Oh, she's an ar-teest and a Writer, not some wanna-be, huh?

Yeah. I ripped her three kinds of a new one after that comment. Just flat-out called her arrogant and clueless of what the genre had to offer.

Then, she tried to challenge me by asking why it was that YA needed its own category to be judged in most contests and I came back that it was because of closed-minded idiots such as herself, who are preconditioned to categorize and attempt to judge like against like, rather than actually doing the intellectual thing, which would be to judge each book on its own merits.

And she STILL didn't give up, asking if I really thought that a YA novel could compete on the same playing field as an adult novel.

To which I responded, "Well, given that my YA novel won in an adult category of a prestigious competition against acclaimed writers and NY Times Bestsellers, I'd have to say that yeah, I think they can."

::blinks innocently::

Also, Gud, does your Righteous Leader have to be likeable to the audience or just to the girl in question? If he's going to turn out to be an idiot later anyway, does the audience's viewpoint have to be in accord with hers?

And she STILL didn't give up, asking if I really thought that a YA novel could compete on the same playing field as an adult novel.

Has she never heard of Jacob I Have Loved or The Chocolate War or The Outsiders ?

I mean, just to name a few.

I think there's plenty of good adult lit out there, and I read a lot of it. But I love YA, too, because of the stories the authors tell.

I was going to say I love YA too but I think it's really that I don't disriminate on the basis of genre. If a book catches my eye I don't check to see what section I'm in before I pick it up and start reading.

And she STILL didn't give up, asking if I really thought that a YA novel could compete on the same playing field as an adult novel.

Good is good. I like Harry Potter a lot better than a lot of adult section fantasy and that's in the Juvenile section of the library.

I like Harry Potter a lot better than a lot of adult section fantasy and that's in the Juvenile section of the library.

Plus it's easier to elbow the kids out of the way when the last copy in the library gets put back out on the shelves.

Has she never heard of Jacob I Have Loved or The Chocolate War or The Outsiders?

Not if they came after she ceased being a "young adult."

I had to smack her over the head with the explanation that "young adult" as it's used right now, is primarily a market construct. I mean, when The Outsiders came out forty years ago, there was no such genre as young adult. It was either a children's book or it was shelved with general fiction.

I mean, I'm trying to think of when I first became aware of "young adult" as its own genre-- maybe some of our librarians can weigh in on this one-- I somehow have a sneaking suspicion that the libraries were on the forefront of separating out books designed specifically for the teen market.

I'm 35, and when I was 12-ish, there was a YA section in my local library. For what that's worth.

I don't remember a YA section in our library when I was that age -- under 12, I mean -- but I'm 42, so. And it was a smallish library. But I DO remember some books being in a teen section of the bookstores then.