaulknercough). These books hit you fast and hard with solid, relatable story lines that take off--if they're good. Nothing beats a story that sweeps you off your feet fast enough and gets you intrigued. It's the best part about reading.

So the next time you're out searching for a book and can't find anything that catches your eye, think outside your "age level" and hit the young adult section. I'm sticking by my young adult books because there's no such thing as being too old for a book. Being old is a just matter of perspective.

What do you think? Any favorite books that are "too young for you?"