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From: Maia Cheli-Colando <maia>
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 20:38:01 -0800
Hmm. I often feel challenged by discussions of religion, as my belief patterns don't fit those often acknowledged -- except possibly Buddhism, which I think is still not well recognized in the West. I also have difficulty differentiating YA from A when it comes to fantasy (my area of specialty). Except for books that are obviously geared to a child audience (e.g. the Drune series), most fantasy is not particularly age specific.
With all that in mind (!), I would recommend the following fantasy books to YA readers: *SPOILER ALERTS in effect*
Ursula K LeGuin's fantasy /The Other Wind/ - The latest book in the Earthsea series has highly "religious" overtones as it examines the very nature of creation, life and death:
"The dragons will go free, and leave us here to the choice we made... the knowledge of good and evil... the joy of making, shaping... our greed, our weakness, our fear... We learned the Making. We made it ours. It can't be taken from us. To lose it we must forget it, throw it away... As my people did... Yet your people remembered what the earth is, what life everlasting is. While we forgot..."
Le Guin's futuristic work /The Telling/ is the story of a world destroyed by religion and another destroying its religion and a woman caught between the two:
"No creator, only creation. No eternal father to reward and punish, justify injustice, ordain cruelty, offer salvation... No hierarchy of Nature and Supernatural... No heaven, no hells..." /and /"I can imagine what price. Your immortal part. I imagine he said: You must believe. You must believe in One God... You must believe that I alone am God's voice... Only the story I tell is true..." /and /"But to them it's not a treasure. It's sedition and a pile of rotten-corpse superstition. No?"
Jane Yolen's realistic fantasy /The Devil's Arithmetic/ and her modern fairy tale /Briar Rose/ explore Jewish families and the holocaust, while her fantasy /Sister Light, Sister Dark/ and following books could be considered a rather neo-pagan exploration of the goddess and girls'/women's psycho-spiritual development, relationships and independence.
Susan Cooper's /Dark is Rising/ sequence rather brilliantly, I think, interweaves pagan and Christian theologies.
Other list members have already recommended Madeleine L'Engle's work. I agree! She is a joy, and one of the first great influences in my own life.
Although not marketed as YA, Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff's /The Meri/ and subsequent titles are very youthful in character, and deal explicitly with religion, power and gender. Likewise, some older YA readers are ready to tackle RA MacAvoy; her /Damiano/ trilogy addresses the nature of men, angels, compassion and passion.
Finally, I would think that Swain Wolfe's /The Woman Who Lives in the Earth/ could make an excellent read-aloud -- anyone tried this?
Maia
p.s. As I was about to hit send, I read Carol's suggestion of The Birchbark House. Yes, yes!
Received on Sat 27 Nov 2004 10:38:01 PM CST
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 20:38:01 -0800
Hmm. I often feel challenged by discussions of religion, as my belief patterns don't fit those often acknowledged -- except possibly Buddhism, which I think is still not well recognized in the West. I also have difficulty differentiating YA from A when it comes to fantasy (my area of specialty). Except for books that are obviously geared to a child audience (e.g. the Drune series), most fantasy is not particularly age specific.
With all that in mind (!), I would recommend the following fantasy books to YA readers: *SPOILER ALERTS in effect*
Ursula K LeGuin's fantasy /The Other Wind/ - The latest book in the Earthsea series has highly "religious" overtones as it examines the very nature of creation, life and death:
"The dragons will go free, and leave us here to the choice we made... the knowledge of good and evil... the joy of making, shaping... our greed, our weakness, our fear... We learned the Making. We made it ours. It can't be taken from us. To lose it we must forget it, throw it away... As my people did... Yet your people remembered what the earth is, what life everlasting is. While we forgot..."
Le Guin's futuristic work /The Telling/ is the story of a world destroyed by religion and another destroying its religion and a woman caught between the two:
"No creator, only creation. No eternal father to reward and punish, justify injustice, ordain cruelty, offer salvation... No hierarchy of Nature and Supernatural... No heaven, no hells..." /and /"I can imagine what price. Your immortal part. I imagine he said: You must believe. You must believe in One God... You must believe that I alone am God's voice... Only the story I tell is true..." /and /"But to them it's not a treasure. It's sedition and a pile of rotten-corpse superstition. No?"
Jane Yolen's realistic fantasy /The Devil's Arithmetic/ and her modern fairy tale /Briar Rose/ explore Jewish families and the holocaust, while her fantasy /Sister Light, Sister Dark/ and following books could be considered a rather neo-pagan exploration of the goddess and girls'/women's psycho-spiritual development, relationships and independence.
Susan Cooper's /Dark is Rising/ sequence rather brilliantly, I think, interweaves pagan and Christian theologies.
Other list members have already recommended Madeleine L'Engle's work. I agree! She is a joy, and one of the first great influences in my own life.
Although not marketed as YA, Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff's /The Meri/ and subsequent titles are very youthful in character, and deal explicitly with religion, power and gender. Likewise, some older YA readers are ready to tackle RA MacAvoy; her /Damiano/ trilogy addresses the nature of men, angels, compassion and passion.
Finally, I would think that Swain Wolfe's /The Woman Who Lives in the Earth/ could make an excellent read-aloud -- anyone tried this?
Maia
p.s. As I was about to hit send, I read Carol's suggestion of The Birchbark House. Yes, yes!
Received on Sat 27 Nov 2004 10:38:01 PM CST
