The Future of YA

Amelia from Imagination in Focus wrote a post about her wishes for the YA genre in the years to come. The post not only pointed out interesting points -- most that I agree with -- but it also made me think about my own wishes for the YA genre. Read her post, comment, and maybe write your own as well. As for me, here are the things I would like to see, and perhaps not see, in the near future.

• More Contemporary Fiction about sensitive issues

Everytime I read these kinds of books, I tend to think about the readers that are going through the same exact things as the characters in these stories, and I imagine that it helps them a lot simply by reminding them that they're not alone. I just think that's a very important and significant thing to have. Some examples of these books, Willow by Julia Hoban, Speak and Wintergirls both by Laurie Halse Anderson, Scars by Cheryl Rainfield, among many others.

• Twisted fairy tale re-tellings

I just can't resist it when a fairy tale becomes twisted and creepy -- ala The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It is so unique, and it gives a fresh new feel to a classic story.

• More realistic love stories

For some reason, there aren't much "romance" in the YA genre. I think a lot of people can relate to this, especially teens and YA readers. I mean, sometimes, it's just nice to read a good old love story every once in a while.

• 20-50s era

I'm talking about the roaring 20s, poodle skirts, diners, The Great Depression even.. there are so many things I can think of that surrounds this time. Like Amelia said on her post, there are a lot of Victorian novels out there, particularly in the 18th century, but there aren't a lot of books centered around the 20s-50s. I think it'd be quite interesting to see how young adults lived back then.

• Less vampires, werewolves, and faeries, please!

To be honest, I am getting a bit sick of the whole Paranormal genre trend going on. By this I mean, vampires/werewolves/faeries, etc. I feel like bookstores and libraries should have their own section for these paranormal creatures already due to so many books all about these! I enjoy a good paranormal novel or two, but I wish they'd venture out a little bit more. There are a whole lot of other interesting creatures that could be used, I think.