Reading YA as an Adult // This Week on Our Shelf Life

The Passed Note runs around the internet to gather news from the Young Adult literary world each week. We specialize in recommending your next marathon read, essays about YA literature, and author interviews.

A young person stands on an outdoor basketball court in front of a major city skyline with a camera in their hand. The Passed Note is now looking for submissions.

We will always stand up for a well written listicle, especially one that makes a case for adults reading YA, like this one. Some of the best reasoning I’ve heard in awhile on the topic: “I’m always amazed at how great children’s book authors manage to convey so much information in so few pages. The writing is witty and neat, with no plot holes or irrelevant scenes.” This, exactly.

This interview with comedian Jeffery Self about his new book Drag Teen (out last week) simply sparkles. “There’s something really empowering about owning being glamorous and fabulous. That’s so cliché to say, and it makes me sound like a Will & Grace character; I think there’s just something really important about owning that side of queerness.”

Other author interviews out this week that we love include this one with Sarah Maas, author of the Throne of Glass series, in which she says that we’re in “a golden age of female writers killing it across the board especially with fantasy and young adult.” She also says that her three authors she’d have over for dinner are JK RowlingNalini Singh, and Megan Whalen Turner. She called it a “ladies’ party.” Sign. Us. Up.

We’re such cheerleaders for Jeff Zetner’s new book The Serpent King after meeting him at our local indie bookstore. Here’s a great review of his book, out now.

And, finally, why Jane Eyre (you know, that book you read in high school English) is totes a YA novel.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *