Dispatch From PLA 2010: Young Adult/Adult Crossover Panel

Editors Note: The 13th Annual Public Library Association Conference is taking place this week at the Portland Convention Center, and this is the second (read the first here) in a series of dispatches from Reading Local contributor Teresa Bergen on her experiences at PLA 2010.

“I was one of those reluctant boy readers,” said author Brandon Sanderson. He loved to read in second and third grade, but sometime around fourth grade he lost interest. He felt adrift. People recommended books to him, trying to hook him back to reading. Nothing worked until his eighth grade teacher assigned him Dragonsbane for a book report. “It was not a book by all definitions that a teen reader should latch onto,” Sanderson said. He described Barbara Hambly’s novel as about a middle-aged woman choosing between spending time with her family or on her career. Apparently the dragons don’t even show up until late in the book.

Reading a book for adults made all the difference for Sanderson. He disliked the books that were given to him that teens were supposed to love. “I felt talked down to,” he said. This is a common feeling for teens in many areas of their lives. The YA/Adult Crossover Panel advised librarians how to help teens find books that would interest and challenge them. It also discussed books written for teens that appeal to many adults. Two librarians and two authors gave their suggestions.

Diana Herald, editor of the 6th edition of Genreflecting and co-author of Readers Advisory Handbook, showed book covers on four overhead projectors in the giant ballroom. “There’s a misconception that YA books are easier to write,” she said. “But they’re not.” She said adults like to read YA books if the literary quality is excellent, or if there’s a big buzz about them. YA vampires have crossed over to adult readers. Two books that sounded especially interesting were Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, a futuristic story where people fly around on genetically engineered whales; and Going Bovine by Libba Bray, wherein a very sick kid goes on a road trip with a dwarf. Several panelists raved about the literary quality of this latter book.

Kaite Mediatore Stover, head of reader services at the Kansas City Public Library and the other co-editor of Readers Advisory Handbook, recommended adult books for teens. She said that while teens embrace believable characters, they don’t necessarily have to be likable. “Flawed characters often appeal to teens,” she said, adding that teens are in an intense period of their lives where they are often discovering their own flaws. They like books that challenge their intellect, she said, but they better not be boring. “No one likes a sloggy book, especially teen readers,” she said. Teens are more aware of what’s going on around them than adults often realize. Stover likes to suggest books that are rough around the edges. “The grit is what makes these books real for teens,” she said.

Sanderson, author of Gathering Storm (the conclusion of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series), Warbreaker and Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians, said fantasy is a big crossover genre. He has done book readings where hundreds of people show up, aged twelve to ninety.

Author Kim Harrison writes both YA and adults. She is known for her adult urban fantasy series, and also her YA series, which stars an undead heroine. She said the voices are very different between adult and YA. “It’s hard to keep up with everything they know,” she said. “I know I’m never going to learn to text, but my characters need to know how.” But she thinks there are a lot of similarities between adults and teens, too. “We’re all trying to find our place,” she said. “We’re all looking back and thinking, ‘I should have.’”

Sanderson said one of the best things about writing for young readers is that they accept his combination of serious subjects and humor. “Children allow you to bend genre more than adults will,” he said.

Image credits Dave Brendon and Kim Harrison.