It isn't all about the classics

When thinking back to what you have read on high school, I am sure that most titles are what would be considered "Classics." While that classics are amazing and should remain in schools, there is more to YA then the classics.

At the high school I attended, all that was allowed to be on the curriculum was classics or heavy, dry book about real life situations. When I asked the head of the English department about this observation he told me that it was the way the high school had always been because it makes the parents happy. My response to his statement was very simple, do parents want to the classics taught because they are good books, or is it because that is all parents know of out there?

I believe that there is not enough public information out there about the YA field. The YA field is saturated with amazing books. Many of these books are disregarded due to content, however, a book is not simple what is on the page. A book is about a reader's response, feeling and connections with the book as well as the story. A story can take the reader on an amazing journey into worlds that we never thought we could possibly visit such as the after life, as described in the book "Elsewhere" by Gabrielle Zevin.

If there was more public, easily accessible information out there, then I believe that YA would venture further into schools and young adult reader would get to read not only what they have to read but also what they want to read. Administration and parents, as well as the students, ned to be educated on selecting books and reading past the words on the page. Education isthe key to the break through of YA!