It is finally happening. Young adult literature is bringing relevant issues to the forefront. It is growing along with our young adults. It has been a tough road because "young adults" just don't fit in to one category. They are too big to be considered children and not quite big enough to be considered an adult. So where do they fit in? Don't they experience the same angst and troubles that adults do? Granted, most adults have more maturity, responsibilities, life experience, and hopefully, a little more wisdom. But when it's all said and done, the core of the problems are all the same. At the core, young adults have the same feelings, desires, and fears that most adults do. They experience love and loss, failure and success, power and helplessness, freedom and abandonment. They are little grown-ups developing into mature, responsible, wise, and experienced big grown-ups. The literature that is now available to these young people allows them to finally grow into their own voice.
As I read the many book reviews, required novels for the course, and my own chosen novels for this course, I became more and more excited for young adults. The various topics sparked my own passion for reading. Religion, history, culture, sex, acceptance, romance, grief, love, suicide, racism, science, forgiveness, bullying, abuse; oh my goodness, can the subject matter get any better? The subject matter is finally changing with our youth and the youth is changing right before our very eyes. YAL has come on board with the various struggles and issues that seep into our youth’s lives. As much as we “the adult world” may not want to admit it, these issues are prevalent with our adolescents. As they search to find their voice; they make decisions; they make mistakes; they make changes. It’s these changes, whether good or bad that are allow our youth to discover who they are and maybe more importantly who they want to be.
In Robin Brande’s Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, Mena is searching for her voice in her religious world and in what remains. But along the way, she makes a decision that impacts many lives. Good or bad, she has to live with consequences. Her journey takes a turn that she never thought she would take. But she evolves. She changes. She grows up. Isn’t that what we ask of our youth? Isn’t that what we want for ourselves? Her journey took her on a spiritual quest that allowed her to become a better human being. In the mix of it all, she found her voice.
True, the characters in these novels do not always find their voice. But they search for it. It’s the search that allows change within them. In Paula Jolin’s In the Name of God, the main character truly is on a quest to be heard. She wants to make a statement; she wants to leave her mark on the world that says, “I am here! – My people are worthy! You will see us! – How dare you ignore us! - How dare you underestimate our worth!” She does evolve. She evolves into a frustrated young woman. She feels helpless and abandoned. Her culture is at stake. A decision needs to be made. Good or bad. Does it really matter? I think that when it is all said and done, it’s not the path that allows the voice to be heard. It’s the change within that has the voice screaming at the top of our lungs, “I am free!” Good or bad, YAL is paving the way for this inner freedom.
These novels are showing the youth that it’s ok to feel the way they feel. This acceptance is allowing a path of discussion. It’s opening the lines of communication. This has been lacking in our society for so long. Take for instance, Eric Wright’s My Dead Girlfriend. Aside from its wit and charm, there is an overwhelming message about the effects of bullying. In the past, bullying was swept under the rug. “Boy will be boys. Toughen up. Don’t be a wimp. Sticks and stones…” Blah Blah Blah. But we are now seeing a change in dialogue. It is fun graphic novels like Eric Wright’s that are paving the way for this discussion. It’s giving a voice to this type of epidemic. Wright does use graphic illustrations for entertainment purposes to help the cause. But the cause is well stated and heard.
In What Happened to Cass McBride, Gail Giles takes the reader into the devastating effects of what happens when someone isn’t heard, when their voice has been stifled. Suicide is a choice that many teens face. Good or bad. Unfortunately, the choice to commit suicide has a very loud message. “I will force you to hear my voice! – I will force you to see my worth!” By that point, it is too late for that young adult. But their voice is no longer unheard. They made a choice that finally allowed them to speak. It shouldn’t take death to open the lines of communication. It shouldn’t take death to have our children’s voices heard. YAL has burst open this topic. This is something that needs to be heard!
YAL is making it easier to discuss topics that have been hushed for so long. Sex, drugs, rock-n-roll is no longer a stigma of the sixties. These topics are setting the trend for YAL. Discussions are no longer taboo. YAL has opened the lines of communication so that young adults along their path of self discovery can make easier choices, less mistakes, and change for the better. Bravo to YAL for making it ok for our youth find their own voices.
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1 comment:
Hi Lisa! My apology for the delay in getting you this feedback.
This is a very nice posting--I especially was captured by your introduction, which does a nice job of tying together many of the different pieces of this course.
As I read your comments, I couldn't help but make connections among your four books. The first two you discuss are strikingly set within a world that is increasingly "fundamental" in its approach to religion (or, perhaps more accurately, a world in which fundamentalism is a significant feature or characteristic). Like a couple of others in the course, your reading seems to point to the emergence of dogma or fundamentalism as a key idea to be dealt with in the current era.
I also was struck by the similarities between the last two novels you discuss: both are about bullying. I hadn't thought about this until I read your comments about Cas McBride, but really, Cass is both a bully and a victim of various bullies, as are the other teens in the novel (though not perhaps the young man who commits suicide). YA novelists seem to be aware of the multiple forms of bullying and violence that occur in the world, and are ready to explore it here in America, even if we don't have a society like the one depicted in the Syria-set novel.
In any case, I found your writing here, as I hope you can tell, very stimulating and informative--thank you for sharing!
TP
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