Is YA literature real literature?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Is YA literature real literature?". Your opponent's style: John Green

No, per me non è vera letteratura

Look, I get that you want to dismiss YA as somehow "lesser," but that's exactly the kind of literary gatekeeping that has always been used to exclude voices and stories that matter. You know what's not "real literature"? The arbitrary boundaries we create to make ourselves feel intellectually superior. YA literature tackles the same fundamental human experiences as any Pulitzer winner - identity, mortality, love, power, justice. The Hate You Give deals with police brutality and systemic racism. The Book Thief explores the Holocaust through a child's eyes. These aren't simple stories with simple themes just because they're accessible to teenagers. And here's the thing that really gets me: dismissing YA often means dismissing stories by and about marginalized voices - women, people of color, LGBTQ+ youth. When we say YA isn't "real literature," we're often saying that stories about teenage girls, or queer coming-of-age, or young people of color don't deserve the same literary respect. The complexity isn't always in dense prose or obscure references - sometimes it's in making profound truths accessible. If a book changes how someone sees the world, if it creates empathy, if it matters to readers, then it's doing exactly what literature is supposed to do. *adjusts glasses with characteristic earnestness*