If you have perused my blog, you’ll notice that I mostly read, analyze, and review young adult literature. This post reflects on young adult literature and how it enriches my life. Reading young adult fiction provides me with empathy, education, and entertainment. It’s everything I love in reading with fewer chances of being triggered. If you haven’t picked up young adult books in a while, this post is for you! Fans of young adult literature, I hope this post helps you feel seen and supported.
Table of Contents
First Perk is Taking On Challenging Topics With Fewer Triggers
My biggest obstacle when it comes to selecting adult reads is triggers. If a book doesn’t have sexual scenes, it is rife with violence. If it is not violent, it is more likely to have triggering language. I have not had much success in finding many adult stories that did not negatively affect my mental health.
People sometimes conflate the age of a book’s readers with their intellect. Young adult literature often tells meaningful stories with powerful impact. For example, The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness exposes the nature of manipulation in humans. Ness does not shy away from shocking his audience. Todd, a thirteen-year-old, kills several characters alone throughout the first two books. He makes difficult (and unbearable) choices. I still get shivers from the question, “Todd?”
The spackle scenes provide insight into the corruptibility of humans. Natives of the New World, the Spackle are mistreated (to say it lightly). No one attempts to communicate with them let alone treat them as people worthy of dignity and respect. In some ways, the Spackle is a reminder of how corrupt humans can be. We can find so many groups of people who unfortunately are treated like the spackle.
Young adult books may not be as graphic as adult ones, but they explore challenging topics effectively. They can help you become curious about other minority groups in your communities. They spark that process of learning to listen, question your privileges, and seek ways to gain equality for those mistreated in your community. Furthermore, young adult literature gives you room to be more empathetic. You find yourself sympathizing with space aliens, which makes you think about those alienated from your society.
Positive Reading Perk for Young Adult Books: A Focus on Self-Discovery
Many adults see their identity as a solid and well-defined concept. But, young adult literature is rich with stories of people changing their lives. This is one of my favorite aspects of young adult books. They frequently inspire readers to delve into self-discovery, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem.
For example, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevado chronicles Xiomara’s development as a young woman who writes poetry. Acevado traces Xiomara’s body positivity, her choice to be comfortable in her body, voice, and all. Her strength echoes as she finds her identity in contrast with her mother’s.
Although the book is in the teens section of a bookstore, it resonates with me as an Arab American blogger and freelance writer. I am not from the same background as Xiomara, and I am much older, but I can relate to how hard it is to find your voice as an immigrant. Identity is challenging, even as a thirty-something-year-old. It’s hard to find myself in all the cultural noise. We don’t stop growing as adults, so why stop reading books to process that?
Another example is Heidi Heilig’s The Shadow Players. The books follow a shadow puppeteer with magical powers. Jetta is frustrated with her bipolar disorder. More than anything, I connected with the series as someone who hasn’t read any good representation of having this disorder.
Heilig highlights the anger at needing medicine, the confusion of your reality as the symptoms blur, and the lack of empathy others have toward you. So much of this was stuff I could not articulate. In many ways, young adult books have served as an exercise in extending empathy toward myself.
Third Reading Advantage: Young Adult Literature’s Healthy Approach to Friendship Complexities
For some reason, people assume that young adult books do not apply to adults. But, I think that’s completely not true. For example, friendships in young adult literature tend to ring true for me, particularly as someone with a history of unhealthy relationships.
In Not My Problem, Ciara Smyth features a main character who only has one friend. As the book progresses, however, Aideen tries vastly different friendships. At first, the basis of her friendship is stilted. She promises to commit favors for people to cash in for a favor in return at a later time. It’s beautiful to see these relationships develop, even if Aideen is awkward and uncomfortable.
Watching these relationships unfold on the page gives me a more realistic view of friendships. For starters, none of the relationships are quickly formed. No, Smyth takes her time. She gives Aideen space to process the unhealthy aspects of her home life and friendship. It all feeds into a more realistic examination of friendship. If there’s one thing I know as an adult, it’s that friendships take time. Unlike young adults, adults are juggling even more. There’s so much room for misunderstandings.
It doesn’t even matter if a story is a fantasy. Books are inherently an exchange of ideas; you are bound to learn something new if you pay close attention. For example, A Blade So Black is an Alice in Wonderland retelling but it taught me about friendship. Alice has a best friend who is not the Chosen One. But she offers sweet ways to help her friend out.
She is terrified of the dangerous monsters yet she elects to assist anyway. Isn’t that the perfect allegory for relationships? You are scared of getting hurt emotionally and you pursue the relationship. You have to face the monsters but you do it anyway because the payoff is worth it. That person is worth the fear.
Reading YA To Develop Political Awareness
But aside from that, I was able to find my identity through reading young adult books about other cultures. For example, The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon explored the idea of developing an identity as the children of immigrants while also battling racial prejudices. In the book, Natasha Kingston’s family is being deported after their children spend their childhood in the US. Her story highlights the pressures of illegal immigration on families. It’s a powerful and impactful story. While immigration is at the center of the story, there is also Yoon’s exploration of identity as a political struggle as well. Daniel’s older brother erases his ties to his familial culture to assimilate into American culture.
There was something so relieving (and heartbreaking) in finding how difficult it is to assimilate. To what extent can a person assimilate without wiping away elements of their culture for acceptance? Some people assume that reading young adult literature means you are dealing with low-stake fiction. But that’s not true at all.
Conclusion
If you enjoyed this post, please share your favorite young adult books. I am eager to hear which books you recommend. If you are interested in reading more of my work, I recommend this article about Dark and Deepest Red by Anna Marie McLemore. Also, I write over at Hubpages with several articles dedicated to mental health and productivity.
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