This topic only really occurred to me a couple of days ago after a tweet from the YouTuber Zoella was brought to my attention. Zoe who was doing a twitter chat for her Zoella book club made some controversy when the answer to a viewer's question was a little bit of a shock.
I was not the only one who was a little bit shocked by this tweet as it was mentioned by an author on my twitter who straight away dismissed this. I mean in this tweet, Zoe just says that reading YA is quite easy to read in general.
But is she right?
I think in some respects she is, I think that you do need to find a book that sparks your love of reading but just because a book is easy to read this does not mean that you have got a love of books. You need to find a book that you really connect with or enjoy first. A slight tangent but the fact that just because a book is easy does not mean you will love reading, you need to find the right book.
So should we consider YA as easy reading?
Well, I don't think that there is a simple answer to the question. I think it does depend on the book and I think that it can vary from person to person. I also think that the generalisation that YA, as a genre is easy, is also an inaccurate comment considering YA has so many books that can fit in the category.
So can they be easy?
In some ways, yes. I find YA easy to read all the time and in fact, Zoe's book Girl Online was written in a way that was easy to understand and to read leaving me to finish the book in a couple of hours. This is not the only book like that though and many others like Holly Smale's Geek Girl and Lobsters by Tom Ellen are easy to read but the issues they deal with are far from easy to understand and some books can be quite twisted making them increasing hard to read.
So are all YA books easy to read?
No, not all YA books are easy to read and it depends on the book. Many books may be quite easy to read but they are not that easy to understand dealing with complex issues like mental health and issues that many books would never dare touch on. This means not all YA books are easy to read. For example, I am currently read Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill and it is not an easy book to read as I just keep getting frustrated at the issues that it is bringing up and what it is just saying. The fact is that this is only one example and there are so many YA books like this so generalising and saying all YA is easy is just wrong.
The fact is the word easy has so many meanings that if every person did this same post the opinions would probably be so different from mine. To put it lightly there is no easy answer to this question but I think as a society YA and children's literature is often put down as being inferior to literary fiction and classics due to it being more complex but I think that YA is complex in its own ways.
So I asked the people of twitter, their own opinions and here is what they said:
So what do you think? Is YA easy to read or is it more complex? Leave it in the comments below?
See you soon,
Amy
Start with something a little easier, maybe a YA or something smaller to spark your love of books #ZoellaBookClub https://t.co/B6rAcosOaK— Zoë (@Zoella) July 20, 2016
I was not the only one who was a little bit shocked by this tweet as it was mentioned by an author on my twitter who straight away dismissed this. I mean in this tweet, Zoe just says that reading YA is quite easy to read in general.
But is she right?
I think in some respects she is, I think that you do need to find a book that sparks your love of reading but just because a book is easy to read this does not mean that you have got a love of books. You need to find a book that you really connect with or enjoy first. A slight tangent but the fact that just because a book is easy does not mean you will love reading, you need to find the right book.
So should we consider YA as easy reading?
Well, I don't think that there is a simple answer to the question. I think it does depend on the book and I think that it can vary from person to person. I also think that the generalisation that YA, as a genre is easy, is also an inaccurate comment considering YA has so many books that can fit in the category.
So can they be easy?
In some ways, yes. I find YA easy to read all the time and in fact, Zoe's book Girl Online was written in a way that was easy to understand and to read leaving me to finish the book in a couple of hours. This is not the only book like that though and many others like Holly Smale's Geek Girl and Lobsters by Tom Ellen are easy to read but the issues they deal with are far from easy to understand and some books can be quite twisted making them increasing hard to read.
So are all YA books easy to read?
No, not all YA books are easy to read and it depends on the book. Many books may be quite easy to read but they are not that easy to understand dealing with complex issues like mental health and issues that many books would never dare touch on. This means not all YA books are easy to read. For example, I am currently read Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill and it is not an easy book to read as I just keep getting frustrated at the issues that it is bringing up and what it is just saying. The fact is that this is only one example and there are so many YA books like this so generalising and saying all YA is easy is just wrong.
The fact is the word easy has so many meanings that if every person did this same post the opinions would probably be so different from mine. To put it lightly there is no easy answer to this question but I think as a society YA and children's literature is often put down as being inferior to literary fiction and classics due to it being more complex but I think that YA is complex in its own ways.
So I asked the people of twitter, their own opinions and here is what they said:
Should we consider YA being easy to read? (Feel free to leave replies under the tweet)— Amy Powis (@powisamy) July 23, 2016
@powisamy I think some is, but it depends on the subject of the book really.— Rachel (@_sectumsemprah) July 23, 2016
@powisamy The tone of YA often makes it easier to read as the Voice and English used is simpler so easier to understand.— Eleanor (@SmurfyMinxes) July 23, 2016
@powisamy But the issues addressed in YA makes it a harder genre to read because it doesn't shy away from controversial topics.— Eleanor (@SmurfyMinxes) July 23, 2016
@SmurfyMinxes @powisamy I completely agree - the style a lot of YA is written in is easy to read but the issues can be very hard hitting— Charlotte (@crowdedbookblog) July 23, 2016
@powisamy absolutely depends on the book. I'd hardly call The Hunger Games easy reading.— Lizzie Butler (@thosebrillbooks) July 23, 2016
So what do you think? Is YA easy to read or is it more complex? Leave it in the comments below?
See you soon,
Amy
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