A recent Seattle Post-Intelligencer article called this the "golden age of young adult literature." Teens are buying 25% more books today than in 1999.
However, it's only recently that a significant segment of these young adult books has targeted the older end of the age group--readers ages 16 through 19. The appeal of these new books is not controversial content, but simply protaganists and situations that are relatable to teens facing adulthood.
In 2005, Mary E. Pearson wrote a moving and literary book, A Room on Lorelei Street. It features 17-year old Zoe, who tires of caring for her alcoholic mother and gets a job so that she can have her own apartment. The story of Zoe brings to mind the heyday of the Oprah book years, with a strong female character rising above her dysfunctional upbringing.
This year brings us National Book Award nominee Deb Caletti's The Nature of Jade. Jade is also 17 and a senior in high school, and while she suffers from an anxiety disorder, this isn't a "disease of the week" book, the anxiety is simply one part of her life and world. Jade's parents seem superficially happy, but there's a quite a bit of discontent under the surface. When she meets Sebastian, after seeing him on the webcam based at the local zoo, she finds true love but also a bigger mess than she bargained for.
Again, romance, dysfunction, and a healthy dose of subplots allow older teens to read books much like those their parents are reading, but about characters their own age. Kudos to Simon & Schuster, which put Deb Caletti's picture on the back cover of The Nature of Jade , so that the book even looks like an "adult" book.
