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After all this time, it looks like I may be the last blogger for this course - what a ride it has been. In the two years that I have been working in children’s and youth services at a public library, I have managed to read a number of great books for guys. When I took the job, I was dreading actually having to read YA stuff so that I could be “in tune” with our core users; I was used to reading adult mysteries and lawyer novels and didn’t think that I would find anything of interest in the YA library. Well, I was wrong!

My first discovery was Scott Pilgrim, the Canadian manga created by Bryan Lee O’Malley. I had seen hundreds of these digest-sized manga books when I worked on the adult Circulation desk, but I figured it was just a fad, like Pokemon and Teletubbies. One of the first journals I looked at in my role as a youth librarian was a best comics of the year for 2006, and that is where I first heard of Scott Pilgrim. In the brief snippet I read, I noticed Scott wearing a Plumtree t-shirt, and I was stunned - a friend of mine from high school had actually moved to Halifax because he was obsessed with Plumtree (especially their lead singer). I took this as a sign and proceeded to purchase all of the Scott Pilgrim books for our collection. Needless to say, these are highly recommended by me, especially if you are into the whole indie rock scene in Canada, or just want to see a skinny slacker have to beat-up his girlfriend’s 7 evil exes to win her heart (it all makes sense when you read the books - the fifth in the series is coming out in February of ‘09).

Another thing that initially irked me about reading YA lit was that I was going to have to temper my expectations for books with lots of sex (we’re all adults here, so we can be honest, right). Boy, was I wrong about this! When I was in high school (wayyyy back in the 80’s, man), the YA books we had to read were tame to the point of “zzzzzzz”. Now, I find myself recommending modern YA books to friends my age because they are edgy and the sex in these books is often as racy as what you would find in an adult novel. One very intriguing novel in this vein is Boy Toy by Barry Lyga. In it, the main character, Josh, is forced to face his demons of five years past when an old girlfriend tries to re-enter his life and his old teacher/ex-lover is released from jail (I’ll let you guess why she was in jail, but remember, this is a YA novel, so the main character is in HIGH SCHOOL). I admit I picked it up because it sounded kind of interesting/kinky, but it was one of those books that you just can’t put down, and I found myself staying up late for a couple of nights so I could find out what happened. A truly compelling read, and I also recommend Lyga’s other novels, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and Hero Type.

I know that there are many novels that deal with teenagers having disablilities and they go on some sort of quest to prove something, and they meet up with a crochety senior citizen who teaches them all sorts of life lessons and then the obvious happens and we all puke - well, I was sure that Mary Hershey’s The One Where The Kid Nearly Jumps To His Death and Lands in California was going to be one of those books, but I have to admit I very nearly shed a tear at the end (I didn’t really - it just sounds better if I say I did).  The main character, Stump, has a prosthetic limb (hence the name Stump) and is sent to stay with his estranged father in California for the summer. Of course, Stump would rather be anywhere but with his father, but he endures, learns how to swim competitively from a salty old high school swim coach, and has a near-fatal episode swimming in the ocean, but all is well in the end. It might be a little sappy and old-fashioned, but it had me hooked right away and should also hook many a guy-reader looking for something a little different.

So, if you end up working in a YA library and you see a guy in there looking for something to read and he looks like he is about to pick-up an old standby like Hatchet or Lord of the Flies, slap his hand and tell him to put it down and give him one of the books mentioned above. You’ll be doing him a favour!

Some other recommendations that I’ve read (or I’ve heard are great for guys):

• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (it kinda lags in the middle, but the ending was great)
• Notes From the Teenage Underground by Simmone Howell (lots of YA lit comes from Australia, as does this one - very insightful for guys who might want to learn about how girls really treat each other when they’re supposedly best friends)
• Notes From the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick (it has the same basic plot as the Mary Hershey book, but is a great read, too)
• Doing It by Melvin Burgess (the basis for that short-lived Kelly Osbourne TV show from a few years back, this one is about boys and sex - DUH - but it was more interesting and well-written than I expected. His book Smack is another provocative one that gets adults all upset, but it is an award-winner - it was recently out of print in Canada but that may have changed)

And one that I most whole-heartedly DO NOT RECOMMEND TO ANYONE:

• Slam by Nick Hornby (don’t fall for the glowing reviews on his site, this was one of the biggest disappointments I ever read. You’d think Hornby + YA = Gold but you’d be wrong. If you see someone taking this out of your library, you have every right to put that person in a chokehold until they put it down)

That’s all for now - be back tomorrow with more blogging…

The first three paragraphs of this article about M.T. Anderson (who was previously unknown to me) really, really strike a chord with me. I touched on it a little with my very first entry about Twilight and how I think we should be giving youth a lot more credit for intelligence than adults tend to. I was not nearly as pointed as this:

“If we’re going to ask our kids at age 18 to go off to war and die for their country, I don’t see any problem with asking them at age 16 to think about what that might mean.”

The article goes on to discuss Anderson’s works, his philosophy on writing for young adults, and how he came to be a writer — typical things for an author profile. But what really caught me is that he’s an author writing for young adults, explicitly, who writes books that seem as though they might be a heck of a lot more challenging and complex than a lot of the supposed adult fiction I read.

I think part of what gets me is that we can see just how responsible and intelligent kids can be — for example, last week’s presentation about youth who are interested in social justice and activism — and yet many people still want to protect them and shield them and tell them they’re somehow “not ready” to be given responsibility. Including the responsibility of reading whatever they would like to read — be that Twilight or Octavian Nothing. Maybe I’m an idealist (okay, yes I am) but I tend to think that the more responsibility a teen is given, the more responsible they will turn out to be. I know this isn’t universally true. Heck, it’s not even true for some adults. But still.

Curious to know if anyone has read anything by Anderson, and what they thought?

It is possible to define adulthood using factors such as chronological age, financial and/or domestic independence as well as the nebulous concept of maturity. There was a discussion at the beginning of the course about how to define “young adults.” Is the label best applied to the traditional age range of 13 to 19? Or is it necessary to expand the parameters in order to reflect a social shift?

Statistics Canada reports that there has been a significant increase in the “the proportion of young adults aged 20 to 29 who resided in their parental home” (Human Resources, 2008). It is interesting that they exclude teenagers altogether from this category. The decision to return home can be the result of graduating from university, changing or losing a job, planning marriage or a divorce. All of these life circumstances often include some form of debt. They have been referred to as the “boomerang generation” or going through “adultescence” (Powers, 2007).

Consequently, young adult librarians may find themselves answering as many questions about resources for proper resume formatting and child custody as they do for high school projects on the solar system and the life cycle of trees.

In most cases, the aforementioned scenarios are temporary and individuals will resume their independence once their situation has stabilized. Unfortunately, there is a more worrisome trend that has been a focus of research by sociologists in recent years.

“Boys are in serious trouble. Doing worse in the classroom now than they did ten years ago. Hard to talk to. Unaware of their emotions. And the most violent in the industrialized world” (Thompson, 2008)

This can lead to a life characterized by endless drifting and insecurity. Many young males are abandoning or delaying responsibility as much as possible. They do this in favour of a life of recreation. This has most recently been addressed in State University of New York professor Michael Kimmel’s “Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.”

In it he describes “the wasteland between ages 16 and 26″ (Tucker, 2008) (an echo of the Statistics Canada figure that seems to be the common redefinition of young adulthood) when:

The guy is in no hurry to shed youthful egotism and hedonism and take up the mantle of adulthood. The Guy mentality is rooted in resentment, drenched in booze and dedicated to pervasive, sometimes violent denigration of women and gays. It’s a perpetual carnival of pornography, violent video games, hypermacho music and blustering talk-radio hosts who stoke resentment by constantly reminding Guys of the lost paradise that should have been theirs (ibid).

One of the problems is a lack of suitable role models for boys as they grow up. This problem is recognized in the school system. In a report by Ontario educators, the province was urged to “act immediately to boost the already low and rapidly shrinking number of male teachers” (CBC, 2004).

However, I believe it is equally important to have male representation in public libraries, particularly in youth services departments. These males can be available throughout a youth’s academic career, whereas exposure to a teacher typically lasts only one year. Furthermore, boys are required to go to school. Yet it is often observed that boys are not physically present in the library. There is some exciting and innovative library programming to address this issue. The ALA awarded its 2007 Diversity Award to Break-4-Boys: Male-2-Male Mentoring in which men speak and do activities with tweens and teens (ages 11–18) on a consistent basis. Mentorship is performed free for males by males (Nichols & Wilcox, 2007).

This is is no way intended to deride the contribution of women to librarianship. However, at a time of decreasing literacy, particularly for recreation, the value of male staff in the library as role models for boys cannot be overstated.

References:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2004, November 13). Ontario urged to counter drop in male teachers.
Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/11/12/male_teacher_041112.html

Human Resources and Social Development Canada. (2008). Family Life — Young Adults Living with their Parent(s) .  Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/indicator.jsp?lang=eng&indicatorid=77#MOREON_1

Nichols, K.D. and Wilcox, L.J. (2007). Male-2-Male Mentoring Is Working in Chicago Libraries. Information Today, Inc.  Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov07/Nichols_Wilcox.shtml

Powers, G. (2007). What to do with boomerang kids. Sympatico MSN Finance. Retrieved Retrieved October 23, 2008, http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/retirement/gordonpowers/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5767869

Thomspons, M. (2006). Raising Cain: Protecting the emotional life of boys. Retrieved October 23, 2008 from:
http://www.michaelthompson-phd.com/media.htm#cain

Tucker, C. (2008, October 5). ‘Guyland’ by Michael Kimmel: No girls or gays allowed. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved October, 23, 2008, from: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-bk_guyland_1005gd.ART.State.Edition1.269f7db.html

Graphic novels are becoming more popular than ever, and are getting recognized as a form of literature. I think that graphic novels are a great way to attract teens to the library. If the goal is to get a teenage non-library user into the library, graphic novels are an excellent way to start doing that. Graphic novels and comics serve as the beginning to getting a teenager in the library and using the resources. I know that when I was a teenager, I didn’t read many novels for pleasure and I probably would have read more if I had known about graphic novels. I didn’t like reading novels because I was (and still am) a slow reader to begin with and didn’t have much free time to spend reading in the first place.

I recently read part of the Bone series and I loved it. It only took a maximum of 2 hours to finish one volume in the series, and I imagine that this can be the appeal of a graphic novel. It’s a relatively quick read with comedy, suspense, and drama all in one. Not only are the illustrations in this series pretty amazing, the storyline is good too.

To tell you a little bit more about Bone, it follows the journey of three cousins (Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone) who get run out of their hometown of Boneville. You will soon find out that Phoney Bone, the rich and shelfish cousin, is the reason that the three of them are all lost in a dark valley with no idea how they will get home or even how they will survive the night. The story really begins when Fone Bone is separated from the other two and he begins to met some of the other creatures of the valley. The bones encounter things like rat creatures, swarms of locusts, a sweet young lady, and even a talking leaf.

This is a very popular series, as my standing of being the 25th patron for the 8th volume in a line of 41 holds at LPL says it all! There’s a 9th volume out, but LPL doesn’t have it yet.

I understand that graphic novels aren’t for everyone though. I had to read the very popular and highly successful Watchmen for an LIS class here at FIMS, but I just couldn’t get through it. I think I only read about 10% of that graphic novel. I enjoy super hero stuff, but I just couldn’t find it in myself to read more than a few pages of it. Maybe it would have appealed to me more if I was a 15 year old teenage boy. Watchmen was originally published by DC Comics in 1986, and more than 20 years later it is still very popular. So popular that there is a film version of it coming out in 2009.

The kick with graphic novels is that they do not come off as intimidating as a 200 page novel does, at least that’s how I look at it. There is no break in a novel; it’s just pages and pages of words. With a graphic novel there are illustrations that go along with the words for the reader to enjoy. For a teenager who might not have the time or the patience to read a “normal” novel, a graphic novel can serve as the beginning to a person’s journey with reading.

Another graphic novel that I enjoyed reading is Blankets (URL is author & illustrator Craig Thompson’s offical website). This graphic novel is what gave Thompson the fame he has. The illustrations are simple black and white drawings, yet they do the job of carrying the story. There are many frames (and pages) without any text and the reader is able to sense the emotions and actions that are depicted in the illustration. The plot of this graphic novel is loosely based on real-life experiences of Thompson himself. The story covers topics like silbling rivalry, parental influence, teenage romance, faith, and teenage rebellion.
I would really recommend Blankets to a teenager who is not afraid to get into something that has romance, faith, and family dynamics.

There are plenty of great sites out there for you to find out what some of the popular (and less popular but still good) graphic novels are:

• ALA’s Young Adult Librarian Services Association has great graphic novels for teens
• California’s Fresno County Public Library Young Adult Services Department has a few recommendations
• I found this PDF file by First Second Books that gives some information on what a graphic novel is, who reads graphic novels, and some must-know graphic novel titles for all YA librarians.
• And of course Time magazine’s list of the top 10 All-TIME Graphic Novels

The UWO library catalogue has a book titled “Using Graphic Novels in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers and Librarians”. It is published by Graphix. I didn’t get a chance to look at it before blogging about it, since I just found out that UWO has the title last night, but I’ll probably go and have a look at it sometime next week.

For my blog posts I will be exploring the topic of slang, and I will open things up here with a poem by Gwendolyn MacEwen:

LANGUAGES (2)

 When we were fifteen my girlfriend and I used to sit in the back seats of Dundas Street streetcars and whip out our violins and play Bach’s Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor all the way to Younge Street. This was to startle people and make them notice us. Then we walked barefoot all over downtown before it became a fad in the Sixties, also to startle people and make them notice us. Some of these things worked, but the one that never worked was when we sat in the back seats of streetcars and spoke loudly in a language we made up on the spur of the moment, syllable by syllable. We didn’t realize that in this country one more language, especially one more unofficial language would do you no good at all, although knowing only one language of any kind in this country would also do you no good; you had to know more than one to survive. All those mangled feet, all those wounded alphabets, all those illicit violins.

I was reading this collection of poems at the start of this term, and when I came upon this particular poem riding home on the bus I was immediately brought back to my youth and recollections of doing similar things with my “best” friend – particularly, inventing and speaking in a language we created and honed throughout our friendship. Has anyone else done this with a friend, or on their own? Anyway, it made me think about the relationship of youth and language…which then made me start to think about teenagers and their use of slang…

Reference

MacEwen, G. (1987). Afterworlds. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.

Remember last semester, those of you who took Childrens Services, when I brought in that rather racy graphic novel that I decided not to add to the YA collection at my library? Well, somewhat surprisingly (I was sure surprised), the imprint that published that graphic novel has been discontinued by DC Comics:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18205

When this line first came out, it was supposed to be the next big thing in graphic novels, providing a North American perspective in a genre dominated by Japanese manga. Exclaim Magazine even wrote an article about this new line of graphic novels when they first came out. Makes you wonder what happened…

My last post was about information seeking through fiction. How teenagers trust some authors as information sources. The info gleaned from novels can be about health, emotions, relationships or any daily life experiences. The Outsiders in particular came to mind as a novel that has spoken in a clear voice to youth for over 20 years.What I want to take a closer look at is the emotional power of narrative and stories.

The information is perhaps more accessible to teens because it is couched in narrative. Everything is viewed through the lens of story and perspectives of the characters within. I think that reading about people working through emotional situations is important for youth to connect stories to their emotions. Storytelling is a method of helping teens go one step further and allow them connect their emotions to stories.

The difference is fine, but its there. In a novel, the emotions are already laid out by the author, and each reader might find a different connection. Through storytelling, teens can directly access what is important for them and use the emotion to shape it into a story. Emotions can be crafted, dealt with and -most importantly- understood through storytelling.

Here are some resources and storyteller/authors to get you in the mood:

Jane Yolen is a great storyteller, her narratives flow perfectly. She has committed many of her stories to paper in several collections. She also focuses a lot on women in stories; where women are the heroes and not just damsels in distress or evil witches. Her site is a little confusing but poke around. The teacher’s section arranges her work by theme and age (although it hurts the eyes).

Germanic Myths, Legends, and Sagas is another confusing page, but an amazing resources. It does not merely focus on Germanic stories, it covers everything and more. Stories are arranged thematically; for instance there is a category called “Bald and Hairless Men”. So if you have the patience, you can find almost anything. This site also has a “Folk and Fairy-Tale Sites” index which leads to…

…Andrew Langand his numerous collections of colours. Most of the (insert colour here) Fairy Books are available online in some way, shape or form. The link I included is one of the more organized sites, complete with search box!!!

I like also highly recommend theThe Elfwoodas a source of inspiration. The countless galleries can be viewed by theme, searched or browsed at random. The temptation to put stories to every picture and describe the emotions prompted is hard to resist.

Finally, I would recommend Rudyard Kipling’s Just so Stories. They have an easy ‘tellability’, clear stories and great use of language for description and characterization. It is almost impossible to read these stories and not make voices. A caution though: Kipling has often been accused of being prejudice and many of his cultural terms are likely out of date. Browse through his works before selecting them.

Storytelling also helps to improve literacy. It works with narrative and the organization of ideas without imposing the restrictions of text. For ESL students, storytelling helps them develop their conversational expressions and language. Storytelling helps to improve textual fluidity and comfort.

Working storytelling into a YA programming would give teens an opportunity to shape emotions, work with narrative, be creative and (hopefully) have a great experience to build on. Why? Because storytelling helps everyone see their own lives as stories with value, excitement and bravery. Most folk tales also speak to the keen sense of justice, otherwise known as the “that’s not fair” hormone, that many teens possess in excess.

Well, I hope you are inspired about creating a storytelling program for the young adults at your future place of employment. If you are still doubtful about the benefits of storytelling I included some resources below that will speak highly in my favour.

LF

Additional Resources

Barton, Bob & Booth, David. Stories in the Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinmann, 1990.

Colon-Villa, Lillian. “Storytelling in an ESL Classroom” Bnet (Feb. 1997), online at
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3666/is_199702/ai_n8755771

Livo, N.J. & Rietz, S.A. Storytelling: process and practice. Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1986.

Also a link from January’s semester: http://lis780.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/telling-stories-to-teens/

Broken Links

just in case I need to add some…

A student from the children’s services courses this term sent a link to an article from Newsweek online http://www.newsweek.com/id/136961
that “reports books sales for teens are booming. Not exactly related to either youth services course but a very encouraging trend nonetheless”.

This second part will attempt to provide some direction for librarians who agree that public libraries should strive to offer balanced resources to help youth who are seeking materials about spiritual or inspirational issues.  This can definitely include books that are atheistic or anti-religious as well because, it can be a strengthening experience to be aware of the views opposing your own to see if your beliefs are defensible.  However, knowing what materials to include in the collection likely is a greater challenge as more and more religious movements appear within Canadian society.  Librarians really do need to remain aware of user needs of the teens of their library and may feel personally uncomfortable at times in working on collection development and RA.

As was mentioned in my first post, the LPL offers a webpage for teens with links to various on-line resources discussing spiritual issues.  This site offers resources that could be helpful with school reports such as demographics on religion along with other links to websites for a range of faiths and spiritual practices (”Spirituality.” (2008).  London Public Library. Retrieved March 30, 2008 from www.londonpubliclibrary.ca/node/303).

YALSA also offers some direction for librarias who are searching for direction in regards to collection development.  Their page on teen spirituality (http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/profdev/teenspirituality.cfm) suffers from too many links are no longer functioning, especially in regards to booklists.  They do however, offer some general links to sites presentating generals statistics, summaries and further directories about religious sites such as belief.net, adherents.com, as well as to the Internet Sacred Text Archive (http://sacred-texts.com/index.htm) which offers free access to a wide range of sacred texts in electronic form. 

YALSA’s page on teen spirituality presents links to two model websites in the U.S., that of Missouri River Regional Library (www.mrrl.org/teens/spirituality.asp) and Westport Public Library (www.westportlibrary.org/teens/interest/spirituality.html), for offering teenagers direction towards resources on spiritual matters.  I found LPL’s site to be the equal to both these libraries in regards to the variety and clarity of the links to spiritual resources pages that are presented.

One online reading list of teen fiction with religious themes that is still available is offered by Plymouth District Library. The list was last updated in 2006 and offers mainly stories with Christian and Jewish content (”Religious fictions for teens.” (2006).  Plymouth District Library.  Retrieved April 1, 2008 from http://plymouthlibrary.org/godbib.htm).

In regards to visual resources, there is the video “What do you Believe - the religious and spiritual lives of American teens.”  It is was a YALSA best video in 2003.  The film features the lives of teens of several faiths from North America as they discuss a range of topics relating to their faith.  YALSA provides a link to its site where more information can be found regarding how the film can and has been used in school courses, film festivals, etc by various organizations (Retrieved April 2, 2008 from www.whatdoyoubelieve.org/).

Finally, here are a few publications that may be useful to librarians for providing guidance when it comes to materials with spiritual themes. 

Booklist: the first issue in October each year is on religion and spirituality.

Publishers Weekly: quarterly issues on religion appear in February, May, August and November.

YALSA.  (2008).  Teen spirituality and religion.  Retrieved April 2, 2008 from http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/profdev/teenspirituality.cfm.

Part II: Newbery Medal Winner Richard Peck and other problem novel writers speak out…  

In my last blog, I talked about the problem novel largely from the perspective of the youth audience, parents, educators, and critics. But what do the writers of problem novels themselves have to say about the writing process and about problem novels for teens?

Robert Burch on shock value and honesty:

Robert Burch, author of Phoenix Award winner Queenie Peavy, as well as D.J.’s Worst Enemy, and Renfroe’s Christmas, is a defender of the problem novel, stating that the details are “for a purpose, the purpose not being to shock but to give as accurate a picture as possible of the events taking place in a story and of the time and place it is set” (Burch, 1973, p. 283).  Burch also points out that while it’s great that some book have happy endings, he believes that “surely, in life there are as many happy endings as sad ones, so to be truly realistic, should books not average out accordingly? … for all children, whether they face the world as gradually as we would have them, or have to face it earlier … honesty is what we owe them” (p. 287). 

Chris Lynch on the serious and complex needs of youth: 

Chris Lynch, author of Shadow Boxer, Iceman, Gypsy Davey, and Blue-Eyed Son shares his opinion on why the teen reader audience needs to have a literature all their own: “This group, this constituency, has got a set of concerns and interests as serious and complex as any other population. So why doesn’t it feel exactly like they have a literature all to themselves?” (Donelson & Nilsen, 1997, p. 100).

Note: On ALA’s 2000-2005 Most Frequently Challenged Author list, Chris Lynch is listed for 2004.

Cynthia Voigt on learning vs. knowing:

Cynthia Voigt, author of Dicey’s Song, When She Hollers, Izzy, Willy-Nilly, A Solitary Blue, and Homecoming, defends the problem novel, and sees it as a way of learning rather than knowing for youth, with the opinion that one must always be learning. She has this to say about the process of learning vs. knowing in the reading of problem novels: “If I expect myself to be learning, my attitude towards experiences, people, the whole side show, is characterized by questions and curiosity; probably more important, my understanding of who I am, myself, is that I am changing, growing, adding to myself. If I expect myself to know, then I stand before the world as a completed creature—and I am bound to be a disappointment to everybody concerned in the encounter…I don’t envy kids, the young, and I don’t regret the years I’ve got on them, but one of the things I cherish about teaching is that constant reminder, unspoken but clear, that learning, not knowing, is what its’ about” (Donelson & Nilsen, 1997, p. 86). 

Recently, Kerri100 wrote an interesting blog entry on reading banned books and controversial titles, and how Judy Blume’s novel Forever became more popular among students once it was banned. Here, I’ve included some of Judy Blume’s thoughts on censhorship:

Judy Blume, author of Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, Tiger Eyes, and Forever (along with many others), writes about the fear inherent in censorship and her worries that censorship will prevent the reading and writing of great books in a way that young readers will end up losing out: “Fear. I believe that censorship grows out of fear, and because fear is contagious, some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfies their need to feel in control of their children’s lives. This fear is often disguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if their children don’t read about it, their children won’t know about it. And if they don’t know about it, it won’t happen… it’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” (quote found on the Judy Blume Official Website).

Interesting fact: On ALA’s list of 100 most frequently challenged books 1990-2000, Judy Blume’s Forever was #8, Blubber was #32, Deenie was #46, Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret was #62, and Tiger Eyes was #78. Overall, on ALA’s list of most frequently challenged books from 2000-2005, Judy Blume was listed in every single year. (100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000)

Read more here about Judy Blume:

JSTOR article (Judy Blume: New classicism for kids)

Judy Blume Official Website

Judy Blume author profile and interview 

Audio interview with Judy Blume (Wiredforbooks)

 ALA Challenged and Banned Books

And finally, Newbery Winner Richard Peck takes the YA literary stage…

Richard Peck has written many YA novels, including The River Between Us, Fairweather, A Long Way from Chicago, Are You in the House Alone?, Remembering the Good Times, Sound and Silences, A Year Down Yonder, Strays Like Us, Father Figure, The Ghost Belonged to Me , Ghost I Have Been, The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts, Secrets of the Shopping Mall, Lost in Cyberspace, On the Wings of Heroes, Anonymously Yours, The Last Safe Place on Earth, Close Enough to Touch, and more. 

So, what does Richard Peck, an author of the problem novel, have to say about the genre and the writing process itself?

Peck (1992) suggests that problem novels must not be overly dramatic, must not trivialize the problems youth face, and must not be didactic. He states that in his own writing for the young reader, he spares “them any hint of…exceedingly raw material. They’ve already heard these stories from their own parents, and they don’t believe them” (p. 72).

He further suggests that authors of problem novels must be careful not to trivialize the “very real problems of people who aren’t supposed to be having any,” and states that “books may well be the only alternative points of view our readers ever encounter. At our most optimistic, we can even hope the theme puts the readers’ feelings of being pressured into some kind of perspective” (p. 73). 

Peck speaks of how problem novels can help overcome the distance people tend to put between themselves and the problems around them: “It’s only human to distance the self from the threatening, and the defenses of the young are higher than ours. Still, I wanted to try a book they couldn’t deny. I called it Princess Ashley, and its about what I think is the ultimate challenge for the young now: peer group conformity in an era when it has assumed the authority that once resided in parents and teachers” (p. 74).

Finally, Peck speaks of the difficulties inherent in writing for a teen audience, no matter how realistic and genuine you try to be: “even when you spend a lifetime in pursuit of the [young audience], adolescents remain the most mysterious of readers…They believe passionately in surfaces—masks, uniforms, poses—and yet when you pierce their defenses, they seem relieved to see you” (p. 75).

Part 1: First, some background on the problem novel… 

In recently thinking about the children’s problem novel for another project, I also wondered: what is happening on the YA problem novel scene these days, since teens were the original target audience for problem novels? Are problem novels increasing in popularity? Are the problem-topics in YA fiction growing in variety and frequency, and how are authors and publishers dealing with censorship concerns from the public? And what is the opinion of the youth who are reading these books? Do they criticize the writing? Praise it? Find it engaging?

The teen problem novel, a sub-genre of realistic fiction, is also referred to as the social problem novel, the American problem novel, new realism, and problem fiction. Sometimes problem novels are viewed as ‘coming of age’ novels. But no matter what they are called, the primary criteria is that the core of the plot involves the protagonist facing a substantial problem, conflict, or dilemma that must be dealt with and cannot be avoided. Sheila Egoff (1980), a critic of young people’s literature, suggests that in the typical problem novel, “conflict is integral to the plot and characters, and resolution of conflict has wide implications growing out of the personal vision or experience of the writer” (p. 67). In an interview with Aurora Online, Egoff offers some further reflections on the problem novel, including her opinion that problem novel writing has improved over the years: Interview with Sheila Egoff.

Here are a few problem novels you may have heard of: Queenie Peavy (Richard Burch), The Summer of the Swans (Betsy Byars), Forever (Judy Blume), Dicey’s Song (Cynthia Voigt), Dear Nobody (Berlie Doherty), Homecoming (Cynthia Voigt), We All Fall Down (Robert Cormier), The Chocolate War (Robert Cormier), Throwaways (Ian Strachan), Stone Cold (Robert Swindell), The Silent Storm (Sherry Garland), A Summer to Die (Lois Lowry), Tell Me Everything by Caroline Coman, I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This (Jacqueline Woodson), Peter (Kate Walker), and Out of Control (Norma Fox Mazer).

A bit of history on the problem novel: While many children’s problem novels are being published in today’s literature, the problem novel was originally aimed at the youth audience, and dates back to the 1960s and 1970s. It has been suggested that the birth of the problem novel occurred in 1964, when Emily Neville’s It’s Like This, Cat was awarded the Newbery Medal. These novels introduced a trend towards a new level of ‘hard reality,’ or a painfully honest and truthful portrayal of life problems, such as divorce and separation, nontraditional families, alcoholism, drugs, sexuality, alienation, illness, death, poverty, homelessness, foster care, domestic violence, abuse, and so forth. Many problem novels began to portray parents more honestly, letting go of the “Leave it to Beaver” and “The Brady Bunch” portrayal of parenting, and recognizing the reality of abuse, abandonment, divorce, and other family problems and dysfunctions.

What do problem novels offer youth? A chance to feel connection with other youth experiencing similar problems, an opportunity to build empathy and compassion toward other youth with problems, and a chance to identify with the protagonist’s emotions and struggles. In dealing with the subject of death, for example, the problem novel allows youth to encounter grieving patterns and realistic emotional responses and coping strategies. The problem novel can also be praised for its ability to subvert the idea of teens as passive and powerless, and show them instead as resourceful, resilient, and active individuals who are capable of coping with their problems.

But, does everyone share a positive attitude towards the problem novel? No, definitely not.  There is an undeniable controversy surrounding the content of some problem novels; opinions and reactions are varied, depending on the writing style, types of problems, and extent of detail discussed in each novel. Barbara Feinberg, for example, has posted an article online which takes a more critical approach to the problem novel, in which she states her concerns that some problem topics such as incest, domestic abuse, and death are simply too difficult for young readers to deal with, and that these readers are being taught to abandon fantasy and are instead led towards a stark and difficult reality before they are ready (Barbara Feinberg: Reflections on the problem novel). Of course, Feinberg is writing more about children here, but many parents share similar concerns about their teens’ reading choices. In Publishers Weekly, the novel Junk (about teenagers and drug/heroin addiction) was criticized by parents who found it “frightening and even morally wrong that a children’s book should deal with these issues.” For further reading about opinions on the problem novel, check out the ALAN review article “The Problem Novel in a Conservative Age.”

Much literature written about the problem novel is written from the perspective of adults, but leaves out the readers themselves; what would teens have to say on some of these topics? Much of the current research does not seem to take their opinions into account, and focuses more on what parents, librarians, and educators feel is best for young people to read about. What about the teens? They are active readers, they are information-seekers, and they are creators of experience. Does this not also apply to their interaction with the YA literature?

It seems that one of the important factors to remember is that there is a difference between a poor sub-genre of literature, and poor writing itself. As Egoff (1980) points out, it’s not the problem novel or the problem topics she is opposed to, but the poor writing that they sometimes contain. It can be difficult to mimic real-life problems and achieve successful verisimilitude in fiction, and to write a deep, sensitive, and honest portrayal of today’s youth’s problems. Problem novel writing that is overly-dramatic, simplistic, or naïve, with a lack of realistic emotion, believable plot, strong setting, and in-depth characters is never going to be able to realistically portray problems in a way that will be engaging, believable, and deeply moving for youth.

One of the most frequent bits of advice found in the literature about problem novels? Don’t be didactic! Teens don’t want to be lectured and they don’t want to be talked down to. Chris Lynch, author of Shadow Boxer, Iceman, Gypsy Davey, and Blue-Eyed Son, suggests that “writing about the great lurch from childhood to adulthood is just as frightening, exhilarating, complicated and dangerous as living it was (remember that?). If you talk down to your audience it does not matter if you get ten pages of glowing press. They will reject you. Soft-pedal your message, and they will reject you. Think for one moment that younger readers will accept dishonesty or half-hearted work, and see what happens to you. Anyone who thinks that writing for younger readers is an easy way of breaking into the game, should just stay on the bench” (Donelson & Nilsen, 1997, p. 100).

Here are some interesting websites that offer further perspectives and information on the problem novel: 

http://aurora.icaap.org/index.php/aurora/article/view/42/55 (Aurora Online)

http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter04-05/problemnovel.htm (Barbara Feinberg)

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring98/lemieux.html (ALAN Review)

Stay tuned for Problem Novel Part II: A closer look at Newbery Medal winner Richard Peck, who offers a personal perspective about his writing process and views on the problem novel…

References:

Burch, R. (1973). The new realism. In V. Haviland (Ed.), Children and literature views and reviews (pp. 281-287). Dallas: Scott, Foresman, and Company.

Donelson, K. & Nilsen, A. P. (1997). Literature for today’s young adult (5^th ed.). NY: Longman.

Egoff, S. (1980). Thursday’s child: Trends and patterns in contemporary children’s literature. Chicago, American Library Assocation.

Hamilton, M. (1988). Aurora Online with Sheila Egoff: Outspoken critic and companion of children’s literature. Aurora Online. Retrieved March 4, 2008 from http://aurora.icaap.org/index.php/aurora/article/view/42/55. 

Peck, R. (1992). Problem novels for readers without any. In Monseau, V. R. & Salvner, G. M. (Eds.), Reading their world: The young adult novel in the classroom (pp. 71-76). Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook Publishers.