I first became a fan of Dan Brown’s books at 13, when I discovered a copy of The Da Vinci Code on my grandparents’ bookshelf and devoured it in a matter of days. I’m now an author of books that are officially published as “adult” in some countries and “young adult” in others; I know a little, consequently, about the grey area that lies between them, which is a subject of lively debate in the publishing industry. And the news that Penguin is releasing an abridged version of The Da Vinci Code, advertised on its cover as “adapted for young adults”, is puzzling.
A common way to introduce a book to a new market is to give it a fresh cover – a widespread practice, often used for books with “crossover appeal”. Penguin has created a bold new cover for The Da Vinci Code, but they haven’t stopped there – the book is also being condensed, as though what really makes a story appeal to young adults is the prospect of a short read. Yet it’s been proven time and time again that this isn’t the case. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas, which debuted at No 1 on the New York Times’s young adult bestseller list, is a whopping 624 pages. Nobody really agrees on what make a book suitable for young adults, but length has nothing to do with it.
Abridging books for teenagers also implies that they need the story to be watered down to something simpler, despite the fact that so many successful YA books are deeply complex, thought-provoking, and rich with detail – Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill, Seed by Lisa Heathfield, and This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp are just a few examples.
The main characters in the new Da Vinci Code will probably be the same ages they are in the original – I doubt a 17-year-old Robert Langdon would make a convincing Harvard professor – and one thing that is almost universally agreed is that young adult books should probably star young adults. I’ll be interested to see which parts are cut in the adaptation – but until then, this risks looking like a cynical, unnecessary, and patronising move. I only hope it doesn’t mark the beginning of a trend.
