CCBC-Net Archives
Sex and YA Literature
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From: Merri Lindgren <mlindgren_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 10:13:32 -0600
In a 2011 article in Young Adult Library Services titled “Beyond Forever: The Next Generation of Young Women Protagonists’ Sexual Motivations in Contemporary Young Adult Novels,” (YALS, Summer 2011), Caroline McKinley writes, “In the past, young women protagonists were often narrowly depicted as ‘fending off boys’ advances,’ lacking desires or facing punitive consequences because of their sexual activity.”
Thankfully, times are changing.
This month on CCBC –Net, we’ll talk about the depiction of sexual activity in young adult novels. How well does young adult literature today acknowledge the emerging, exploratory, and sometimes vitally active sex lives of young adults through both female and male characters? And what does this mean for YA readers? What does it mean for schools and public libraries?
Later in the month, we’ll talk about two recent young adult novels that have young adult characters who are fully and unapologetically sexual: The F-It List by Julie Halpern (Feiwel & Friends, 2013), and The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Arthur A. Levine Books/ Scholastic, 2013). Both authors will take questions a few days into the discussion of their books. And while we’re approaching The F-It List and The Summer Prince through a lens of sexual themes and content, we hope you’ll also feel free to expand your comments and questions to any and all aspects of these novels.
What are your thoughts on sex in young adult books? Is there a recent title that leaps to mind? In Andrew Smith's Grasshopper Jungle
(Dutton, 2014), Austin is obsessed with sex. I found his frequent references to sex both funny and credible, and I also appreciated his attempts to sort through his simultaneous attraction to his girlfriend and to his best friend, all filtered through his ever-present sexual haze.
Merri
Sneak Preview: April’s CCBC-net topic will be Trends in Poetry, including discussion of the books What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms & Blessings by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski (Houghton Mifflin, 2013) and Salt : A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen Frost (Frances Foster Books / Farrar Straus Giroux, 2013)
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 10:13:32 -0600
In a 2011 article in Young Adult Library Services titled “Beyond Forever: The Next Generation of Young Women Protagonists’ Sexual Motivations in Contemporary Young Adult Novels,” (YALS, Summer 2011), Caroline McKinley writes, “In the past, young women protagonists were often narrowly depicted as ‘fending off boys’ advances,’ lacking desires or facing punitive consequences because of their sexual activity.”
Thankfully, times are changing.
This month on CCBC –Net, we’ll talk about the depiction of sexual activity in young adult novels. How well does young adult literature today acknowledge the emerging, exploratory, and sometimes vitally active sex lives of young adults through both female and male characters? And what does this mean for YA readers? What does it mean for schools and public libraries?
Later in the month, we’ll talk about two recent young adult novels that have young adult characters who are fully and unapologetically sexual: The F-It List by Julie Halpern (Feiwel & Friends, 2013), and The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Arthur A. Levine Books/ Scholastic, 2013). Both authors will take questions a few days into the discussion of their books. And while we’re approaching The F-It List and The Summer Prince through a lens of sexual themes and content, we hope you’ll also feel free to expand your comments and questions to any and all aspects of these novels.
What are your thoughts on sex in young adult books? Is there a recent title that leaps to mind? In Andrew Smith's Grasshopper Jungle
(Dutton, 2014), Austin is obsessed with sex. I found his frequent references to sex both funny and credible, and I also appreciated his attempts to sort through his simultaneous attraction to his girlfriend and to his best friend, all filtered through his ever-present sexual haze.
Merri
Sneak Preview: April’s CCBC-net topic will be Trends in Poetry, including discussion of the books What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms & Blessings by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski (Houghton Mifflin, 2013) and Salt : A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen Frost (Frances Foster Books / Farrar Straus Giroux, 2013)
--
Merri Lindgren, Librarian
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
School of Education / UW-Madison
4290 Helen C. White Hall
600 N. Park Street
Madison, WI 53706
608-263-3930
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Received on Tue 04 Mar 2014 10:14:15 AM CST
