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Sex and Y.A. Lit: Books!
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:54:18 -0500
I want to bring us back to our original topic: looking at portrayals of--and responses too--sex and sexuality in young adult literature.
I'm curious how/if you 've seen the treatment of sex change in young adult novels. I used the term "frankness" in my last post as something I appreciate. Are there books you think have been especially effective at acknowledging sexuality among young adults? Do you think portrayals of and approaches to sex and reltionships have changed across the years?
Another young adult novel from last year I appreciated for many reasons including how it approaches sex/sexuality/relationships is "This Song Will Save Your Life" by Leila Sayles (Farrar Straus Giroux). There isn't sexually explicit content in the book--not what I consider sexually explicit, anyway. But it deals with the emotional realities of relationships so well, including the emotional realities that can come with getting physically involved. High-schooler Elise, who is an introvert and outsider, gets involved with Char, a college-age boy who is very capable of getting what he wants while seeming sweet--and in some ways he is sweet and genuinely nice. It's very hard for her, because of who she is and what she is struggling with, to put herself and her own needs ahead of him. I appreciated her struggle, which struck me as achingly realistic, and her triumph in ultimately putting herself first in a way that was healthy rather than selfish (Char being the selfish one in the dynamic as it unfolds).
Megan
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:54:18 -0500
I want to bring us back to our original topic: looking at portrayals of--and responses too--sex and sexuality in young adult literature.
I'm curious how/if you 've seen the treatment of sex change in young adult novels. I used the term "frankness" in my last post as something I appreciate. Are there books you think have been especially effective at acknowledging sexuality among young adults? Do you think portrayals of and approaches to sex and reltionships have changed across the years?
Another young adult novel from last year I appreciated for many reasons including how it approaches sex/sexuality/relationships is "This Song Will Save Your Life" by Leila Sayles (Farrar Straus Giroux). There isn't sexually explicit content in the book--not what I consider sexually explicit, anyway. But it deals with the emotional realities of relationships so well, including the emotional realities that can come with getting physically involved. High-schooler Elise, who is an introvert and outsider, gets involved with Char, a college-age boy who is very capable of getting what he wants while seeming sweet--and in some ways he is sweet and genuinely nice. It's very hard for her, because of who she is and what she is struggling with, to put herself and her own needs ahead of him. I appreciated her struggle, which struck me as achingly realistic, and her triumph in ultimately putting herself first in a way that was healthy rather than selfish (Char being the selfish one in the dynamic as it unfolds).
Megan
--
Megan Schliesman, Librarian
Cooperative Children's Book Center
School of Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison
600 N. Park Street, Room 4290
Madison, WI 53706
608-262-9503
608-262-4933 (fax)
schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
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Received on Thu 13 Mar 2014 03:54:43 PM CDT
