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Edgy YA fiction
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From: Cassie Wilson <cwilson2>
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 01:59:32 -0400
There's so much to answer and to question. Someone said that high schoolers don't read YA fiction because they're already reading adult books. Hmmm. One of my YA's (he's 16) told me that he tends to read John Grisham or Steven King and his ilk because the YA books he tried to read were just too depressing. He cited Sharon Draper's book, Forged by Fire, and pointed out that it began with a scene about a young child neglected by a drug using mother who starts a fire in their living room by playing with her cigarette lighter while she is out procuring drugs. It goes downhill from there. "Why would I want to read that?" he said. So while there were good quality YA books available (Draper is good, didn't mean to imply otherwise) that would have dealt with problems and feelings of people his age, he chose to travel in the pot boiler world of "adults." He realized that Grisham is only a couple of notches above trash, but would no longer look for anything solid in YA.
Another student was stocking up on reading material before a trip to the hospital and wanted something about "just regular teenagers." I had a lot of trouble coming up with anything even close.
And lots of high school students read adult books because they are the ones assigned by teachers who think that "The House of Seven Gables" and
"The Great Gatsby" are going to speak to every student (actually they speak to very few). Ohio teachers, at least, seem to think that there are no good literary pieces in the Young Adult collection and look down on them as simple minded or sensational (I certainly don't speak for all teachers, but check the reading lists.).
You've said that YA's don't read (for fun) unless the material is relevant, and I agree, but I doubt that some of this "edginess" is actually relevant to most teens, but then I work in a small town. My teens will sometimes read horror and violent "junk" like Bodybags, but they don't read deeply painful personal books like "Born Blue" or "The Lovely Bones."
I'm glad to hear that writers and publishers don't try to put sex and violence into books because I could have sworn that just the opposite was the case. We've all heard stories about adult authors who were told that their books would not sell because there was not enough S & V in the works and had to add some before the books could be published. Cover art seems to concentrate on those two elements. It's hard to imagine that they feel differently about YA things, especially since so much seems to show up in YA novels---like nearly every one. And many go as far as adult novels generally go. If writers and publishers give no thought to the themes in YA literature, maybe they should start. I'm not interested in having any kind of censorship, but maybe publishers and writers should start taking some kind of responsibility for the role models they present and, more than that, for the view of life they are desensitizing our young people with.
Some of the responses in this thread seem to indicate that a work can be labeled as Adult or Young Adult by the amount of sex and violence that take place within it. Did I miss something? Some wild changes in literary criticism? Gosh, there used to be more to it than that. Monica, I guess we're just living in the past!
Yes, I guess I do think that the Printz award has contributed to the amount of deep and painful subject matter to be found in Young Adult literature, now that you mention it, because there simply wasn't so much before, so many of these deeply painful, often sexual and violent stories that simply must be told. Each year I think that the committee must be a bit skewed to the side of those who like to read about unimaginable emotional pain. And that which is lauded will then be emulated.
This discussion has brought out many interesting points and appreciate every person who has taken the time to post them.
Cassie Wilson,
who always has been a prude, I guess, and probably always will be
Received on Mon 19 May 2003 12:59:32 AM CDT
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 01:59:32 -0400
There's so much to answer and to question. Someone said that high schoolers don't read YA fiction because they're already reading adult books. Hmmm. One of my YA's (he's 16) told me that he tends to read John Grisham or Steven King and his ilk because the YA books he tried to read were just too depressing. He cited Sharon Draper's book, Forged by Fire, and pointed out that it began with a scene about a young child neglected by a drug using mother who starts a fire in their living room by playing with her cigarette lighter while she is out procuring drugs. It goes downhill from there. "Why would I want to read that?" he said. So while there were good quality YA books available (Draper is good, didn't mean to imply otherwise) that would have dealt with problems and feelings of people his age, he chose to travel in the pot boiler world of "adults." He realized that Grisham is only a couple of notches above trash, but would no longer look for anything solid in YA.
Another student was stocking up on reading material before a trip to the hospital and wanted something about "just regular teenagers." I had a lot of trouble coming up with anything even close.
And lots of high school students read adult books because they are the ones assigned by teachers who think that "The House of Seven Gables" and
"The Great Gatsby" are going to speak to every student (actually they speak to very few). Ohio teachers, at least, seem to think that there are no good literary pieces in the Young Adult collection and look down on them as simple minded or sensational (I certainly don't speak for all teachers, but check the reading lists.).
You've said that YA's don't read (for fun) unless the material is relevant, and I agree, but I doubt that some of this "edginess" is actually relevant to most teens, but then I work in a small town. My teens will sometimes read horror and violent "junk" like Bodybags, but they don't read deeply painful personal books like "Born Blue" or "The Lovely Bones."
I'm glad to hear that writers and publishers don't try to put sex and violence into books because I could have sworn that just the opposite was the case. We've all heard stories about adult authors who were told that their books would not sell because there was not enough S & V in the works and had to add some before the books could be published. Cover art seems to concentrate on those two elements. It's hard to imagine that they feel differently about YA things, especially since so much seems to show up in YA novels---like nearly every one. And many go as far as adult novels generally go. If writers and publishers give no thought to the themes in YA literature, maybe they should start. I'm not interested in having any kind of censorship, but maybe publishers and writers should start taking some kind of responsibility for the role models they present and, more than that, for the view of life they are desensitizing our young people with.
Some of the responses in this thread seem to indicate that a work can be labeled as Adult or Young Adult by the amount of sex and violence that take place within it. Did I miss something? Some wild changes in literary criticism? Gosh, there used to be more to it than that. Monica, I guess we're just living in the past!
Yes, I guess I do think that the Printz award has contributed to the amount of deep and painful subject matter to be found in Young Adult literature, now that you mention it, because there simply wasn't so much before, so many of these deeply painful, often sexual and violent stories that simply must be told. Each year I think that the committee must be a bit skewed to the side of those who like to read about unimaginable emotional pain. And that which is lauded will then be emulated.
This discussion has brought out many interesting points and appreciate every person who has taken the time to post them.
Cassie Wilson,
who always has been a prude, I guess, and probably always will be
Received on Mon 19 May 2003 12:59:32 AM CDT
