You are what you read

YA literature is a little like pornography: it's hard to define, but you know it when you see it. Most YA lit is written about or from the perspective of a teenager, but just because a book is written from an adolescent's perspective doesn't mean it's YA lit. YA lit often deals with serious issues: drinking, cutting, abuse, sex, drug use. But plenty of non-young adult novels focus on the same topics. Stephen Roxburgh argues that YA literature tends to focus on transformation, and I agree with this assessment. However, as Roxburgh acknowledges, plenty of other novels explore issues of growth, change, and transformation These are essential tools of plot and character development.

I think the question of what constitutes YA lit has become even more difficult to answer in recent years, as the young adult novel has matured. It's no longer possible to identify a novel as "YA" just because it focuses on "teen problems." As the distinction between what constitutes a "teen plot" and an "adult plot" blurs, categorizing a novel as YA becomes more about identifying a certain tone or narrative voice. This distinction too, has been fading in recent years, as the boundaries between YA lit that's well written and YA that's enjoyable to read have eroded.

If the key to identifying YA lit can't be found in the characters, the plot, or even the tone of the novel, then what's left is the text's purpose. In other words, perhaps YA novels are YA novels because they were written to *be* YA novels. As Aronson notes, however, just because a novel is written for teens doesn't mean it contains a message - or that the message it contains is a positive one.

In spite of Aronson's observation that the mere act of reading does not guarantee strong character development, I am of the opinion that young people do benefit from reading. The positive impact of reading is not derived from any message(s) contained in any particular book(s). Rather, the benefit accrues from the accumulated exposure to new ideas. Even reading a book with which one disagrees has the effect of challenging the reader to think more deeply and engage intellectually.

On the moralist continuum, I fall squarely at the "read anything and everything" end of the spectrum. I think reading is one of the safest ways to explore the world and push your own boundaries. Kids are already thinking about sex, drugs, violence, and a host of other serious, "edgy" topics. Reading about such things is far healthier and less risky than experimenting with them in real life.

My attitude toward literature makes me a big fan of self-selected reading. Giving students choices about what they read reinforces their agency as readers, and by extension, thinkers and meaning-makers. My priority, as a teacher, is for students to read critically, independently, and frequently. Tying these goals to one specific book - or group of books - does not make sense to me, and I suspect it does not make sense to many students, either. While I certainly plan to offer guidance and steer students toward books of substance,

I hope I will be able to avoid rigid adherence to a particular canon of literature. I don't think the question is whether a book is young adult literature; I think the question is whether young adults are reading anything at all. If they are, then those books are - by definition - young adult literature.