What is it about them that draws people in?

Is it that there is a enclosed space where you have your friends, enemies, and frenemies all in one place making it a perfect breeding ground for conflict and hijinks?

Is it because it harkens to the author and readers’ nostalgia of the glory days?

Is it that it’s where a lot of coming of age begins where you reckon with the innocence of childhood and the beginning of responsibilities, but you have a lot more idealism compared to adulthood?

I read five different high school AUs featuring IPs- Dc Superhero Girls, Descendants, Equestria Girls, Ever After High and Monster High.

Which is funny because I think DC Superhero Girls and Equestria High by nature that they’re targeting a younger demographic, could be Middle School AUs. I say middle school because I think the only thing that separates the high school and middle school AUs is the intensity of romance. Middle school is more crushes, while high school is relationships.

But as everyone knows middle school is hell, they slap the High School AU label on it instead. Plus they want it to be aspirational for the readers who are the 9-12 demographic and high school kids are so much cooler.

I skimmed most of these books when I was younger so this was my first real read-through of each. DC Superhero Girls by Lisa Yee was fun, good for its age and I liked the different variations of what it means to be a family legacy, the pressure of expectations etc.

Equestria Girls by Perdita Finn- I have never read, never seen the movies. The 4th generation of MLP was a bit after my time. Still it was cute, friendship was pounded in my head. I was a little confused that it was more magical realism than a straight High School AU so that took some getting used to. Like the first book establishes that magic is not a thing in the human world and by the second, everyone just accepts it and they start getting power ups like Sailor Moon.

Many say there are similarities between Disney Descendants and Ever After High, both being high school AUs of popular fairytales and focusing on being born a villain and changing destiny and who does it better. In my opinion, Ever After High did it better. Sorry.

Descendants has a bad case of only focusing on Mal to the detriment of the supporting cast while the Ever After High books by Shannon Hale and School Stories by Suzanne Selfors expands the worlds and the characters and what they face by forging their own paths. At least Jessica Brody’s School of Secrets rectifies the too-much-Mal problem by giving minor characters a chance in the spotlight but has so little promotion that no one knows how good the books are.

Finally, Monster High was such a nostalgia trip, I loved it. Especially as I found out about the Monster High diaries for the first time and read them all in two days. I mean, there were only five so it was quick, but still. I enjoyed how Monstrata gave readers a glimpse into the family lives of the goulfriends while the Daneshvari quartet focuses on the school and overarching mystery.

And yeah, that’s about it. Put your thoughts in the comments below. What draws people to high school AUs? Should there be middle school AUs? Any other thoughts.