What Makes A Book YA, Adult, MG, and NA

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[matthewsawczyn]

Gandalf is 2, 000 years old, so I consider all his parts "Super Adult"

[EEVictory]

I feel like Harry Potter started as middle grade then changed into young adult. Not just because Harry’s age changes but rather the content changed.

[katrinaslayton]

I can't believe that parents were actually writing the author angry because their kids read a book that was not appropriate for them. Be a parent and do the research and take responsibility for yourself! Or read it.... just sayin

[toshomni]

Growing up I never thought about labels like YA or Adult. I just read books that seemed interesting.

[Hadrian]

"Teenagers read adult books back in the 70's and survived."
Yes, this.

[Aranneas]

there's actually a proven trend that books written by women & feminine folk tend to get categorized as YA much more often regardless of the content of the book. several authors have spoken out about this, but it hasn't changed much yet

[Eric-efqm]

As a children's librarian, I would add one more category of chapter books. "Lower Grade" or "Easy Chapter" books appeal to 6-9 year old children who are just starting chapter books. These books tend to be very simple adventure, mystery, or humor books. Magic Tree House, Captain Underpants, Geronimo Stilton, and Junie B. Jones are some examples of this age category. Most books are less than a hundred pages still have some pictures or have a semi-comic book approach. At this age, kids can be reluctant to start a new series. Luckily, the books are episodic and tend to have dozens of books in the series. Sadly, because of this older readers rarely read this unless to co-read with their own kids. Due the episodic nature of the books, character development and coming of age elements tend to be minimized leaving little appeal for older audiences.

[ammeliahdeguzman]

For a second there I thought you were wearing a backpack.

[JuliaGranina]

Read Stephen King at 10. Still sane. Mostly.

[Sanchara]

I remember reading adult novels at middle-grade age, and far from the content damaging me I feel that some of it helped me be prepared for the reality of the world. I write for adults but at the back of my head there's always this nagging "what about the gifted kid who's reading this at ten? What am I teaching her?" I don't let it hold me back but it does make me mindful to avoid writing things just for spectacle.

[blackblade]

Adult is just p everything that isn't aimed at a specific demographic. Makes sense for adult to be so broad since we spend the majority of our lives as adults.

[booksandteawithanna-marie]

I’d LOVE to see a list of your favorites for each genre!! 😁

[Eldyra]

People overthink all those categories so much nowadays, especially overprotective parents. . My first adult book was "Needful Things" by Stephen King and I read it when I was 9. Throughout my teens I mainly read adult books. I was trusted to stop in case it ever became too much for me and I'm not traumatized 🤣

[martamorrison]

I was one of those people who didn’t have any YA. Being a teacher I started reading ya and I loved it. I never had enough time to read a dense adult book because I was so busy. Now that I am retired I enjoy all levels.

[RandomPerson]

I read Stephen King as a teen and I survived, haha. My first King novel was 'Salem's Lot, which I would still highly recommend.

[manaalsidd]

This confusion of age of the protagonist vis a vis the category of the book is most common with Harry Potter. Parents constantly sue or complain about the later books of Harry Potter “not being suitable for their children to read” It’s just that the plot had to get darker as the story progressed. I mean it was predictable from the very first book.

[amybuchler]

Even MG books can be be enjoyed by adults and teenagers. There are alot of great books that got categorized as MG books but are great books for all ages. Check out alot of the Newberry Honor and Medal Winners. Examples of wonderful books that have mature topics that could be read in MG school assignments that are great reads regardless of age are "Island of the Blue Dolphins", "The Cay", "Hatchet", and "The True Confession of Charlotte Doyle".

[sethhale]

This was a great video and it was really well done, but I really don't like these age distinctions in general. I feel like it's caused a lot of issues, especially in YA (which isn't me saying anything negative about YA, just that it's made for some problems). I love the way Neil Gaiman related an adjacent topic to the similar distinction in comics. Some of them just say for mature readers. That's it. And as he said, he's met mature readers that are 15 or 16 and immature readers that are 38.

[banjotiki]

Yeah, the age classification isn't that important, I'm 13 and I have read "adult" books and my mom has read "YA" and we both like the experience. (Sorry for bad English, I'm still learning)

[amonicareads]

I'm glad you enjoy making these videos, because I LOVE watching them!