1. Every YA book features sparkly vampires and cuddly
werewolves.
Um, not even close. I did the count
on my GR. Out of 239 books on my "read" shelf, only 14 have vampires
in them. Two of those don't even have vampires, but I included them because
they feature Darklings which are vampire-like creatures. And out of all those
239 books on my shelves I think maybe 5 aren't YA. I stick pretty close to the
YA genre. So no. Not all YA books are about vampires. Get your head out of your
ass, people.
2. All YA books have love triangles.
While this one may be a bit more true
than the first, it's still not accurate. Sure, a lot of YA books do feature a
love triangle, but I've noticed more and more that YA is veering away from this
trope and that makes me very happy. There are some instances when a love
triangle works though and where I can even appreciate it.
3. All female characters are boy-crazy.
Hahahahaha this is so hilarious, I
can't even handle it. Some of my favorite female characters are the complete
opposite of boy crazy. They're strong, fierce and can totally stand on their
own. Do you think Celaena Sardothien needs a man to make her happy. Hell no!
That girl uses grown men to mop her floors.
4. All YA features mushy, angsty romance.
While I will admit that most YA
features a romance, most of the books don't revolve around the romance. It's
simply going on in the background. Most of the books (the really epically
amazing ones) focus more on individual character development with the romance
as a fun side plot.
5. YA is a girl only genre.
This one makes me so
mad. What makes a book a "girl" book or "boy" book. There
are plenty of YA books that would totally appeal to guys. Legend by
Marie Lu, The Maze Runner series
James Dashner, Defiance by
C.J. Redwine, Partials by
Dan Wells. Just check out this list of books I'd recommend to my husband for
more. There are so many awesome books out there that any person, regardless of
their gender, would love.
6. All YA Books Are Dystopian Futures
While dystopians have dominated the genre
recently, this is absolutely not true. Popularity wise, yes, majority of “popular”
YA books have been dystopians. But if you take the time to actually look at the
genre, you’d know that there is way more to it. My dystopian shelf does have
the most books on Goodreads with 73 titles on it, but I also have 35 on my
contemporary shelf, 36 on fantasy, 11 on historical fiction, 8 on mythology, 62
on paranormal, 8 on retellings, and 39 on science fiction. And those are just
books I've read. I only shelf books by genre after I read them. So the facts
are, that there are TONS of books within YA that are NOT dystopian.
Great list! Though I am starting to wonder if love triangles are a per-requisite of YA ugh, lol.
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. There are lots of YA books w/o love triangles. Like the Defiance series by CJ Redwine. The Legend series by Marie Lu. Eleanor & Park. Fangirl. Divergent.
DeleteThese honestly annoy me so much. It's so easy for people to tear something down because 'they already KNOW everything about it.' Whatever. I've decided moving forward that I will not engage in any kind of dialog about reading preferences with people who are strictly being dicks. If you've already made up you're mind to ridicule it, I'm certainly not going to sign up to school you on why you sound like an ignorant a&&.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to the those who repeat these stupid, misinformed 'facts:' A) Your shitty attitude is exhausting B) You don't HAVE to read YA. Be creative, instead of mean, and find your own damn hobby instead of making fun mine. *end rant*
hahaha I love you. Yeah, I'm done trying to convince these idiots that YA isn't horrible. Because they've already decided in their head and nothing will change that opinion no matter what I say. So why waste my breath?
DeletePretty much any statement that starts with "All" and isn't obvious is likely to be wrong and those exceptions are the ones that are most fun to read because they are so interesting! ;-)
ReplyDeleteexactly!
DeleteI think number 5 is the most common misconception. I work with a youth group, and a big reason the boys don't read is that there's not much they can relate to in books written for their age.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me so sad! Bc I really think there are a lot of books out there that guys will enjoy, but they're seen as "girl" books. Maybe it's the marketing or just a kind of stigma attached to reading/YA. But it's sad.
DeleteI agree with your list. It seems like if you mention reading YA, people who don't know of two books: Twilight and The Hunger Games. So that's all they know. Very frustrating!! ~Pam
ReplyDeleteExactly!!! It's so obnoxious. I'm like "uh, there are literally thousands of other YA books..."
Delete