On the other hand, all these slogans can be a limited lens for reading YA. It can make you understand that you are here and alive and that the world is a bright and shimmering place that you have every right to belong to. We all know that a great book can make you see yourself for the first time. Reading does change young people’s lives. They are all correct but also equally problematic. I’m borrowing the slogans of a few youth literacy organisations here. YA fiction, particularly when it’s in the literary or realist vein, is undeniably good at this. YA is valued for its ability to speak to, to dissect, to make present, to make clear, to smash over your head the issues that really matter in young people’s lives. Let me explain: more than any other genre YA books are likely to be judged on their relevance and relatability. I don’t want to talk about this book like that. I want to write an essay about Helena Fox’s remarkable Young Adult novel How It Feels To Float but I find myself distracted by the way that both reviewers and Young Adult literature advocates commonly talk about YA.
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