Young Adult literature: Where does it stand?

My bookshelves are filled with stories that defined my childhood. I grew up browsing library shelves during the summer and hiding books under my desk at school. 

Recently, I began to revisit the young adult literature I was raised on, and I wondered where the genre stands today in the age of BookTok. 

There are many influential books and authors who shaped the young adult, or YA, genre. I decided to focus on a few authors and their works that have become timeless classics, and unfortunately, have been banned and challenged in many spaces. 

Young adult literature as a genre didn’t really have a space for itself until around the 1960s. According to CNN, the Young Adult Library Services Association came up with the term “young adult” for books aimed at the 12-18-year-old audience. 

A novel credited largely with popularizing the genre was S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders,” published in 1967. Written when Hinton was a teenager, the novel’s mature and dark portrayal of teen issues and social class struggles is told through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old. 

Hinton would go on to say that since she didn’t see books portraying a teenage experience like hers, she wrote one. I vividly remember reading this book in middle school, and it quickly became one of my favorites. 

While other books at the time did feature teen protagonists, like “A Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger, the reception of “The Outsiders” amongst young readers showed there was a market for books written with teenagers in mind. 

With this new space in literature, more books were written portraying teenage life. In 1974, another influential YA book hit the shelves. The controversial “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier introduced readers to power struggles and that not every story has a happy ending. 

Judy Blume raised a generation of young girls with her books like “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” normalizing puberty and menstruation. 

YA books are about teens caught between two worlds: being an adult or being a kid. They aim to capture the transformation and growth of teenagers as they age. 

As the variety of books widened, more sub-genres emerged. Without the foundation of books before them, there wouldn’t be any ground for YA powerhouse series like “Harry Potter” and “The Hunger Games” to stand on. 

The early 2000s saw the publication of some of those powerhouse series. The first Percy Jackson book, “The Lightning Thief,” was released in 2005, as well as “Twilight.” Aside from fantasy and adventure, important realistic fiction novels such as “Speak” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” were put into readers’ hands in the late 1990s. 

The YA genre progressively grew into the twenty-first century, with books becoming more nuanced as they reflected the emotions of society. Dystopian books dominated the 2010s, like “The Hunger Games,” “Divergent” and “The Maze Runner.” 

As the dystopian craze died down due to an oversaturated market, more contemporary titles began to take their place at the forefront of YA. 2017’s “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas explored police brutality and racism, inspired by the Black Lives Matter Movement. 

Fantastical fantasy series, some of which would later go on to be BookTok famous, were also published. The first ACOTAR book was released in 2015, believe it or not. 

Around 2020, when BookTok came onto the scene, it gave new life to the YA genre. At first, I’ll admit I was a little skeptical of all the BookTok books. Some people would say they were terrible and commercial, while others would rave about them. But when I started reading some of them, I enjoyed them.

Having a huge online space for books has created an amazing community of readers. You can find videos dissecting characters and storylines from new and old books. In fact, 2025 alone saw #BookTok generate 370 billion views. 

I don’t think the YA genre has changed due to the new wave of popular trends today. The genre is defined by adaptation, constantly reflecting the world and the readers it represents. YA has grown so much from where it started, and it will continue to change in the years to come.

• books
• booktok
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• The Hunger Games
• The Outsiders
• young adult