YA Literature: The Promise of a Poorly Labeled Literary Genre

          Defining Young Adult (YA) Literature is difficult.  Publishers and book sellers would have us believe this is a genre of literature specifically for 12 to 18-year-olds.  But who among us really thinks of a 12-year-old as a young adult?  Most of the 12-year-olds I know are excited about becoming a teen on their next birthdays.  The fact is that the age range itself poses one of the biggest stumbling blocks when trying to define YA Literature.  Furthermore, what does this age range say about the millions of adult readers who devour popular YA titles?  In the end, I have to agree with Stephen Roxburgh's assessment.  Discussion of the intended audience of YA Literature gets in the way of defining it as an art form.  In The Art of the Young Adult Novel, he wrote that  "There is no difference between the young adult novel and the adult novel. There are distinctions to be made between them, but they are not different art forms" (2005, p.5).
          The Young Adult label may, in fact, do a disservice to this genre.  Labels can be a huge advantage to parents and teachers when trying to determine appropriate materials for the children they are guiding through the formative years.  Likewise, labels also lure those same adults with the promise of an easy solution.  On several occasions, when my busy life left me no time for the necessary investigations, I have made the big mistake of approving movies for my children to see based solely on the movie rating.  The YA label provides that same false sense of security.  Typically, a huge difference in maturity exists between the ages of 12 and 18.  Few books are able to successfully span that gap.  So why have a label that leads consumers to believe a wealth of such material is readily available?
          Our society, and most others, believes that adults have a responsibility to protect those not yet ready or able to protect themselves.  So, in that sense, I think there is a bit of the literary moralist living in all of us.  I am concerned about what my children read just as I am concerned about what they watch.  However, I am firmly against censorship.  At times, I've told my children "not yet" with regard to reading a book.  I value the teaching opportunities presented by good literature with challenging themes and recognize the need support my children in their efforts to grapple with such texts.  This includes making sure they are emotionally ready for the text and providing opportunities to discuss the text while reading it.  I carry the same concern and sense of responsibility into my future classroom.
          As Marc Aronson points out in his article entitled How Are Our Children Affected by the Books in Their Lives? (2004), books seldom influence children to behave in ways they don't want to behave.  His example is one to which every parent can relate.  Lovely bedtime stories often don't result in a sleeping child.  Were they that effective, hospitals would send new parents home armed with copies of Goodnight Moon.  That is not to say books can't produce positive results in our lives.   When I was 10 or 11,  I read The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1881) by Margaret Sidney.  At one point in the story, the Pepper children join forces to make raisin muffins.  After reading that passage, I went to our kitchen, pulled out Mom's Betty Crocker Cookbook, and made raisin muffins.  I was forever cured of my dislike of raisins.  I can think of a handful of similar examples that resulted from exposure to ideas represented in the books I read.  Interestingly, I cannot remember reading any book that produced a negative response aside from the occasional nightmare.  As an educator, I feel confident that students can read books for pleasure or for school without risk of being enticed into deviant or self-destructive behaviors.
          So, what should be the role of YA Literature in the English classroom?  Again, I have to return to this notion of YA  as art.  Art belongs in the classroom.  It informs us of the past and present.  It enlightens us as to the possibilities of the future.  Art engages us in a conversation about the most important issues facing humanity.  In Beyond the Pale, Aronson explains that, "Teaching young people about art gives them the ability to make something, a magic mirror that reveals more of themselves to themselves than they knew was there, and it gives them a connection to the great art and artists of the past, each of whom created another shard, another fraction of the reflecting glass" (2003, p.28)
          Teachers must sift through YA Literature in order to bring its masterpieces into the classroom.  The sheer volume of the genre makes this seem like an impossible task; however, organizations such as the Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA) make the process less daunting.  As I've learned from the Eva Perry Mock Printz Club , our high school students are capable of helping us locate these masterpieces as well.  High quality YA Literature is a powerful bridging tool.   Aronson advocates the use of YA as a bridge to span the generation gap.  He explains, "One way, then, to bridge the generation gap is to write a book that is so true, so powerful, it captures the essence of adolescence, rather than the vagaries of growing up in one time or another" (2003, p.88).  A hallmark of the classic is the quality of timelessness.  In Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics, Joan Kaywell demonstrates that contemporary literature can function as a bridge to facilitate understanding of literary canon (2000, Volume 4, Chapter 9).  The ability to expand the reader's understanding of the world is yet another indication of literary quality.  YA also has the ability to bridge understanding of cultures as Kaywell's book illustrates.  As the demographics of the American classroom continue to diversify, the value of YA will undoubtedly increase.
          It's a big job and an important one.  Turning our backs on the potential of YA Literature in the classroom would ultimately limit our students.  It is a far more exciting prospect to involve our students in discovering the classics of the future. 
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If I Stay Here on the Edge

Here is my latest bookcast for Bookhenge inspired by Gayle Forman's novel, If I Stay, and Michelle Jewett's  January 2011 English Journal article entitled Between Dreams and Beasts: Four Precepts for Green English Teaching.

Slow Reading as Collaborative Art

Many years ago Robert Schwartz, Professor of Fine Art at Ohio State University, taught me that art happens in the mind.  The expression that follows is simply craft.  Some people achieve greater success with the craft than others, but all people are wired to create.  His explanation has profoundly effected the way I view others.  I find myself always looking for the outward expression of the inward art.

Based on Schwartz's explanation, I believe reading is a collaborative art form.  The creation of art tends to be a solitary activity, so the collaborative nature of reading as art is unusual.  The writer creates a story and produces text.  The reader decodes the text and creates meaning.  As such, the art produced by the author is not finished until it has been read.  Furthermore, each reader will create unique meaning by adding his or her perspective.  The process is limited only by the number of people who choose to read a particular book.  But is all created meaning, and by extension all reading, equally artistic?  No.

John Miedema, author of Slow Reading, makes a wonderful argument for the type of slow reading characterized by rapt attention usually reserved for pleasure reading.  He is clear that there are many ways to read slowly.  It is not the same for every reader.  However, when individuals are permitted to read at what Miedema calls a "reflective" or "voluntary pace", richer meaning is created.

Is reading at a slower pace reasonable in the 21st Century?  We are constantly bombarded with information that requires us to read.  Perhaps, a balanced approached is best.  Miedema points out that not all texts must be approached slowly.  But some should.  The choice of what to read slowly is at the discretion of the reader.  The reader will more thoroughly synthesize what is read, which will result in a more meaningful expression of the knowledge created.

So, what does this mean for the classroom?  I think it is important that educators not overwhelm students with copious amounts of reading.  At the same time, we must help them practice techniques to quickly and effectively scan texts for information.  A balanced approach is necessary and appropriate.
Students must be trained to read slowly and deconstruct layers of meaning.  Teaching active reading skills is one way to accomplish this.  Highlighting and making notes in the margins are simple active reading techniques.  Unfortunately, students cannot make use of these tools with school owned textbooks.  Photo copies can be used for short passages.  Another highly interactive form of reading is done through the use of e-readers and on-line texts that can be highlighted and annotated by the student.  Technology may actually help teachers to slow student reading and increase comprehension, synthesis, and meaning creation.
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Nothing Scares Me

 

Nothing Scares Me is a play on words.  Find out why in my latest bookcast for Bookhenge.