What’s YA?

YA stands for Young Adult, but its readers run the gamut from 10-90. They are rarely over 80,000 words and their main characters are usually teens or adults in their early 20s. The teen protagonist asks the question, “Who am I?” As they seek that quest, they often learn, “Who will I become?”

YA books can be contemporary fiction dealing with very real problems. For example, in my YA novel, Goodbye Tchaikovsky, the teen protagonist, David Rothman, wakes up one morning deaf. Here is a successful violinist thrust into a new world turning his life upside down. “Who am I now? What will become of me?”

Many YA books I’ve read and also written are fantasy. In The Legend of Koolura an 11 year-old girl is being hounded by a homeless man intent on withdrawing her psychic powers given to her at birth by an alien device. Koolura must stop the stalker while adjusting to a new school. In Koolura and the Mystery at Camp Saddleback, Koolura is attending a sleep-away camp in the Santa Ynez Mountains. After a restless night sleep, she wakes up powerless. Koolura’s job is to uncover why her powers are missing and stop a certain group of boys from ruining her camp group’s summer.

There are many YA books that are science fiction. In The Abduction of Joshua Bloom, Joshua, a high school track star, is saved from being eaten by a runaway lion by aliens from a far-off star system looking for a new home. They take Joshua to Oceania with them to see if their people can coexist with Earthlings. Joshua is away from home for three years, but thirty years pass on Earth. Upon his return, he is confronted with a planet on the verge of world war or world unification.

Many YA books have been turned into movies. The most famous YA movies in the last few decades have been the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rollings and The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. In all YA books and movies the protagonist usually struggles with teen issues in current time. In adult fiction, the protagonist will look back over his or her life and infuse their adult perspective on their childhood. A perfect example of that would be To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

YA books can be historical novels, horror, or mystery. It really doesn’t matter as long as the story includes teen protagonists learning about the world around them.

As the weeks and months pass, this blog will feature YA novels, their authors, and their stories. Please make sure you leave a message to help let me know what I’m doing right and what I can do to improve the blog.