For at least the past few years I didn’t really talk to anyone or ask for interviews the past couple of NYCC’s. This year you’ll see a drastic change in that philosophy, and I hope you’ll all enjoy that! Over this year’s NYCC, I spoke with Robert McGuire, who is the Editor-in-Chief of Gen Manga, ... Read more
I have read a lot of teen fiction this summer because I like to keep up to date, and also so that I can recommend titles to my own teenage children.
Actually, who am I kidding? I read these books because they are so damn good! I would go so far as to say that often so-called “teen fiction” is better written and more original than that on offer for adults.
Of course I am not alone in thinking this. Gillian Tett, writing in the Financial Times earlier this week, discussed the fact that:
“Booksellers now estimate that almost half of young adult books are being read by people who are over the age of 18.”
She pondered on why this was, coming to the conclusion that:
“Teenagers now face a world where boundaries are becoming blurred on many fronts [. . .] the lines between childhood and adulthood, good and evil, friend and foe, male and female are no longer clear-cut. Once teenagers expected to know what “side” they were on (even if this was the anti-adult side); today, the world is no longer black and white. There is category collapse.”
“Category collapse” is exactly right if by that Tett means that we are reading back and forth across the age ranges. However, exactly the opposite has happened when it comes to how books are shelved. The boundaries that have been created to delineate adult novels from those considered to be for teens are surely artificial?
What makes, say, Kate Morton’s The Forgotten Garden an adult novel but puts E Lockhart’s We Were Liars squarely in the teen category? Morton’s book tells a story from the point of view of characters between the ages of ten and ninety, so it cannot be the age of the protagonists. The subject-matter in Morton’s novel would not be an issue for teens either, and as the mother of a fifteen-year-old girl I would almost prefer her to read Morton’s book for the content than some other teen titles which have much more troublesome subject matter. Equally I delighted in the writing in Lockhart’s novel and gasped aloud at the reveal and have been recommending it to adults and teens alike.
Why was Claire King’s The Night Rainbow published for adults but Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur for children? Both books tell a story about grief, loss and depression from the point of view of a young child and both have content that is perfectly suitable for young teens. There are many other examples I could give, some of which, such as Joanna Nadin’s Eden, have been promoted by publishers as a “cross-over” read, openly acknowledging that age-banding is a conceit, and at times a not very helpful one. And what about Plath’s
The Bell Jar and du Maurier’s
Rebecca . . .?
Is the answer that, actually, “category collapse” has happened in general, across the media and in our choice of leisure time activities? I am quite happy to sit and watch Friday Night Dinner or The Big Bang Theory with my kids, for example, and they will happily watch The Village or Downton Abbey with me. I will read a book and hand it on to them and they will do the same. We will go as a family to swing between the trees at Go Ape or take surfing lessons together. None of this was the case when I was growing up. Kids’ books were for kids and kids’ activities were for kids. Adults kept their lives quite separate.
Nowadays, though, we seem to actively turn away from the edict: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
I, for one, am happy with this “category collapse” as it gives me licence to stay in touch with my inner child and even (she says, hopefully) to be in with a chance of understanding my own children’s lives. I also feel that the calibre of writing in teen fiction is excellent and this is something that the world has woken up to.
We are giving the “adults” a run for their money, and this can only be a good thing.
Most people today can’t remember a time when women weren’t allowed to vote.
Marching with Aunt Susan (Peachtree, 2011), written by Claire Rudolf Murphy and illustrated by Stacey Schuett, takes young readers — and their parents — back to the days when Susan B. Anthony was leading the suffrage movement that would eventually lead to women having the right to vote in 1920.
The book follows Bessie, a girl who already sees some inequity in how she and her brothers are treated. For instance, why can’t she hike with her father?
What makes his book interesting is that Bessie really existed and really met and corresponded with Susan B. Anthony.
So what did a a girl living in 1896 think of the campaign for women’s votes?
Let’s hear from Eden, today’s guest reviewer.
———————–
Today’s reviewer: Eden
Age: 8
Things I like to do: Draw. Dance. Swim. Play soccer.
This book was about: How women wanted to vote and some men didn’t want them to.
The best part was when: Bessie got to meet Aunt Susan and help out with the people in the factory who couldn’t go to school. I also liked the newspaper articles at the front and the back of the book.
I was surprised when: Her dad didn’t let her go hiking. Just boys got to.
This book taught me: That a long time ago, women couldn’t vote.
Three words that best describe this book are: “Vote.” “Women.” “Brave.”
My favorite picture in the book is: When they are marching with the sign. And, when Bessie helps paint the sign with her friend, Rita. I like how you can see the brush strokes in a lot of the pictures.
Other kids reading this book should watch for: What’s happening in the present and what happened in the past.
You should read this book because: It teaches you stuff about the past. It also has some really good pictures. And, it’s based on real people.
———————–
Thank you, Eden!
If you’d like to learn more about Claire Rudolf Murphy, visit her website.
If you’d like to learn more about Stacey Schuett, visit her website.
What do scientists say about the “soul”? How does Richard Dawkins answer the question “why are we here?” In Part 2 of this series on religion, Steve Paulson (of NPR fame) reflects on the biggest questions in the ongoing science vs. religion debate. Part 1 can be found here.
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Featured in Part 2:
Steve Paulson, Executive Producer of To the Best of our Knowledge and author of Atoms and Eden
exclusive interviews from world famous atheist Richard Dawkins and chimpanzee advocate Jane Goodall
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[…] Publishing | Robert McGuire of GEN Manga talks about his company’s evolution; they started out publishing a digital manga magazine but have now switched over to print graphic novels. [Organization Anti-Social Geniuses] […]