Heather Finley

          Over the last year I have read a lot more young adult books than I have in the past.  I came up with a concept for a book and the more I got into mapping out how I wanted it to go, the more I realized that it would be a YA book.  The problem was, I had not read that genre for quite some time, with the exception of the occasional book that a movie was based on.  For example, I did in fact read all the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books after the movie as well as the Twilight saga before those came out.  Yes, call me crazy but I like to read books that movies come from.

          Anyways, I realized that if I was going to write a certain genre, I should get familar with it.  I started with the Harry Potter books (although I guess those are more youth than YA)  and over the last year read quite a few teen books.   Most of them were very good. It opened my eyes a lot to the fact that just because it is written for young readers does not mean that it isn’t extremely good writing.  John Green for example quickly became one of my favorite authors. 

          While reading these books I tried to come up with my own version of what made a YA book YA.  Originally I would have said content but I realized that really isn’t it.  It really almost seems that as long as your characters are young, nothing else really matters.

          This stood out to me the most while reading The Immortals series by Alyson Noel.  Let me preface this by saying I do love her books and think she is a great writer.  I am in no way putting her down.  With that said, the series seems to have a lot to do with sex so far.  Especially in the latest book, Shadowland.  Ever is made she can’t consumate her relationship with Damen.  Later she starts to think in her past lives that she might have been sleeping with someone else.  It is a lot of sex for a teen book I would think.  Is that what it takes to be a popular teen book?  Gossip Girl certainly had a lot in it.

          I guess it is another sign of how much things have changed since I was young.  I know it wasn’t all that long ago but I do not remember reading a single book with a much sex in it.  Even the shows I watched didn’t have much in them.  I remember Sabrina the Teenage Witch being my favorite and seeing it in reruns lately confirms that it was all sweet, innocent entertainment. 

            Call me old fashion, but I think in my writing I’m going to stick to sex only in the non young adult ones.  If it does get in my books, I see it more in a realistic fashion.  The way John Green involved it in Looking For Alaska was very real and age appropriate. It was completely awkward like I feel that it should be for kids  that age. 

          Any thoughts on teen books and sex from anyone else?  Do you think it fits or not?  Do you think it reflects a change in society?