Teen Seen: An Interview - Holly Schindler #yareaders #yaliterature #ya

When I started writing YA novels, I had an image in my mind of my reader: she (most likely, considering my writing style, I figured it was going to be a "she") was smart, someone who enjoyed reading on her own, outside of school. Someone who was artsy, probably--and enjoy my artsy references. Someone who was probably, oh, sixteen or seventeen years old.

Right. Sixteen or seventeen.

I've learned in the years since just how horribly narrow my initial picture of my reader was. The truth is, the YA readership has an incredibly wide range of ages. And while we often hear about the upper end of the YA readership (readers, we're frequently told, are often adults), perhaps some of the most overlooked audience members are on the other end of the age spectrum. The twelve or thirteen-year-olds.

That's why I was thrilled to connect with Sophia, a smart, voracious reader. Sophia was kind enough to let us into her world--to tell us who she is, what her interests are. What YAs she loves. What kinds of books she gravitates to. What she wishes YA authors knew about readers her age. 

Without further ado, Sophia's own words:

Hey, Sophia! Tell us a bit about yourself—your age, what you’re into, what clubs or activities you’re involved in, how you fill your free time etc. Just anything that you’re comfortable sharing. 

I'm Sophia and I am 12 years old, some of my hobbies are playing on the trampoline, volleyball and baking.  I love hanging out with my friends and my youth group and having good memories to look back on.  

I know you're a voracious reader. Tell me your faves—favorite authors or books, or even favorite genres. 

My favorite genre has to be realistic fiction. I love reading them, getting hooked and sometimes relating to them. My favorite books are, The War That Saved My Life, and the sequel: The War I Finally Won.  Me and my sister have pretty similar taste in books and like to share them with each other.  These kinds of books are my favorite because they are relatable sometimes and I have always been more drawn to them. 

As a middle-schooler (with tons of outside activities), you’re quickly moving into more mature reads. Where do you find your own books? Do you hit the YA section? Or are you drawn to other kinds of books—maybe Harry Potters or graphic novels? What makes you head toward a certain section?

I like to get my books in the young adults section lately because I feel like they are a bit more challenging and quite a bit more interesting. I usually find out about books by just looking around at the library and in the classrooms. 

A browser! I totally agree with you on this one. There's nothing quite like walking the aisles of a library or bookstore, getting to hold books in your hand, flip through them, before deciding to take a novel home with you. Can you think of a book you read that you felt really depicted a character your own age well? 

A book that I read very recently was really good. It is called, The Secret Identity Of Devon Delaney. It was about a girl my age going through middle school and telling lies to make herself seem cooler.

Here's the question I'm most excited to ask: What do you wish authors knew about high-schoolers or middle-schoolers? What’s one thing you might tell them that would help craft better young characters?

I wish that authors knew that we can handle more difficult things and that if something hits really close to home, we might like it even more. Books that I can relate to are ones that I like more so I want authors to go back to when they were in middle school and high school and try and base books off of that. 

This piggybacks off my last question, but what do you think’s missing from the shelves? What do you wish you could get more of as a reader?

I think that we need more books about people going through struggles because if people read those kinds of books, they start understanding what others are going through and that needs to happen more often.

~

This does my heart good. Many of us, I'm sure will love to hear that contemporary, realistic YA is alive and well--and in demand from readers! 

Thanks to Sophia for her honest, straightforward thoughts about YA literature! And thanks, too, for broadening the image of my potential reader as I sit down to draft my next book...