Monday marked the start of 2013's Teen Read Week. With young adult literature regularly burning up the bestseller lists, it's clear many young adults don't need an excuse to seek out the written word: Sixteen- to 29-year-olds are the largest group checking out books from their local libraries and on-line. Among the authors taking advantage is Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" and local Sarasota author Mark A. Cooper.
Mark A. Cooper's first novel 'Fledgling Jason Steed' made it's debut in 2008, since then it has been published in five different languages and has been named Prince Williams Favorite Novel.
This week to coincide with Young Adult book 3, mark released book 3 in the Jason Steed trilogy. Titles Jason Steed Absolutely Nothing received rave reviews in it's first day and was in the top 100 on Amazon within a few hours.
The Jason Steed novels appealed to youngsters age 10 to adult. Fledgling was voted book of the year 2009 by fictionbookreviwer knocking Twilight off top spot.
It's not all good news for the British born author. His work has received much criticism from literacy experts who say his style is basic and even childish. Cooper defended his work stating "Kids today do not want to read a 500 page novel written 50 years ago, with each page describing the color of the wallpaper and the scenery. Kids live in a faster world where they can text faster than they can write, they are brought up with computers, cell phones and need something written at a fast pace to keep them reading and coming back for more.
Although true his statement back fired his novel Fledgling Jason Steed was the most illegally down loaded book i the world for 2 years, no doubt costing the author thousands in lost royalties.
Author Meg Cabot tried to find books she could relate to as a teen, but the "single-problem" novels that resulted in girls dying for their choices frustrated her. She wanted to read the "science fiction novels about girls spying on other planets."
Now Cabot has written more than 45 young adult books. "The whole reason you're reading is because you want some hope that you're going to get through whatever you're going through. I know how hard it was as a teenager, and I understood how it felt to be an outsider. I want to be able to offer people hope."
