YA topic evolution

Young adult books, better known as YA, are the books that teens read and one out of pack gets chosen to become the model for the rest for that time period.

To elaborate, from the time I became an avid reader, "Harry Potter" was the thing every kid was reading or wanted to read. If you noticed, similar novels during this time focused on witches and wizard and the like. The series "Children of the Red King" by Jenny Nimmo is an example of a magical themed series that picked up in the middle of Potter-mania.

The iconic "Harry Potter" series

The next fantasy fad was spawned by Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series. The rise of vampires and their love stories soon followed. Each author tried to add a different twist to differentiate from Meyer's massively successful vampire/werewolf/human love triangle. A smaller amount of werewolf/shapeshifter themed books also appeared during this time period.

Some of the other vampire book series that appeared are "Vampire Academy" by Richelle Meads and "The House of Night" by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. There is also a branch of novels written making fun of the vampire romances for those who aren't fans of "Twilight."

The shift to the next genre was not as dramatically noted, but "The Mortal Instruments" series by Cassandra Clare is probably the best example that people are familiar with since the first book has recently been made into a movie. The theme this time is fallen angels, demons, and angels in general. There is much more diversity in this field because of the different interpretations of angels.

"Fallen" by Lauren Kate is a Gothic love triangle between a girl and two fallen angels, but one chose to side with Lucifer. In Becca Fitzpatrick's "Hush, Hush" series is about another girl who falls in love with a fallen angel, but discovers her own angelic heritage.

The current YA literature topic is the undead. Anything zombie is immediately devoured by readers, no pun intended. The trailblazer for this genre is Max Brooks with his "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War." While there were previous zombie books, this was the one that started the forest fire and hit TV show "The Walking Dead" based on a comic book series continues to fuel the current fantasy fandom.

However, there is a new mythical creature focus that is brewing and slowly on the rise. And that, my friends, is mermaids. Yes, wait and see soon the bookstore teen section will be covered with them. The "Lost Voices" trilogy by Sarah Porter is probably one of the earliest examples of this rising theme.

"The Twice Lost" which is the third and final installment of Sarah Porter's "Lost Voices" series

To list some other mermaid titles would be "Between the Sea and Sky" by Jaclyn Dolamore, "Fins Are Forever" by Tera Lynn Childs, and "Of Poseidon" by Anna Banks are just a few of the new fantasy genre for YA.

There is no telling where the YA books will turn to next, but it is sure to stay in the supernatural and/or fantasy world because let's face it people want to read about things you don't find in real life.