Joined
·
1,125 Posts
My first YA, which was a romance, was published a little over 20 years ago, back when YA romances ruled the YA bestseller lists (and I was just learning to crawl
). I remember many librarians complaining about the genre, saying teens should be reading more "serious" books. (Just for the record, one of my first books--that did get published--was initially turned down by several YA romance publishers for being "too serious" or "too negative," which surprised me. Though I knew it didn't totally following the "requirements" down to the last detail, it was, to me, a very upbeat story.)
Anyway, when the YA romance trend started to slide, YA horror was then the new bestselling genre--and librarians were all ga-ga over how, even though it was genre, it got kids to read! I thought, how interesting, stories about relationships are somehow not good enough, even though they also got kids to read, but stories about blood and guts are just fine!
Mysteries seem to be the most "acceptable" genre for any age. Whenever a famous person, be he or she a politician, movie star, religious leader, whatever, is asked about what books he/she reads, there is often a list including a lot of literary titles, but then the comment about "the guilty pleasure of reading a good mystery." (As if anyone wants to read a bad mystery!) So, the mystery genre seems to be the least picked on and the most acceptable.
Sorry for the long lead-in, but I felt a little background was in order.
What do you think is the most "picked on" genre, and what is the most "acceptable," especially for kids/teens, but any age, too.
Anyway, when the YA romance trend started to slide, YA horror was then the new bestselling genre--and librarians were all ga-ga over how, even though it was genre, it got kids to read! I thought, how interesting, stories about relationships are somehow not good enough, even though they also got kids to read, but stories about blood and guts are just fine!
Mysteries seem to be the most "acceptable" genre for any age. Whenever a famous person, be he or she a politician, movie star, religious leader, whatever, is asked about what books he/she reads, there is often a list including a lot of literary titles, but then the comment about "the guilty pleasure of reading a good mystery." (As if anyone wants to read a bad mystery!) So, the mystery genre seems to be the least picked on and the most acceptable.
Sorry for the long lead-in, but I felt a little background was in order.
What do you think is the most "picked on" genre, and what is the most "acceptable," especially for kids/teens, but any age, too.