Problem novel is a term used to refer to a sub-genre of young adult literature that deal exclusively with an adolescent's first confrontation with a social or personal ill. The term was first used in the late 1960s to differentiate contemporary works like The Outsiders from earlier fiction for adolescents. The term is rather loosely defined. RoseMary Honnold in The Teen Reader's Advisor defines them as dealing more with characters from lower-class families and their problems; being "grittier"; using more realistic language; and including dialects, profanity, and poor grammar when it fits the character and setting. Sometimes, "problem novel" is used almost interchangeably with "young adult novel"; but many YA novels do not fit these criteria. The term is increasingly used in a negative fashion, and is rarely used by children's literature journals such as The ALAN Review.
Notable problem novels: The Catcher in the Rye, often considered one of the progenitors of modern young adult literature, is sometimes considered a problem novel.
The Outsiders (1967) and The Pigman are problem novels written specifically for teenagers. However, Sheila Egoff notes in Thursday's Child: Trends and Patterns in Contemporary Children's Literature that the Newbery Award winning novel It's Like This, Cat (1964) may have established "the problem novel formula." Go Ask Alice is an early example of the subgenre and is often considered an example of the negative aspects of the form.