Author: Amanda Warner

We’re flipping Summer Reading on it’s head with some weird and wonderful events for teens and adults. Check out our event line-up below!

Attend an Upside Down Summer Reading event to earn one entry into a drawing for a special Upside Down prize basket. Attend as many programs as you’d like for more chances to win!

ESCAPE ROOM: BERMUDA TRIANGLE
June 9 at 3:00pm. Hop on board PCPL Airlines Flight 4655 to travel from Florida to Puerto Rico…right over the Bermuda Triangle, a space in the North Atlantic where ships, planes, and people have allegedly gone missing. With your teammates, follow a series of clues to safely arrive at your destination. Can you escape the Bermuda Triangle and make it to Puerto Rico or will you get lost in the Bermuda Triangle forever? For kids ages 10 and up. Registration is required.

UPSIDE DOWN SCREEN PRINTING
June 22 at 6:00pm. As part of our Stranger Things inspired Upside Down Summer reading program, we’ll screen print bags featuring the famed Big Darby Beast.  Registration is limited, so sign up now!

GHOST STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS
Join us online July 7th at 8pm for episode 10 of Ghost Stories for Grown-Ups. Settle in for some horrible fun as we share stories both true and imagined to tingle the spine. This episode featuring creepy aquatic creatures is part of our Upside Down Summer Reading Program. Scan the QR code at the end of the episode to be entered into our special Upside Down prize basket drawing.  Due to the subject matter, this program is intended for mature audiences.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON IN 3D!
July 13 at 6:00pm. Join us for a 3D screening of The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Remnants of a mysterious animal have come to light in a remote jungle, and a group of scientists intends to determine if the find is an anomaly or evidence of an undiscovered beast. To accomplish their goal, the scientists (Antonio Moreno, Richard Carlson, Richard Denning, Whit Bissell) must brave the most perilous pieces of land South America has to offer. But the terrain is nothing compared to the danger posed by an otherworldly being that endangers their work and their lives. Watch this classic 1954 film on the library’s big screen in 3D!

MONSTERS IN OHIO – PRESENTED BY JAMES WILLIS
July 27 at 6:30pm. Sure, like every other state, Ohio has its fair share of Bigfoot sightings. So many, in fact, that Ohioans believe we even have our own version of Bigfoot: The Ohio Grassman. But don’t worry about the Grassman getting lonely in Ohio. That’s because Ohio is alleged to be home to a whole host of bizarre and unique monsters and cryptids! Learn about the Grassman and more from author and paranormal researcher James Willis.

If you’re an adult who reads YA, you’re not alone. While dated now, a study performed in 2012 discovered that more than half of YA book sales came from adults, particularly those aged 30-44. My first challenge to this statistic was “of course! Adults are buying YA books for their teenage children”, but the study further explains that 78% of the adults buying YA books were actually buying them to read themselves (Publishers Weekly, 2012). If you follow the math, this means about 43% of all YA book sales were going directly to adult readers. These statistics do not include library users, so the overall number of adults reading YA was likely higher.

Ten years later in 2022, I think it’s safe to assume the number of adults reading YA titles is much higher with the rise of BookTube and Booktok, platforms where many adults and teens are sharing their favorite young adult titles on YouTube and TikTok. In fact, the 26% increase in YA fiction sales from 2020 to 2021 has been attributed to the insurgence of BookTok videos recommending backlist YA books with bestselling titles They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera and We Were Liars by E. Lockhart front and center (The NPD Group, 2021). Although both of these books are older (published in 2017 and 2014, respectively), I can personally confirm that I’ve seen both wildly promoted on the platform.

So we understand that YA as a genre is booming, but why does it appeal so heavily to adult readers? Personally, I continue to find myself connecting with coming-of-age stories even as an adult because I’m always learning, growing, and coming into myself no matter how many years have passed and I haven’t found something with quite the same feel in adult literature. Similarly, English Literature professor Virginia Zimmerman explains that “to come of age is perhaps the most common ground there could be among readers. Adults recognize it as something they’ve been through, but they also recognize it as something of a fantasy. It suggests some sort of stable existence. And as adults, we know that we continue to change, continue to come of age.” She also goes on to say that “the YA books that have been popular with adults are dark and serious and hard. People might to go to YA literature to sink into a reality different than their own, but I think they sink into that reality to encounter feelings, challenges, and relationships they recognize from their own lives” (The Atlantic, 2017). In essence, adults are reading YA novels to connect with characters they relate to and feel their emotions deeply.

On the other side of the coin, Spencer Miller says:

Another reason I personally love YA is reading about experiences I don’t relate to. I read to understand what it is like to be a young person today, especially a young person who is growing up completely differently then I did. Most of my recent learning about race, sex, gender, ability and other important facets of identity has come from reading about the diverse experiences of characters in YA fiction. The books I’m reading are having all the conversations no one wanted to have with me when I was teenager. My anxieties about addiction, violence, and the climate crisis are calmed by the realizations and determination of YA protagonists.

Spencer Miller, 2020

Blogger Monica Hay asked similar questions to four publishing professionals as well as adult readers of YA which resulted in 2139 responses. Many of these responses indicate that adults are reading YA titles because they’re fun to read, full of escapism from everyday life, and contain more female-driven stories and are less pretentious than adult literature. In addition to these responses, Monica deduced that much of the reasoning provided by readers hinted to the tone of YA titles. Many respondents claimed that reading YA left them feeling hopeful with one respondent claiming that “adult books are about learning to live in the world we have. YA books are about changing the world” (Hay, 2019).

No matter why you read it, there’s space for you in the reading community as an adult reader of YA books. I hope you find the below recommendations helpful and are comforted by the knowledge that, no matter what you read, you’re not alone!

If you’re an adult who loves to read YA or wants to give it a shot, check out our new summer book club! Follow the library’s social media for updates about monthly picks and go to our events page to sign up.

References

Kadey’s Reading Recommendations

Please check content warnings before reading. You can generally find them in Goodreads reviews or on Book Trigger Warnings.

YA Books I Recommend for Adults

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker (Duology, book two releasing this year)

Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody (Completed Trilogy)

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (Completed Duology with side series releasing this year)

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (Completed Duology)

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (Completed Trilogy)

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (Completed Trilogy with side story)

The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Completed Trilogy)

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (Completed Duology)

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim (Completed Duology)

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue (Trilogy, book two releasing this year)

Anything by Alice Oseman:

• Radio Silence

• Solitaire

• Loveless

• Heartstopper Graphic Novels 1-4

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Adult/New Adult Books I Recommend for Adults who Read YA

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (series, book 2 releasing 2023) *check content warnings*

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang

The Binding by Bridget Collins

Three Rooms by Jo Hamya

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (Trilogy with book 3 releasing this year)

The Verifiers by Jane Pek

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

The Cartographers by Peng Shephard

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe

Read, Learn, and Discover Something New This Summer at the Plain City Public Library 

The Plain City Public Library’s 2023 Summer Reading Program begins May 26th! The Summer Reading Program offers participants rewards for reading over the summer months. The Plain City Public Library offers a Summer Reading Program for kids (ages 3 – 12), teens (12-17), and adults (18 and up).

Beginning May 26 simply pick up a reading log at the library or print one at home using the links below. You’ll have until July 31 to fill in your reading log and turn it in to the library. Reading logs can be returned in person, in the library’s book drop, by mail, or you can email a scanned copy or photo to lpowers@plaincitylib.org and make arrangements to pick up your prizes later.

Kids will earn prizes for reading for 6 and 12 hours over the summer! Teens and adults have the chance to win a gift card, tote bags filled with surprises, and other fun prizes. The more you read, the more chances you’ll get! Plus, one child and one teen or adult will win our grand prize: a Kindle Fire!

The library will also host a series of online programs in conjunction with the Summer Reading Program. Check out our Events page for up-to-date summer program offerings.

Download & Print Your Summer Reading Log

Kids Reading Log

Teen & Adult Reading Log

New and Recommended Reads

Not sure which book to pick up first this summer? Check out our lists of new and recommended reads for all ages in our catalog. These lists are updated weekly with the newest library material. Check out the following lists of recommended reads for children with titles that come highly recommended by kid readers themselves! In addition to print books, most of these titles are available as eBooks in Overdrive (Libby) or Hoopla.

Recommended Reads for Birth-Preschool

Recommended Reads for Kindergarten-Grade 2

Recommended Reads for Grades 3-5

Recommended Reads for Grades 6-8

Recommended Reads for Teens coming soon