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History of Young adult fiction
by Priscille

Introduction
The recognition of the child or adolescent is recent in our society. The convention on the rights of the child was enacted only in 1989. Although children books have always existed, nothing was written for adolescents and most of children books were fairy- tales before the 20th century. The main reason for the lack of young adult fictions is that adolescence is a relatively new idea, people used to think that children turn straight to adults. Apart from the acknowledgement of the adolescence as a stage of life, it is definitely the growth potential that enabled the genre to develop.

Definition of Young adult fiction
Young adult fiction (YA) is a genre of fiction designed for readers from 12 to 18 years. While it is targeted to adolescents, half of the readers are adults. YA novels are distinct from teen or new adult books which are respectively designed for a younger and an older audience. The settings of YA stories are only limited by the imagination and skill of the author, but they must portray an adolescent as the protagonist. YA books span the entire spectrum of fiction genres.