In defense of young adult fiction

There are three guilty pleasures that I will admit to without the need to be tortured: any telenovela starring Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera, cookie butter, and a deep and intense love for young adult fiction.

Why the love for young adult (YA) fiction? It’s because I am inclined to believe that YA fiction has lately been slapped with a bloody red scarlet letter, isolated from other genres as a literary pariah. Children’s books are celebrated as touching, sincere, and evocative our innocent years. Adult fiction is serious, intellectual, and challenging to read.

What about YA fiction? It is often characterized similarly with its target audience: shallow, vapid, and self-centered. The plots often involve confused young people who meet more confused young people while weird stuff happens to their bodies.

But when you think about it, that is what YA fiction should be about; it ought to be a fictionalized version of one’s period of self-discovery, and sometimes, that does involve characteristics that aren’t exactly likeable. That’s what I love about YA fiction: that it’s unapologetically honest about our personal imperfections.

When I eventually gained a better perspective on what it means to be a hardcore YA fan, I’ve realized that there’s no reason for me to feel guilty about loving it, and I should, in fact, celebrate it.

After all, the books I read in my teenage years have stuck with me to this day and have taught me many unforgettable lessons about growing up aside from the importance of well-groomed eyebrows and a properly measured bra. (Seriously, it is a tragedy how many girls make these mistakes.)

To celebrate YA fiction as the literary little engine that could, I’ve listed down the three life lessons I’ve learned from my years of reading young adult fiction.

1) There is no single standard for what a strong female should be.

One of the things I greatly dislike about modern society’s version of feminism is how it celebrates the kind of woman who is ballsy, tough, and essentially behaves like a man. Female characters like Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games or Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series are considered “strong fictional heroines” because they aren’t overtly feminine.

It’s true that these girls are kick-ass characters, but the brand of toughness they embody isn’t the only type out there. Just look at Jane Eyre, who stuck to her ironclad morals even though it went against her personal desires. And what about Fleur Delacour, another Harry Potter character, who could challenge guys bigger than her but didn’t think that her attention to beauty made her any less of a fighter?

I think it’s important for young girls to have role models who show that bravery doesn’t always come with a weapon and that you don’t have to act like a man just to be his equal. In fact, why stop at being equal when you can be better?

2) You can be a little shallow sometimes.

While we ought to remember that our adolescence is a time to transition from being a child to becoming a grownup, it’s okay to have feelings that are unnecessary or even slightly irrational… they are feelings too, after all. Have you read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? It’s practically devoted to one group of friends’ body and boy issues, and you know what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Inversely, it’s okay to celebrate things that make you happy, even though more serious-minded (a.k.a. boring) adults say that the cost of one cronut could’ve paid for three child-size meals. I don’t necessarily agree with the degree of luxury and excess the Gossip Girl kids enjoy, but what’s so bad about picking up a tube of (well-earned) lipstick once in a while, right?

Of course, our personal feelings are relatively trivial next to bigger issues such as starvation, war and political unrest, but don’t let anyone stop you from having them. Just don’t be an a-hole about it and flood your friends’ Twitter feeds with your #badvibes or #happykid tweets. Seriously, no one wants to know.

3) Mistakes are okay, but only if you learn from them.

I’m a firm believer that your teenage years are the best times to make mistakes. You’re not as prone to accidents as you were when you were a kid, but it’s not as unforgivable as it is when you’re adult and you should’ve known better. This is a time to join sports like korfball or wear neon pink platforms. Open yourself up to the idea of dating girls with 300 pairs of shoes (who might break your heart) or hanging out with dudes with slicked-back hair (who might break your heart and steal your wallet to buy weed).

Take it from Princess Mia, the heroine of one of my favorite books, The Princess Diaries. When she broke up with her first boyfriend due to her immature expectations about relationships, she dated other people and became more appreciative of different things life had to offer like good food, great clothes, and the fact that she’s a freaking princess of an entire country.

I’m not going to tell you what else happened to Mia, but it does go to show that whatever silly thing you do when you’re younger will only bite you in the butt continuously if you don’t find a way to correct it. (Unless that silly thing is binging on chicken nuggets. Then by all means, gorge away.)