There seems to be a growing trend with YA books that are depicting reality and with that the stigma that YA books are dark. Last night I sat and listened to the discussion that aired on NPR with Maureen Johnson, whom is a brilliant debater & Meghan Cox Gurdon, who wrote the YA article in the Wall Street Journal that sparked a fury of comments with the #YAsaves on twitter. Before I air my thoughts and ask your opinions on the matter of YA, I want to point that I think it's great YA is being discussed. I agreed with some of the points being made on both sides, and as I listened to their discussions with an open mind, I'm still totally frustrated YA is deemed dark. I do understand why some people feel some YA books are dark, but that's only a small number of YA books, and that comment shouldn't be made for YA books as whole.
Yes, some of the more realistic YA books have dark undertones, but to classify YA as a whole for being dark is an ignorant comment to make, at least I feel that way. I feel what the one sided comment of YA is dark fails to mention is that YA offers is a vast assortment of genres from contemporary, paranormal, dystopian, romance, chick lit, historical and more. I'm amazed at the large variety of books and genres teens have to choose from in YA. I wish I had a forth of the books that teens now have when I was a teen. Though I didn't deal with some of the darker things, or as I like to call these books, a reflection of reality, I had friends who did. I wish I had a book like 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher when I was teen when I dwelt with the suicide of a friend of mine. I wish I had a book to read like Cut, to help me be more understanding of a friend who cut themselves. Not that I wasn't, but I couldn't fathom why someone would want to do that to themselves. Having read Rage and Cut, I feel like I have more of an understanding of that. Do these books give me the urge to this? Absolutely not, but it helps me gain a small perspective on why people do that. I didn't have these type of books as a teen, and the reality is these things and more happen all the time in real life and these are the things that some teens deal with every day. Teens deal with far more than we adults did as kids. I mean look at the news. Many of those head line are far worse than what we read in YA books.
I agree that the subject matter in these books isn't for everyone, but I personally feel they need to be available for those teens who need help finding a voice, and need to know they're not the only ones. I personally don't review a lot of these type of YA books, but the ones I have reviewed I felt would have an impact on someone who reads my blog, which why I reviewed it. To say that YA is dark is liking say adult books are romance novels. Believe me, I was one of those who for a while thought, so I'm calling myself out for making an ignorant comment back in the day. With YA book today, there are more teens and tweens who are reading, parents have another outlet to connect with their kids and the teens at heart (adults) find an outlet to escape every day life. To say all YA is dark is saying books like:
Anna & The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Heist Society and Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter
The Iron Fey series by Julia Kagawa
Paranormalcy & Surpernatural by Kiersten White
Forgive My Fins & Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
are all dark. I could seriously go on and on with my list, but I just listed the first few that came to mind. There's a HUGE amount of YA books that are far from dark. What I find comical about the YA is dark comment is the fact that as kids we are taught silly rhythms and fairy tales that are very dark. Ring Around the Rosie, London Bridges and even the Grimm's Brother Fairy Tales are often times deemed darker than your average YA books that depict reality, and dare I say some of my beloved Disney movies I enjoyed as a kid have dark undertones. For me personally, I'm getting tired of YA coming under attack. Here's what I'm hearing with this whole discussion, "It's okay to let our kids be read or watch movies with dark undertones because they may not understand it, but don't let teens read it because now they understand it." Really? I guess I don't see this point. My argument goes back to banned books. Parents are the only ones who should be up in their child's business, including what books they're reading. Not someone who makes a comment that all YA is dark and isn't suitable for all kids.
I'm sorry, I'm seriously saying things I've said before, but as I listened to the discussion last night I became so frustrated that I felt the need to post my thoughts. The last thing that made me mad was the last caller who made the comment that "there isn't anything between Spongebob and Twilight." Really? I've got a whole list of awesome middle grade books I've reviewed on my children's book review site Mundie Kids, which in fact are between the Sponge Bob and Twilight books. There is a HUGE assortment of middle grades that I feel are just an enjoyable to read as some YA books. Much like the YA, there are more MG books now days than what I had. In my middle grade library Stephen King books were found next to The Baby Sitter's Club or Sweet Valley High (okay not literally next to them, but close enough). Believe me, that didn't corrupt me, if anything Stephen King scared the crap out me.
Books are powerful, no matter what side of the discussion you're on. They move us, they inspire us, the make us think, they help us find our voices, they open our minds and they cause us to take action and sometimes the give us the freedom our minds need to escape the daily grind, the daily stresses and the daily things we have to face. They can help us imagine or can be a source of comfort. Often times a book can be a friend. I'm curious, what your thoughts are on this whole issues? What YA books do you wish you had as a teen? Is there one you've read recently that changed your way of thinking or is there one that's saved you? What book has inspired you?
Be sure to go read a great article written and posted by YA author Scott Westerfeld on his blog here.
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What gets me about the interview is when Meghan Gurdon says, "I'm talking about a particular trend in Young Adult Literature. And there is absolutely unsparing [?] there is a wallowing in darkness and misery and depravity and mutilation..."
ReplyDeleteShe's basically saying that the entirety of these books is the darkness, when those of us who read YA books on a regular basis know that there is always a struggle toward the light.
That's what upsets me most about her article and this interview. She completely ignores the context of the darkness in these books. She speaks and writes in a way that tries to convince others that these books glory in the dark and never once rise up out of it.
She reminds me of a woman I knew briefly from a Creative Writing class I took in college. This was when Harry Potter was first getting big (maybe around book 3). The woman believed that the Harry Potter books are evil and that they promote darkness and about a million other vile things. I asked her if she had ever read the books and she said, "I don't have to read something to know that it is evil."
I agree with your comments & you gave good examples on non-dark YA books. I'm also glad you are making a distinction between MG and YA books. I've just been having a discussion about that and someone said the "big 6" publishers are calling YA 12-18 now? I don't see that myself and really hope the distinction stays. As an educator, we need that distinction to help with content in our school classrooms and libraries, not to mention to help parents that can't read every book their kid reads first.
ReplyDeleteA Tale of Many Reviews...12-18 does seem like a rather big range, especially when emotional maturity develops so rapidly in that gap between late elementary and high school.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking that the first book I read as a child that seemed dark was Bridge To Terabithia. Not to ruin it for anyone who hasn't read it, but it was the first book I remember reading where a character died. I was horrified, but still loved the book.
That also leads me to wonder about books on, say, the Newbery award list. Some of them are quite dark and they aren't even geared toward teens. For example, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. In the very first pages the main characters parents are savagely murdered!
These are mostly random thoughts and comments of mine, but I felt I needed to share them with others who might understand.
Good point about fairy tales being 'dark' as well! My mum has an old book of original Grimms tales and I still remember her calmly reading aloud about talking drops of blood and the wicked queen who danced to death on burning hot shoes at Snow White's wedding. I enjoyed stories like that for the same reason I enjoy YA today-- there is darkness, yeah, but the point is there is also light in everything.
ReplyDeleteThe notion that young people should only be exposed to the airy, untroubled side of everything, even in literature, is unrealistic and a little scary. I didn't listen to the debate between Maureen and Meghan Gurdon, but she sounds like Laura Mallory, that lady who lead a crusade against the Harry Potter books because she thought they were evil. (Not unlike Amy's colleague she mentioned in her comment.) Great, thought-provoking post.
What bothered me most about the article—aside from making me wonder if MCG had actually finished any of the books she was critiquing out of context—was that she seemed to imply that we must protect the "normal" children from getting ideas about things like cutting from books.
ReplyDeleteHow can she not see that the so-called normal children (is there a such thing these days? Was there ever?) would benefit in many ways from learning more about the issues that other kids ARE CERTAINLY going through?
Whether it's simply information they acquire, or increased empathy for other kids, or even just gratitude that they have it so much better than the characters in their books, kids are too smart to do something like start cutting simply because they read it in a book.
If a book gives a teen the idea to cut, that is surely a symptom of a larger problem, and not the cause. Parents need to look deeper, and probably closer to home, for the real causes.
This reminds me of one of the best and worst things about books: You can interpret a book any way you want to. What you take away from a book is completely up to you. If you are a "glass is half full" kind of person then you may only dwell on the negative in these books and not see the positive message there. No one knows what every single individual is going to learn from a particular story. It’s too personal. And you should never say someone can’t read a certain type of book, it only makes us want to go and read it immediately!
ReplyDeleteTere Kirkland FTW! We agree with her comment 100%.
ReplyDeleteLike the Mundie Moms, we could see some valid points on both sides of the argument. But at the end of the day, MCG was painting with too broad a brush. She was calling her opinions facts and using her values as norms. That's fine for an op-ed (which the second but not the first WSJ piece was labeled) -- but it's not okay to insist that your views are right, b/c by default you are then saying that everyone else's are wrong. If she just wanted to state her opinions and raise awareness, then she could have done so without the provocative language.
Thank you for all your comments and sharing your thoughts about this. I've enjoyed reading them.
ReplyDeleteAmy- I agree. I also think that censorship is getting out of hand with books. I personally feel like that's at the heart of some of this debate.
A Tale Of Many Reviews- Thank you! I personally think YA is for 13 yrs & up and I even state that on my MG review blog. I review books on here for 13 yrs and up and on Mundie Kids 12 & under. I agree, I think a distinction between the two is very important. In the end, it's up to a parent if they feel their tween is mature enough to read YA books.
Kat- Thank you so much and thank you for your thoughts. I loved your point that there's both light and dark in books. That's so true.
Tere- That's a very valid point. Whether it's in a book or in the news etc, kids are exposed to much worse things than they find in a book. Not saying they're aren't awful books out there, but not every book is for every reader.
Anonymous- Well said and I totally agree on both accounts! Banning books only drives up their sales.
We Heart YA- Exactly my thoughts. That was my whole issue with her article.
I think it's fantastic that teens now have books written for them. It was the same for me that kids went from reading the Baby Sitters Club to reading adult novels like Steven King.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you! There's absolutely no reason to stereotype an entire class of books because of a couple that could be considered "dark." Besides, dark books aren't encouraging theft or crime or whatever. All they are doing is expressing creativity that happens to be different. Who are they to judge the book and lump every other YA/MG book together with them? And besides, most of the people who are criticizing, aren't the ones reading them, and the ones reading them aren't compaining, even adults who read them. In other words, if the readers aren't criticizing, the obviously they don't see anything wrong with the books.
ReplyDelete