Skip to main content
Like
Create new Glog
previous
next
Email share
103 views | 0 likes | 0 reposts
Literature is one way that teens can work through intense feelings or difficult situations. Teen lit needs to speak to teenagers, wherever they're coming from--which may not be a happy, carefree place.
Teen angst is one prevalent experience; angst can derive from specific traumas or it can be a generalized feeling, not provoked by anything in particular. Teen literature needs to address both experiences in order to serve a wider spectrum of teen readers.
Further Reading "Books that Help, Books that Heal." Bodart, Joni Richards. Young Adult Library Services. Fall 2006, 5.1. "Freak Out or Melt Down: Teen Responses to Trauma and Depression." Jones, Jami L. Young Adult Library Services. Fall 2008. 7.1. "Todays Teens, Their Problems, and Their Literature." Carroll, Pamela Sissi. English Journal. 86.3.
Just in Case, Meg Rosoff. Luna, Julie Ann Peters. Fat Kid Rules the World, K.L. Going. Debbie Harry Sings in French, Meagan Brothers. Define Normal, Julie Ann Peters. Lessons from a Dead Girl, Jo Knowles. An Abundance of Katherines, John Green. Looking for Alaska, John Green. Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson. Weetzie Bat, Francesca Lia Block. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie. You Don't Know Me, David Klass. Saint Iggy, K.L. Going. Story of a Girl, Sara Zarr. Smack, Melvin Burgess.
Some of my friends prefer to read books about sex, drinking, or family problems. When I read those, I don't always feel like I can relate, but after reading a book like that, I feel better about my life and my problems. It makes me feel lucky.
Reviews constantly refer to the independence, tone, or tradition of Holden Caulfield when reviewing books with male first-person narrators.. Even when the only commonality between the two works is the presence of a dissatisfied, sarcastic male narrator, the comparison continues to be called into service.
First thing I do when I get a new book? I read the blurbs on the book jacket. I've noticed that a lot of teen book blurbs talk about how the book that I'm reading resurrects Holden Caulfied, updates Catcher in the Rye for the 21st century.
I mean, can't they stop comparing teen books to a novel that was written 57 years ago!
The librarian has selected teen fiction published within the past 10 years, with the following criteria in mind: 1) the book deals with a specific trauma or teen issue, or 2) the character(s) are precoccupied with a sense of doom/ennui, and/or undertake a search for meaning/direction in their lives and 3) the book's theme is ultimately redemptive. (Click book cover to see full-sized image.)
I'm more likely to read fiction if the main character is male. And I appreciate it when the author tries to write the way I really talk. Even though the way we talk changes all the time, I can always tell when the author makes an effort to make his characters believable.
Readability Factors: Authors writing for teen audiences MUST speak to their readers in a way that resonates--teenage narrators need to sound like teenagers. Realistic teen fiction must deal with Real Teen Issues, and these issues may be be more adult than parents and educators exptect. However, realistic teen fiction reflects real life, and these are the issues with which teens grapple .
Image: Rachel Caiano, http://flickr.com/photos/7415955@N08/
Image taken from http://www.welldressedlibrarian.com/pages/page1.html#public.
Angsty Teen Fiction
Compiled by Rachael Dreyer
During a tough time, it helped to read about characters with similar experiences. I could talk about events in a book much more easily than I could talk about events in my own life.
And then I took the advice people would give about what happened with the book, and applied it to my own situation. It helped.
