SF Signal: POLL RESULTS: Young Adult SF

POLL RESULTS: Young Adult SF

Here are the results of the latest SF Signal poll.

QUESTION
Have you ever avoiding buying and/or reading a sf/f book because it was labeled "young adult"?

RESULTS
27% (4 votes) - Yes
73% (11 votes) - No

(Total votes: 15)

The majority of voters are not put off by a "young adult" label on the genre fiction. That's good news because there is some good stuff out there for genre lovers of all ages. I do wonder, though, how many of the "yes" votes are only because of Harry Potter.

For the folks who voted "No", I'm curious as to the reason. It used to be that young adult science fiction (a.k.a. "juvenile" sf - those stories that deal with a young person's coming of age) dealt only with "light" issues. No so anymore. Recent YA fiction deals with decidedly more mature topics these days. Know, too, that there is a blurry line between YA and "regular" sf/f - it seems at times to be whatever the publisher's think will sell the most books. At any rate, you'd be missing out on some really good stories including Philip Pulmans His Dark Materials trilogy, David Gerrold's Dingilliad series, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books and of course many fine books by Robert A. Heinlein.

Add to that Varley's Red Thunder as a YA SF title with decidedly mature themes in it. For a really good YA Fantasy title, read Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. But then again, there are some dark/sinister elements in it and some musings on life in general, all done with Pratchett's humorous style. Recommended. Look for a review soon.

Posted by JP on Monday December 06, 2004 at 8:47 AM