Edit 2: someone in the comments pointed out a great point. It’s not that there aren’t great YA books for these kids, it’s that they don’t have access to them. And because I’m trying to help them and I hear them complain a lot about it, I saw it the wrong way. If you know good YA books for 13-16 year olds that are relatable to them, please let me know!
I am speaking on this as a teacher and as someone who knows a lot of teenagers.
When I was a teenager not too long ago (2011-2016), there was a lot of literature for teens. It ranged from romance, to mystery, to horror, to non-fiction,and pretty much any genre you could imagine.
There are still books from that time I go back and reread just because they were so amazing.
Now, there seems to be so few age appropriate books for teens. A lot of teens (girls especially from what they talk to me about), enjoy romance books. The problem is, their parents/guardians don’t want them reading the romance books that are popular and shown all over the Internet.
While there are some good age appropriate romance books or even any genre of books for teens, it seems to be an area highly lacking.
If you go to the library (at least the one near me and near my work) they have the kid secrion, a young adult section, and an adult section.
The young adult section is rated for 17-24. The kids section is rated 0-12. The adult section is for 25+. And while people are free to get whatever book they want within reason, they seem to not have good places or books for 13-16 year olds.
So they either read books for younger kids, which for that age range is seen as the end of the world, or they read books not always appropriate for their age.
A lot of students have complained and so have other teens I know that they love reading, but can’t because they feel they have nothing to read.
I would love to see authors publish more books targeted at teens that are high quality and engaging.
Edit to add: I’ve seen a lot of people commenting about this. The area I teach in and where I know the majority of the teens is a very low income area. The teens rely almost entirely on the local libraries. Those libraries (I’ve visited them), don’t have a lot of books for the 13-16 year olds. And the YA area turned almost entirely for older teens and younger 20s. They don’t have access to these AMAZING YA books I’m reading people mentioning in the comments. That’s the problem I have.
by zebra-eds-warrior