Trends in YA literature seem as ever-changing as the seasons. Twilight ushered in a revival of the vampire novel. Demon and angel-centered fiction made a smaller impact in the world of teen publishing, but still had many readers running out and buying any novel with a set of wings on the cover. Now, dystopian fiction is all the rage on Teen/YA bestselling charts.
Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games series, whose movie adaptation hits theaters March 23rd, marked the beginning of dystopia domination. Last week the trilogy, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay posted the in the top 3 spots, respectively on the USA Today bestselling books list. So why is dystopian fiction so popular?
Dictionary.com defines dystopia as: a society characterized by human misery, squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. One look at our 2012 society- plagued with financial crisis, legislative ineffectiveness and revolution raging all over the world and it’s easy to understand the attraction. The leap to a dystopian future doesn’t seem as far-fetched anymore and YA publishers have taken note, releasing a slew of teen novels recently within this genre: Ally Condie’s Matched series, James Dashner’s The Maze Runner trilogy and Marie Lu’s Legend, naming a few.
So what does the future hold for dystopian teen fiction? Has it worn out its bleak and poverty stricken welcome already? Or does it have what it takes to remain on top?
The Hunger Games high powered speed train doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon; even once it reaches the Capital and our local cinemas next month. For fans of this series, The Akron Summit County Public Library is holding a Hunger Games book discussion, February 28th at 6:30. For more information, or to register for the event, contact the library at 330-643-9067.
Interested in reading YA dystopian? Check out bestselling author, Kami Garcia recommendations.
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