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Coming of Age for Children
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 16:09:06 -0600
Nancy Garden wrote: "...what many of us tend to think of as coming-of-age issues affect kids at increasingly younger ages. Is this a sad thing?
Is childhood increasingly truncated? What does this do to chilcren's literature?"
I think what it does to children's literature is something that we have been seeing for awhile--stories that are challenging and real in ways we often appreciate, but sometimes are still coming to terms with. Last May on CCBC-Net we focused on the edginess in young adult literature, but it's not only books for young adults that sometimes offer unexpected and important, content.
I'm thinking, for example, of What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman, in which we see life in an abusive household, and the struggle to break free of that life, from the point of view of a 9-year-old boy, in a story wholly accessible to 9-year-old readers.
While I wouldn't necessarily describe thisi book as a "coming of age" story for Jamie (more so for his mother, who is finally able to find the courage to leave their abuser, and to make that parting final), it does reflect the way the world has changed. It's not that children were not abused before and are now, but that as a society we are talking about this issue--not only among adults, but with children, too.
Then again, I'm also thinking of Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, published four decades ago, and offering so many girls then--and today I hope--a radical (for the times at least) yet realistic reflection of one or more aspects of themselves. That book is more of a true coming of age story in my mind.
So I'm curious what others think of Nancy's question about changing aspects of childhood and how it affects children's literature. Or how chidren's literature responds. And I'm also curious about what other books featuring younger protagonists you think of as coming of age stories.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 14 Nov 2003 04:09:06 PM CST
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 16:09:06 -0600
Nancy Garden wrote: "...what many of us tend to think of as coming-of-age issues affect kids at increasingly younger ages. Is this a sad thing?
Is childhood increasingly truncated? What does this do to chilcren's literature?"
I think what it does to children's literature is something that we have been seeing for awhile--stories that are challenging and real in ways we often appreciate, but sometimes are still coming to terms with. Last May on CCBC-Net we focused on the edginess in young adult literature, but it's not only books for young adults that sometimes offer unexpected and important, content.
I'm thinking, for example, of What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman, in which we see life in an abusive household, and the struggle to break free of that life, from the point of view of a 9-year-old boy, in a story wholly accessible to 9-year-old readers.
While I wouldn't necessarily describe thisi book as a "coming of age" story for Jamie (more so for his mother, who is finally able to find the courage to leave their abuser, and to make that parting final), it does reflect the way the world has changed. It's not that children were not abused before and are now, but that as a society we are talking about this issue--not only among adults, but with children, too.
Then again, I'm also thinking of Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, published four decades ago, and offering so many girls then--and today I hope--a radical (for the times at least) yet realistic reflection of one or more aspects of themselves. That book is more of a true coming of age story in my mind.
So I'm curious what others think of Nancy's question about changing aspects of childhood and how it affects children's literature. Or how chidren's literature responds. And I'm also curious about what other books featuring younger protagonists you think of as coming of age stories.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 14 Nov 2003 04:09:06 PM CST
