YAL in the Contemporary World: 2007

Throughout the world today there are many young adult novels that can relate to numerous children and young adults. This is a relevant time to justify the novels that I've read in the second unit of my course. Each of the four fictional and realistic novels that I've read could all relate in some way to issues that have occurred in the contemporary world today. These issues include the events of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, displacement of families and friends due to Hurricane Katrina, as well as the current War in Iraq.

These issues as well as the issues reflected upon the novels I've read, Inside Out: Portrait of an Eating Disorder, Grief Girl: My True Story, Almost Home, and Just Listen interest young adults today. A similar theme between each novel is the wanting of comfort, love, and affection among the narrator and other characters in the novels. In the world today there is so much occurring that, at times, we as Americans can't control. With the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, the obstruction of people's lives from Hurricane Katrina, and the never ending War occurring in Iraq, children and teens are distressed with anger and fear of surviving everyday life. Children know only what they are told until they view something themselves, and the events listed above if witnessed hands on would not only be psychologically and emotionally upheaval, but life changing as well. Based on the events occurred young children/adults must face what has become of their world after these tragic events occur.

The novels that I as well as other students in my course have read all incorporate this theme that young adult readers search for. Readers search to be understood and look for novels and characters that they themselves can relate to. In particular, Erin Vincent's Grief Girl: My True Story, Jessica Blank's Almost Home, and Sarah Dessen's Just Listen relate to other novels students have read in this course. Novels such as, 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult, New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, and Translucent by Kazuhiro Okamoto. 19 Minutes is a novel identifying all that can occur regarding events leading up to a murder/killing in 19 minutes. New Moon is a novel expressing the life of a young girl and the problems she faces with boys, as Translucent introduces the reader to the life of a teenage shy girl that tends to simply disappear when she's nervous. Young Adult Literature can relate to both male and female young adult students regarding the topics that the above novels include, such as feelings of being alone, family dysfunction, and all in all starting one's life over again.

Given the fact that each novel incorporates family issues and struggles is further identified in a website introducing the effects of dysfunctional families and the website itself identifies how to recognize and overcome these effects. There are numerous services and online resources that are beneficial to any child or family member. Included in the website it states, "Family dysfunction can be any condition that interferes with healthy family functioning. Most families have some periods of time where functioning is impaired by stressful circumstances (death in the family, a parent's serious illness, etc.). Healthy families tend to return to normal functioning after the crisis passes. In dysfunctional families, however, problems tend to be chronic and children do not consistently get their needs met. Negative patterns of parental behavior tend to be dominant in their children's lives."

There is another website that introduces the true stories of male and female characters and how they cope with issues that arose in their everyday lives. Included in the website it states that Lifetime Movie Network "(LMN) has the most unbelievable stories, all pulled from real life, and the viewer should get ready to be shocked at just how crazy the truth can be." Personally, being a fan of this television network opened my eyes to all that can occur in a young child/adults life and how they not only learn, but grow from these daily lessons learned. This website in and of itself is beneficial to relating issues of everyday life to the plot and storyline of the movies narrated. Viewers and readers of the above works of art listed can view and compare them to events occurring in the contemporary world on a personally basis. I find it relevant to address two novels that I chose to read in relation to this website. Sarah Dessen's novel, Just Listen is a realistic piece while Erin Vincent's Grief Girl: My True Story is fiction based, both novels incorporate the life of the main character and how both females live their lives with the distress and coping of the loss of family and friends in one way or another.

Another website that introduces its viewers to a paperback novel, Real Teens: A Contemporary Snapshot of Youth Culture, by George Barna is HOMEWARD's website. This website is simply encouraging parents and building families. It includes an excerpt from Barna's novel identifying key topics and terms included in his work. It incorporates the lifestyles and influences of teens, daily routine, as well as the media in everyday teen life and the effects it has on them. It is stated in regards to a teens daily routine that, "For today's young people, routine is the enemy: They love the hectic, unpredictable, ever-changing, fast pace of their existence. When things seem to get slow or predictable, they deem life too boring and meaningless. To most young people, a life that lacks surprises and discontinuity seems to be no life at all." Although this quote from Barna seems to be true, a teen doesn't wish harm on themselves or their loved ones. It's true that they don't want to live their lives as a daily routine, and that they want something to spice it up a bit, but does that mean their whole life needs to change? I think not, all teens seek adventure and love, but overtly wish for the love of a healthy family first. The literature read by myself and my classmates illustrates this theme and is incorporated in the current age and trends of this contemporary world as we know it today.