This question came up in the course of one of my classes as I work towards my MFA. I write YA, and I read YA, but having to express why has been difficult for me. I've read articles by others who have researched who reads YA and even seen some answers when someone asked on social media why others read YA. Some of their answers partially rang true for me, but no one gave an answer that 100% fit why I read YA, so I thought I'd give it a try here in an ungraded form.
What appeals to me about YA stories?
The innocence of the main characters is a big draw. I get tired of consuming entertainment where the main characters have committed varying levels of evil deeds, and they're trying to justify why they're really not bad people. Like... "I know I stole things from every person I've ever met, not to mention every place of business I've ever entered, but I really wanted those things, and the people I stole them from didn't even miss them, so really those things were better off with me." No. Just no. You know you did wrong, and you refuse to admit that.
Feeling like I'm reliving my youth is another thing I enjoy. My teenage years were pretty dull. I have no delusions about the possibility that I ever could have gone to battle school in space as a child or teen, but I still love Ender's Game. Of course, I was never going to go to Hogwarts, but I still love Harry Potter. I just feel like, being in those books, written in first person, even though the main characters are male and I am female, I can put myself into those characters' shoes, and I can experience what it's like to be a child (and eventually a teenager) who is doing something exciting and scary and maybe a little bit morally ambiguous from time to time. I get to be a teenager again.
Overall, I just get to feel like I've gone back in time and been given a chance to redo my life. Even if it's only for the duration of the novel. I don't have a bad life, but there are definitely things I should have done differently. How might my life be different today if I had done ___? This is the question I get to ask and answer for myself as I read these YA novels. It's not nostalgia for my own past. It's wistfulness for a different past, present, and future.
<3 M6