THE NO-SHAME YA MANIFESTOMy name is Saundra Mitchell. I'm an adult, I have a sixteen year-old son and an eight year-old daughter- and I love YA fiction. I love it unashamedly, in spite of the people who peer at my book covers and ask why I don't read "real" books.
I guess by real, they mean books for adults. About mortgages and divorces and infertility or travelling the world to get your mojo back after you've lost it, or fantasy novels that are 2000 pages long instead of 300, or horror novels that actually bleed when you open them. I know there's amazing fiction written for the adult market, but with very few exceptions, I don't enjoy it.
In YA, all the motions are bigger, everything is the first time, and life and death- worlds drawn in stark, startling colors, with thousands of shades of nuance in between. YA tells stories that can't be told in adult fiction- I call it the Romeo and Juliet Rule:
If Romeo and Juliet weren't 14, they wouldn't be tragic, they'd be pathetic.
There's a certain expectation that by the time you're in your thirties, that you've been in love a couple of times, had your heart broken a couple of times, been through a couple of jobs, lost a couple of family members- in other words, you've settled into the reality of life. You know breaking up with someone isn't the end of the world. You know there will be another job. You know that you're expected to cope and get by until things get better.
Which is exactly what adult fiction is about- adults, dealing with the world around them. And I do that every day. I have my own bills and my own worries and my own life to steer between crises.
So when I read, I want to read about the end of the world. Literally, figuratively- that's what excites me. I want to read about people who are poised on that edge, and could fall either way, and honestly, entirely believe in love, and magic, and hauntings, and demons, and everything in between. I want to read books that still ask the questions, instead of assuming the answers are known.
And that's why I'm here. My name is Saundra Mitchell, and I love YA fiction. And I'm so glad to be welcomed here by the Mundie Moms. All amazing women who steer their families in the real world, and still sink into the fantasy of extraordinary YA worlds without shame.
Solidarity!
SHADOWED SUMMER
by Saundra Mitchell
In paperback June 8, 2010
www.shadowedsummer.com
Thank you Saundra for visiting with us today!!! To purchase Shadowed Summer, please see the links below:
Indiebound URL:
http://www.indiebound.org/
Book Depository URL:
http://www.bookdepository.com/
Powell's URL:
http://www.powells.com/cgi-
Amazon URL:
http://www.amazon.com/
Posts
Fantastic post. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSteven
Love the post, I feel exactly the same way! =D
ReplyDeleteLove love love this post. Excellent way to put it. That Romeo & Juliet thing is so true!
ReplyDeleteWell said! I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteExactly!!!!!!!!!! This is why we love you! We are on the same page and think the same way. Not to mention you're amazing and a wonderful friend. Thank you for being on our blog today!!! I agree with everything you said. That's the reason I read YA too.
ReplyDeleteOh, Saundra!!! How I adore you. Yes, you said it so well for the rest of us. That IS why we read YA. Spare me the divorces, the financial ruins and the trips around the world to get my groove back. I have it all between the covers of my YA book. :]
ReplyDelete"If Romeo and Juliet weren't 14, they wouldn't be tragic, they'd be pathetic."
ReplyDeleteJust had to post and say, Saundra, this is GOLD! Love it!
I LOVE the Romeo and Juliet rule!!
ReplyDeleteSaundra's book is one of my favorites and I am looking forward to THE VESPERTINE!