What a Girl Wants, Part 4

It’s up!  Swing by Chasing Ray to read the latest discussion on issues in YA lit.  This time around: why DO teenage girls need YA lit?  What topics can be covered in this genre that aren’t covered in adult fiction?  Here’s my response, but there are lots of longer insightful ones to be found over at Colleen’s…

I’m new to the field of YA lit so I can’t claim to be an expert, and I don’t remember spending much time on “teen lit” when I was a teenager myself.   I recall stealing my older sister’s teen romance novels when I was a pre-teen, but that had more to do with wanting to seem grown.  I vividly remember reading Mildred D. Taylor’s novels more than once, and despite the protagonist’s young age, the subject matter struck me as very adult; it was my introduction to life in the Jim Crow South, and was probably the start of my lasting interest in the US history of racial violence.  I wasn’t learning that history in my suburban Toronto high school, so I suppose I’d say that YA lit should make accessible those topics made “unmentionable” by (well-intending?) adults.  When I teach my course on lynching, my college students are often outraged that such vital history wasn’t covered in their school curriculum.  But what’s the “right” age to learn about lynching?  I’ve written a picture book story that touches on mob violence but no publisher has expressed interest, despite the success of Bird, which also deals with “sensitive” issues.  I think any subject can be made comprehensible to young readers without being gratuitously explicit or traumatic, but you’d need to find a press with the courage to take on potential controversy.

The more YA lit I read, the more I’m struck by the split: novels that are about teens versus novels that are marketed to teens.  The latter are often marked by “lite” writing and silly gimmicks that aim to make the novel seem experimental or innovative in terms of form.   But real daring resides in the writing itself, and I think teens deserve novels on every topic, told from as many different points of view as possible.   Books that offer narrative possibility (instead of filling in all the blanks) open the door for continued conversation, so I’d also say that we need adults who have the courage to face the daunting questions that teens need to ask.