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Edgy YA fiction
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From: Luc Reid <luc>
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 23:26:42 -0400
I've just recently joined the discussion group and am struck by the thoughtful and passionate postings I've read so far. I'm really pleased that a forum like this exists.
A lot of adult literature seems to do this, too, which I mention because it seems to be one of the ways in which writers try to engross an audience, sometimes perhaps not considering to what effect they're doing so. This seems especially negligent when the writing is for teens and pre-teens. If I read a book full of death and despair and horrible atrocities and I come out of it at the end feeling as though I've been deepened or changed, well, all right. (_The Poisonwood Bible_ was a bit like that for me.) If I come out of it with an understanding I didn't have before, great. If I come out of it with nothing ...
Many of the really successful YA and Middle School books these days seem to be very dark to me, even if they steer clear of sex, drugs, etc. For instance (and here I'm naming books that to a greater or lesser degree I consider pretty good to excellent, ones that use this dark sensibility to a meaningful purpose or at least a rollicking good story): Artemis Fowl, Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, etc.), Rowling's Potter books, Sachar's Holes, Neil Gaiman's Coraline, Lemony Snicket ... is it just me, or are these generally more doomful than older stories like The Chronicles of Narnia or A Wrinkle In Time? Is this a long-term trend or a fad? And here we're getting into stories that are dark not because they're addressing specific, literal issues in young people's lives
(Please excuse my blatant skewing toward SF/Fantasy titles; I edit a SF/F magazine for 9- to 14-year-olds, and read and write more of that kind of thing than anything else.)
On a different subject, it seems to me that the actual readership of many books and magazines seems to be a couple years younger than the official age range. For instance, my understanding (and I don't remember the source of this, so don't consider the information too reliable) is that _Seventeen_'s prime audience is younger teens, not 17-ish girls. (An editor of the magazine talked about it being read by girls 13 years and older and said
"It's their bible." Is it all right if I mention that claim made me feel a little ill?) At any rate, this tendency or perceived tendency to read older kids' books and magazines makes it hard to know how to talk about. For our part, we generally use the term "kids and teens" when talking to our readership and the specific age range only when talking to adults.
Luc Reid, luc at meadowdance.org Managing Editor, Just Weird Enough: Science fiction, fantasy & fable www.justweirdenough.com Staff, Mirkwood School, Marshfield, Vermont www.mirkwoodschool.org
Received on Wed 21 May 2003 10:26:42 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 23:26:42 -0400
I've just recently joined the discussion group and am struck by the thoughtful and passionate postings I've read so far. I'm really pleased that a forum like this exists.
A lot of adult literature seems to do this, too, which I mention because it seems to be one of the ways in which writers try to engross an audience, sometimes perhaps not considering to what effect they're doing so. This seems especially negligent when the writing is for teens and pre-teens. If I read a book full of death and despair and horrible atrocities and I come out of it at the end feeling as though I've been deepened or changed, well, all right. (_The Poisonwood Bible_ was a bit like that for me.) If I come out of it with an understanding I didn't have before, great. If I come out of it with nothing ...
Many of the really successful YA and Middle School books these days seem to be very dark to me, even if they steer clear of sex, drugs, etc. For instance (and here I'm naming books that to a greater or lesser degree I consider pretty good to excellent, ones that use this dark sensibility to a meaningful purpose or at least a rollicking good story): Artemis Fowl, Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, etc.), Rowling's Potter books, Sachar's Holes, Neil Gaiman's Coraline, Lemony Snicket ... is it just me, or are these generally more doomful than older stories like The Chronicles of Narnia or A Wrinkle In Time? Is this a long-term trend or a fad? And here we're getting into stories that are dark not because they're addressing specific, literal issues in young people's lives
(Please excuse my blatant skewing toward SF/Fantasy titles; I edit a SF/F magazine for 9- to 14-year-olds, and read and write more of that kind of thing than anything else.)
On a different subject, it seems to me that the actual readership of many books and magazines seems to be a couple years younger than the official age range. For instance, my understanding (and I don't remember the source of this, so don't consider the information too reliable) is that _Seventeen_'s prime audience is younger teens, not 17-ish girls. (An editor of the magazine talked about it being read by girls 13 years and older and said
"It's their bible." Is it all right if I mention that claim made me feel a little ill?) At any rate, this tendency or perceived tendency to read older kids' books and magazines makes it hard to know how to talk about. For our part, we generally use the term "kids and teens" when talking to our readership and the specific age range only when talking to adults.
Luc Reid, luc at meadowdance.org Managing Editor, Just Weird Enough: Science fiction, fantasy & fable www.justweirdenough.com Staff, Mirkwood School, Marshfield, Vermont www.mirkwoodschool.org
Received on Wed 21 May 2003 10:26:42 PM CDT
