It’s always nice to see YA lit in the news (not counting casting news for Hunger Games because oh my God, hasn’t this movie been finished yet?), but its latest appearance, in Meghan Cox Gurdon’s Wall Street Journal piece entitled “Darkness Too Visible,” might just be its most contentious yet. (You can read Publishers Weekly‘s rebuttal here, Salon‘s here, and you can find links to about a zillion others by going to the fascinating Twitter topic that emerged as a result of the WSJ piece, #YAsaves.)
Cox Gurdon begins her piece with an anecdote of a mother who entered a bookstore to find a novel for her 13-year-old daughter and left empty-handed and disenchanted by the lack of what she felt were appropriate options for her child; everything was simply too dark. (Because, as you no doubt know, exposing your child to the fact that things like bullying, homosexuality, drinking, eating disorders, self-mutilation, and suicide exist is exactly how teenagers get into these things in the first place; nothing keeps your kid a stable and happy hetero like pretending that if he is absolutely anything else, he is the only one of his or her kind. Or, even more horrifying, a teenager from Nebraska might learn that–gasp!–not everyone in the world looks and lives exactly as she does.) And that, according to Cox Gurdon, is precisely the trouble with YA today: it’s no longer a given that every story will have a happy ending.
Banning books is bad enough, but when a book lover emerges to tear down a strong and beloved genre as “hideously distorted portrayals” of what are, for many teens, actually quite realistic depictions of their lives, it strikes a nerve in a way that is seldom seen among readers and writers of YA. Referring to the existences of these teen characters–and the writing of these authors, which specifically include Lauren Myracle, Sherman Alexie (I mean, seriously?), and uber-successful Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins, among others–as “depravity” certainly won’t make you any fans. (Possibly the most infuriating part of the article is where Cox Gurdon deliberately twists Alexie’s words to suggest that he thinks it’s OK to include said depravity because there’s worse out there on the Internet as opposed to appreciating the correct quote that he’s pleased that young adults still find books to be powerful considering how much is out there on the Internet, which is, actually, quite a lovely thing to note indeed.) Worse still, the “allowances” made by the author for fundamental YA lit such as Judy Blume’s earlier works including Forever and Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret are due to the fact that these titles are merely “objectionable” and not “grotesque.” Because yes, that’s how Judy Blume’s literary career deserves to be summed up: “Not grotesque.”
And yet, for someone who has so much to say on the subject of why today’s YA lit is terrible, Cox Gurdon doesn’t appear to have much knowledge on the subject–her recommendations for appropriate YA include books such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, which, while wonderful, is now seventy years old. Yes, teens should read it–I did when I was eleven and fell absolutely in love with it–but if that was the kind of book that the subject of Cox Gurdon’s original anecdote had been searching for, I’m pretty sure she would’ve been able to find it. What’s that you say, Ms. Cox Gurdon? The Beatles sure are good? I’ll be sure to check that out. In the meantime, perhaps you could actually do young adult literature the service of suggesting a few of the vast number of contemporary and fantasy YA novels which are wholly appropriate for adolescents instead of just tearing down the genre as a whole.
Clearly, I am a fan of so-called “Edgy YA“, but in truth, I do not find the shopper in Ms. Cox Gurdon’s opening paragraphs wholly unsympathetic; just because you want your child to learn about the cruelties of life doesn’t mean you have to thrust those lessons at her before she even hits puberty. If you are a mother, aunt, or general gift-giver who finds yourself in a similar conundrum to said shopper, here are a few recommendations for books written in the last decade that are safer for your preteen than a Miley Cyrus concert:
Falling in Love with English Boys by Melissa Jensen: In the interest of full disclosure, I may have picked this one up because it was written by my writing teacher, but that doesn’t explain why I couldn’t put it down. This story of two girls living in England nearly two centuries apart is alternately narrated by contemporary Cat and Regency-era Katherine, combining contemporary fiction with historical a la Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book and Christi Phillips’ The Rossetti Letter making for two enjoyable heroines with fun romance stories of their own.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan: A Harry Potter-esque series set in a world where Greek Gods exist, this series spans both gender and age in its fandom.
The Book of Luke by Jenny O’Connell: While this likable story of a girl and her friends’ attempt to tame a player is my favorite in O’Connell’s stable of teen fluff, Plan B, about a girl who discovers she has a brother who also happens to be a movie star is a fun one as well.
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale: An enjoyable Grimm’s-fairy-tale retelling about a girl with the ability to communicate with the geese she tends. I swear, it’s better than it sounds.
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison: Effectively Bridget Jones’ Diary for teenage girls, this book is a cute and funny way to introduce your daughter to the fact that Brits do chick lit so, so much better than we do.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney: While ordinarily I would not recommend a book I hadn’t read, the pickins for tween boys are so slim these days that this incredibly popular series spawned by a web comic absolutely requires a mention on any list of recommendations for the younger set.
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen: Truth be told, I appear to be the one YA lover in the world who is not wholly enamored by Sarah Dessen’s books–possibly because the fact that I’ve seen at least one terrible movie version–but if I had to recommend one (and I do, because she’s an extremely prolific YA author and your 13-year-old will probably enjoy her much more than I do), this would be it.
