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ccbc-net digest 6 May 2003
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From: Nancegar at aol.com <Nancegar>
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 16:02:32 EDT
I've had to let postings on this topic, which is one I'm enormously interested in, pile up a bit, and so I'm afraid this is on the long side -- I apologize!
As a writer of some edgy YAs myself (among others), I couldn't agree more with what Cookiesss said:
<< ... I have never once heard a single one of them [YA writers] say that they were writing a certain book because they were trying to supply teens with "edgier" material.
I don't think any of us are interested in writing a certain story simply in order to fill a marketing niche. We write our stories because our stories are the ones that are asking to be told. We've got to write what we've got to write.>>
In addition to telling stories, my motivation for writing books about gay and lesbian kids and issues -- which seem to almost automatically be considered edgy even if they're pretty tame as far as sex and violence go -- is to help provide GL kids with books reflecting their lives (they need books like that as much as kids in other minorities need books reflecting their lives, and the letters I get frm them certainly bear that out), and my motivation is also to help show straight kids that GL kids are valid human beings who are not totally unlike themselves.
I agree with what others have said about the market for edgy YAs being limited, but surely the value of those books to some kids whose lives are in some way "edgy" outweighs that, as does the value of those books to kids who need or want to have glimpses of people unlike themselves and situations unlike their own, as a couple of postings have suggested.
As to history: Perhaps CATCHER IN THE RYE, although not originally published for kids, is y the seminal edgy YA -- and SEVENTEENTH SUMMER simply the seminal YA. The late John Donovan's I'LL GET THERE, IT BETTER BE WORTH THE TRIP (Harper, 1969) is the YA that broke the taboo against homosexuality in kids' books; after that there was a slow trickle of YAs in which homosexuality was mentioned; it became a growing stream in the 80s and 90s, a nd now that more and more YAs with GL content are being published, I hope that maybe we're gradually moving toward a time when a YA with a non-straight protagonist or non-straight content won't by definition be considered edgy.
I do agree with Sue DNimn that there seem to be a great many edgy books out there right now showing dysfunctional, abusive families; violence, etc. But those books do, unfortunately, reflect some of society's problems, and I think their authors probably feel it's important to reflect those situations in books for some of the same reasons I feel it's important to write about gay kids (and various other edgy issues) in story form. But it's interesting that she's found few teens who read those books, and that her own daughter -- like many other kids, as Catherine Atkins also said -- has "transferred over" to fantasy books. Makes sense, doesn't it, to want and need to escape into other worlds -- worlds which, however, are sometimes as dangerous and cruel as our own, but which at least aren't "real" in the same concrete way. It's almost a Bettleheim/fairy tale situation -- learning to cope with the bad stuff by reading about it in somewhat disguised form -- which can be as useful for some people as reading about it in real form can be for others.
I think YAs will continue to need all kinds of books. After all, there are all kinds of kids; YAs, despite their cliques, are rapidly developing into unique individuals and figuring out the kind of people they are and want to be. It stands to reason that they won't all like the same things, just as adults don't, and that there will be small groups of them who like and need specific kinds of books.
One more comment and then I'll shut up: I'm not sure the Printz Award (long may it live and thrive!) has been a cause of the upsurge in edgy books, but I'm glad it has celebrated some of the best ones. I think the increase in edgy books is more a reflection of increasingly publicized violence, dysfunction, etc. in our society and of greater awareness of sexual minorities. (I still cringe, though, at the idea that books about gay kids are almost automatically considered edgy, even though I understand why.)
Peace -- and thanks for listening! Nancy Garden
__________________________________________ Please visit my website at www.nancygarden.com Number 1 of Budding Writers is up!
Received on Wed 07 May 2003 03:02:32 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 16:02:32 EDT
I've had to let postings on this topic, which is one I'm enormously interested in, pile up a bit, and so I'm afraid this is on the long side -- I apologize!
As a writer of some edgy YAs myself (among others), I couldn't agree more with what Cookiesss said:
<< ... I have never once heard a single one of them [YA writers] say that they were writing a certain book because they were trying to supply teens with "edgier" material.
I don't think any of us are interested in writing a certain story simply in order to fill a marketing niche. We write our stories because our stories are the ones that are asking to be told. We've got to write what we've got to write.>>
In addition to telling stories, my motivation for writing books about gay and lesbian kids and issues -- which seem to almost automatically be considered edgy even if they're pretty tame as far as sex and violence go -- is to help provide GL kids with books reflecting their lives (they need books like that as much as kids in other minorities need books reflecting their lives, and the letters I get frm them certainly bear that out), and my motivation is also to help show straight kids that GL kids are valid human beings who are not totally unlike themselves.
I agree with what others have said about the market for edgy YAs being limited, but surely the value of those books to some kids whose lives are in some way "edgy" outweighs that, as does the value of those books to kids who need or want to have glimpses of people unlike themselves and situations unlike their own, as a couple of postings have suggested.
As to history: Perhaps CATCHER IN THE RYE, although not originally published for kids, is y the seminal edgy YA -- and SEVENTEENTH SUMMER simply the seminal YA. The late John Donovan's I'LL GET THERE, IT BETTER BE WORTH THE TRIP (Harper, 1969) is the YA that broke the taboo against homosexuality in kids' books; after that there was a slow trickle of YAs in which homosexuality was mentioned; it became a growing stream in the 80s and 90s, a nd now that more and more YAs with GL content are being published, I hope that maybe we're gradually moving toward a time when a YA with a non-straight protagonist or non-straight content won't by definition be considered edgy.
I do agree with Sue DNimn that there seem to be a great many edgy books out there right now showing dysfunctional, abusive families; violence, etc. But those books do, unfortunately, reflect some of society's problems, and I think their authors probably feel it's important to reflect those situations in books for some of the same reasons I feel it's important to write about gay kids (and various other edgy issues) in story form. But it's interesting that she's found few teens who read those books, and that her own daughter -- like many other kids, as Catherine Atkins also said -- has "transferred over" to fantasy books. Makes sense, doesn't it, to want and need to escape into other worlds -- worlds which, however, are sometimes as dangerous and cruel as our own, but which at least aren't "real" in the same concrete way. It's almost a Bettleheim/fairy tale situation -- learning to cope with the bad stuff by reading about it in somewhat disguised form -- which can be as useful for some people as reading about it in real form can be for others.
I think YAs will continue to need all kinds of books. After all, there are all kinds of kids; YAs, despite their cliques, are rapidly developing into unique individuals and figuring out the kind of people they are and want to be. It stands to reason that they won't all like the same things, just as adults don't, and that there will be small groups of them who like and need specific kinds of books.
One more comment and then I'll shut up: I'm not sure the Printz Award (long may it live and thrive!) has been a cause of the upsurge in edgy books, but I'm glad it has celebrated some of the best ones. I think the increase in edgy books is more a reflection of increasingly publicized violence, dysfunction, etc. in our society and of greater awareness of sexual minorities. (I still cringe, though, at the idea that books about gay kids are almost automatically considered edgy, even though I understand why.)
Peace -- and thanks for listening! Nancy Garden
__________________________________________ Please visit my website at www.nancygarden.com Number 1 of Budding Writers is up!
Received on Wed 07 May 2003 03:02:32 PM CDT
