From: Lynn Rutan <lynnrutan_at_charter.net>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:35:53 -0400

Megan,

My father used to chide me on my failure to be precise in my language and that clearly still plagues me ;-) I should not have used the word theme and as you correctly point out many varied themes are present in books with a dystopian setting.

My observation is that there are a large number of books that are set in a future earth where civilization as we know it has or is breaking down. It is the situation faced by human kind and their struggle to survive or adapt that is the underlying focus of the story. A variety of intriguing themes are explored but the underlying premise is that life has changed on earth for the worse due to a variety of causes ranging from environmental problems, war, disease, technology, etc.

While adult science fiction plays with this premise and earth-bound settings as well, there are much wider ranging and varied settings - futurescapes to use the word in our discussion. It is these that seem scarce to me in YA literature - not nonexistent but scarce compared to those set on a struggling future earth.

I have read sf since my childhood and as a teen I adored books about space exploration, the colonization of other planets and the types of species that evolved there, the meeting and interaction of species and civilizations in space, technologies of the future, the politics of intergalactic civilizations and how those were governed, supplied, policed or cared for. Within these a variety of themes are explored.

The Ness Chaos Walking series is an example of this type of book that has been published for teens and at least in our area is very popular. It is set on another planet being colonized by humans and they are impacted by a native virus (Noise) and collide with a native population who have a different culture and philosophy. Ender's Game, the story of a war waged by technology against an alien culture is practically a YA classic now and remains popular. The Gill book I mentioned previously, Black Hole Sun, is reminiscent of the Robert Heinlein books and features a small unit if teen mercenaries on Mars with tons of action, wonderful snarky dialog and brain implant of a fallen colleague. Catherine Jinks' Living Hell is about a colonization ship that passes through a mysterious field and starts to regard its inhabitants as a viral invader to be eliminated. There are others but the potential is so enormous and largely untapped in YA. I keep wondering why. Some of you have pointed to our current awareness of globa l changes and that make sense to me but these other explorations seem so ideal for the YA audience.

I believe there is an audience but my belief is based on my local experience with teens who read adult sf and younger teens or less able readers who ask for these types of books. I am curious as to why more YA authors aren't stepping into these waters.

I hope I am clearer and more accurate here ;-) Thanks for everyone's thoughts so far.

Lynn Rutan Librarian Bookends: BooklistOnline Youth Blog Holland, MI lynnrutan_at_charter.net
Received on Fri 06 Aug 2010 07:35:53 PM CDT