"What is Young Adult Literature?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers

What is the Young Adult Literature? What are some of YA literature's common themes and characteristics? How does YA differ from adult or mainstream literatures?

In this short lesson, MFA student Bec Ehlers answers these questions using examples taken from J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl. The video is designed to help high school and college English students identify and analyze YA literature within and beyond their literature classes.

A collaborative partnership between Ehlers and OSU Senior Lecturer Wayne Harrison, the video is sponsored by the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University. For more discussions of literary topics and essay writing tips, please subscribe to the free SWLF YouTube Channel or visit https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf

Spanish subtitles are now available for this video. To access these subtitles, click on the settings icon in the video.

Timestamps
0:00 YA Literature Introduction
0:46 Foundational YA Authors
2:15 Why is YA Literature Popular?
2:36 YA Literature vs Adult Literature
2:58 YA Literature Example
3:55 Conclusions