Holla Back, Young 'Un!

(I've updated this with a bunch of links about YA Literature below)

I apologize. I might, at some point, go back and add more hyper-links, but I figured I’d left my readers waiting so long . . .

Leave me with my illusions!

Young Adult literature is often seen as being exactly that: books for
teenagers -- and that's it.

However, a lot of great books get unread by people who would probably
enjoy and appreciate the writing, if they either A) knew about the
books, and/or B) weren't embarrassed to be reading "kiddie" books.

Think about Harry Potter for example. Here were books (I find it hard to think that anyone considers them strictly YA anymore) that a lot of adults dismissed as being childish. But as they grew in popularity (and, for some reason, infamy), parents started reading the books to see “what all the fuss was about.” Well, it turns out the fuss was about awesome books that were just as much mystery/thrillers as they were children’s fantasy. And as Harry grew, so did the books, so that they got to be as mature (and annoying) as a teenager can be. It’s one of the many reasons J.K. Rowling is a genius.

There are billions of reasons, though . . .

Luckily for you all, I have no compunctions going into the kids
sections of book stores (looking like the bearded pedophile I am) and
buying these books to bring you good tidings.

The book is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and it's a pretty
accurate look at the social hierarchy of high school from the
viewpoint of a freshman girl (I'm assuming, although I’m pretty sure more than one of you out there can relate). What's so great about the story is that there is clearly something that the narrator isn't telling us about what happened the
summer before she enters high school, and her quirks (such as rarely,
if ever speaking – like the title, Dave!), are somehow a result of this event. The mystery isn't really too hard to solve (one of the slight draw backs of the YA
genre), but it still is a good story.

An interesting thing about the YA genre is that just because a book is about children, it is not necessarily for children. For example, Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep is about a young girl from “the wrong side of the tracks” who ends up at a prestigious (read: rich) prep school and has to deal with not only being poor, but also simply being in high school. The subject matter is similar to Speak but the style, the content, is most certainly more “adult” than “young.” This is not to say that YA necessarily means “childish” (or that, conversely, “adult” literature is necessarily mature) it’s just that Prep feels like you need to have had adult experiences to connect with, whereas Speak makes sense as long as you’ve had high school experience.

Of course, a lot of high school kids probably have more “experience” than a lot of adults, but that’s another topic.

But it is the readers’ experience that is what makes YA able to straddle age-groups. Because, whereas teenagers may not connect with all the aspects of Prep (although, to be fair, Sittenfeld does a good job of painting high school relationships), adults have been to high school – for many, it was the greatest time of their lives – so reading YA actually makes sense. Considering many adults have teenagers of their own (you wacky Baby Boomers!), connections might be made that are even deeper than for those of us without.

What’s different about YA as a genre – as opposed to, say, science fiction or romance – is that it is more about audience than about content. So, while Prep probably falls under “literary fiction,” a book like Holes, by Louis Sachar (Wayside School, motherfu*@&$s!) is considered in the same genre as Speak. And it should, if that genre was labeled “awesome” (and, really, shouldn’t there be an “awesome” genre. I wonder where Dewey would put those decimals?). Holes – which was made into an excellent movie with Shia LeBouf (of “Even, Stevens” fame – well, I watched it) and the Fonz – is the story of a boy who is falsely convicted of theft and sent to a juvenile camp in the desert, where all day, every day, the boys are made to dig holes (once again, ingenious title). Sachar does a great job weaving the various characters and plot-lines (including moving back-and-forth in time), and keeps it whimsical enough for kids to enjoy, while clever enough for adults to not feel ridiculous.

Because that’s the other great feature of good YA: it makes sure that both kids and adults feel comfortable encountering it (think of teens, and how they balance those two age groups. Then think how touchy they can be. The last thing you want to do with that audience is talk-down-to or baby-up the writing. Try to be honest about yourself as a teen when you do this exercise). For example, although Eragon is wildly popular as a book (I think I heard somewhere the movie was not very good – someone needs to tell Jeremy Irons to stay out of fantasy movies), realistically, they do a poor job addressing adults. At least, they do a poor job of adults who have grown up reading science fiction/fantasy. Maybe this is jealousy (okay, this is blatantly jealously – I want to be published, too! (Probably should start writing. . .)), but if Christopher Paolini had been thirty when he wrote the first book, instead of nineteen or so, I doubt these books would have been as much of a success. It’s so obvious that Paolini has read all the books I did while growing up (Dragonlance, David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Anne McCaffery – you know, beat-the-nerd fodder), and his books seems to do a fair job “borrowing” from them.

Of course, as Jonathan Lethem (of Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn fame) wrote in his article “The Ecstasy of Influence” (February 2007 issue of Harper’s), writers have been biting off each other since the beginning of time.

(NOTE: The brilliance of Lethem’s essay is that he goes through example of example of borrowing, only to show in the end that his entire essay was in fact constructed entirely of “plagiarism.” It’s very cool, and I highly recommend it. On the flip-side, as a big fan of web-comics, you can check out this douche-berry (it could be a word) to see the “dark side” of plagarism. I'm changing an earlier position, to an extent).

That little tangent aside, read YA literature – because it truly is literature. If you don’t believe me, think about these titles: Lord of the Flies, Huckleberry Finn, Ender’s Game (okay, the last one might be a stretch), and tell me they aren’t literature. Go ahead. I dare you.

I double dare you.

Physical challenge!

Suffolk County, NY -- Library

theliterarylink.com

Alan-YA

Wikipedia--YA Literature

If you haven't read the comments, I suggest you do so -- they're pretty interesting.

I'm not ashamed

When the title is immediately defensive, I would hope intrigue is piqued. The reason I attest to my "not shamed" status is because the book I just finished is not what a lot of adults would consider proper reading material for a twenty-five-year-old.

But fitting into molds has never been a top priority for me.

(Fitting into pants, on the other hand, is a goal that is usually one step ahead of me).

To preface my reading choice, let it be known that I recently built some shelves (in theory, this could be true), and unearthed boxes of paperbacks that had been seemingly lost. Said books put onto said shelves, a number of long-forgotten favorites emerged. Now, as I mentioned, I'm not exactly "old," per se, and therefore, a lot of my favorites aren't always of the adult-variety (and no, not that "adult" variety).

So the book I read was Sixth Grade Secrets, by Louis Sachar.

First, you may recognize the author. You should recognize him, because he's one of the more famous children's and Young Adult writers in America. Among other things, he's known for the Wayside School series and Holes (which they made a movie out of). I highly recommend these books as well, for people of all ages (especially Holes, which, as YA literature, falls in that wonderful in-between category that I mentioned in my post about Ender's Game http://arch-reader.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html (yes, I'm sure it's incredibly tacky to cite my own blog four-posts in)), and the movie for Holes is surprisingly good, too.

What makes Sachar so great is his style. He's got a quirky sense of humor that completely ignores the idea of condescending to kids, but rather tends to say: "Hey, this is funny and clever, and if you get it, great, and if not, oh well." I don't think he wants readers to not get his humor, but he doesn't pause to help you understand that humor, either. He also doesn't bother to build up to it -- you are in the thick of it from the moment you start reading.

A lot of it is in the details: for instance, when describing one of the main characters, it's important for him to note that she wears clean underwear everyday. Clearly this gives us a good insight into the fastidious nature of the person, but it does so in a way that seems unnecessary.

All the better for us.

Sixth Grade Secrets is about a girl who doesn't lie, a boy with a crush, and the wackiness that ensues. In between, secret clubs (which are forbidden in the school they go to) are formed, rivalries are sparked, and a teacher with a penchant for making kids copy dictionary pages is kept constantly on his toes (if you read a lot of Sachar, you'll notice that his adult figures in the books also tend to be a lot cooler than most adults - witty word-play, talk to kids like equals, etc.). I'd like to say there's more to it than that (and, obviously there is), but it's a short book, and I'd hate to give away all the little twists and turns that make the story complete.

And it is a complete story. That's the amazing thing about this book (and most "children's novels."): they are whole stories, with developed characters, and full Greek plots. You may feel silly reading such a book, but you won't be reading something silly. I think you have to respect that.

On a sadder note, it appears that I not only plagiarized once, but twice -- let me explain.

When I was in high school, I had a Spanish teacher (not that she was Spanish, she taught Spanish) who had never taught before. She had the unfortunate luck to have an Honors class full of Juniors and Seniors for the last period of every day. As such, discipline quickly became an issue. To keep the story short, she would often tell someone that they had detention for talking. Said person would immediately protest, and blame someone else for the talking. Now, that person had detention. After a while, my friends and I caught on, and we would rat out each other with false accusations, just so they'd get detention. Kind of like a witch hunt.

One of my friends suggested I write a story based on this experience, and so I kind of did. Here's where it gets a little "plagiarizy" and whatnot. I kind of took that idea, and mixed it with the rising action of the movie School Ties, and made a sort of dark "power of the mob" story set in school. Now, to be clear, I didn't actually plagiarize - the story was uniquely my own. But on the flip-side, not only is that story loosely suggested by School Ties, but apparently also by a certain scene in Sixth Grade Secrets. I don't think I actually remembered this book when I wrote the story, but nevertheless, I'd like to be honest about it.

In summation:

Read Sixth Grade Secrets, Holes (and watch the movie), and the Wayside Series.

Watch School Ties (pretty good movie with Brendan Frasier and Matt Damon).

Don't plagiarize.