YA Wednesday: Inaugural Edition
My 14-month-old son is a long way from being a teenager, and I'm in no hurry for him to get there. However, I do find myself drawn to YA novels, as do many adults who love a good story, I suspect, based on the seemingly infinite number of enthusiastic blogs devoted to the subject.
This is YA Wednesday, my humble offering of discussions and tidbits about world of YA this week. Paul and I will be working together on this update every Wednesday, so if there's something you'd like to see more--or less--of, please comment!
*
Do books for teens need better boy heroes? CNN's Glenn Beck thinks so. In a recent interview with author Ted Bell about his new YA book, Nick of Time, Beck opened the segment with a diatribe about how books for teen boys are "emasculating." Colleen over at Guys Lit Wire disagrees, and she (and her commenters) cite many examples to the contrary.
Scandal of the week, part I: YA is in a category all its own... unfortunately? One fun thing about following YA is the inevitability of the philosophical discussions that pop up every few weeks, sparked by the mere existence of the YA category. A recent example is Frank Cotrell Boyce's review of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Frank Ness. After praising the book ("so cunningly written that I was 100 pages in before I even realized what genre it was"), Boyce brings up his fears about it being relegated to the YA section, as well as concerns about the whole category of books (which he writes, by the way):
Is there anything more depressing than the sight of a "young adult" bookshelf in the corner of the shop. It's the literary equivalent of the "kids' menu" - something that says "please don't bother the grown-ups". If To Kill a Mockingbird were published today, that's where it would be placed, among the chicken nuggets.
Scandal of the week, part II: Ulterior motives? From Monday's Read Roger, stating that the arguments against Boyce's statements:
...are missing the funnier semi-scandal of one Guardian children's fiction award longlister (Boyce) queering (albeit probably obliviously) the chances of another (Patrick Ness) by saying his really isn't a juvenile book at all!
Giveaways?! Along with reading challenges, giveaways are a regular feature of book blogs that I've just become aware of this year (yes, I know, where have I been?!) This week, A Patchwork of Books is giving away five copies of Mary Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox, which Amanda calls "a page turner from the very beginning." Post a comment before Sunday for a chance to win.
Speaking of Mary Pearson, she wrote a guest post last week on Teen Book Review about writers' inspirations, including some of the things that have inspired her novels, for example: "With A Room on Lorelei Street, the spark was simply an image of a tired house, a tired girl, and a few opening lines... ." (Good news: A paperback version of this 2005 novel is coming out September 28th).
This tidbit has nothing to do with YA books, but it is about teens. According to Scholastic's 2008 Kids & Family Reading Report issued last week, 51 percent of the students surveyed from ages 15 to 17 listed the Internet as a place they go for book suggestions. This is the same percentage that listed teachers.
And last, but not least: This cool Breaking Dawn countdown widget is available now for readers eagerly awaiting the fourth installment of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series, Breaking Dawn, on August 2nd. You can get one for your own blog via Crepúsculo-mx, a Mexican fan site, or read more about it on Stephenie's Meyer's site.--Heidi
Heather on June 18, 2008 at 08:55 PM
I love kid lit! When the fourth Harry Potter book came out, I bought the first four, to read to them on a long train ride. I read the first chapter out loud, and then they fell asleep.But I stayed up to read the whole series. Unfortunately, after that we moved to a really small town in the middle of nowhere, so I had to wait until the next day to get the new books. Until the seventh, when I helped plan and promote a midnight release party.
That series has been my standard to which I would measure all books by. (Not as good as Harry Potter) But then I discovered Pendragon. And it is incredibly awesome! Bobby Pendragon is scared and confused as he starts off,and then gathers more confidence as the series goes on. I just ordered the latest two books, and have been checking the mail in anticipation.
Although not Kid Lit, Jim Butcher (Best known for the Dresden Files)has a series called the Furies of Alderon. When two people get together they 'step into each other's embrace.' And that is where the discription ends. I love it. The first book is good, the second better, the third even better, and the fourth unbelievable. (I believe the fifth comes out this fall.) They are technically fantasy, but aren't like anyother fantasty books I've ever read. They are funny and interesting, and each book wraps up, or appears to.
I myself have been reading Kid Lit, because I am sick and tired of graphic sex. There is something fundamentally wrong about a detailed description of two interesting characters that you get to know well, ... well, doing it. Its a bit too voyaristic for me. The 'kids books' of today should never be looked down on, or 'relegated to the kids menu'. For me, it seems as if they have to be more creative and entertaining, because they have an actual story to tell (rather than filling half the book with lurid details).
Also, it gives my twelve year old daughter and I something to talk about. Very cool!
-Keep on reading (I know I will)
And Kudos on YA Wednesday!
on June 19, 2008 at 05:27 AM
Like most assertions containing the word "all", Glen Beck's assertion that "all books out there for teen boys today are emasculating" is incorrect, but that there is something to what he says is demonstrated by Colleen's surreal response. Glen Beck apparently makes a big deal about the hero at one point saving his little sister all by himself without any help from her, apparently something of an oddity in modern YA fiction, and in response Colleen brings up "honor killings", in which a Muslim girl suspected of having sex is beaten to death by her fanatical male relatives, including sometimes her brothers.
Honor killings? Someone opines on how nice it is to see an old fashioned boy hero rescuing his little sister and you bring up HONOR KILLINGS? Are "honor killings" really common enough among NON-MUSLIMS as to make this a sane response?
Game, set, and match to Mr. Beck.
Colleen on June 19, 2008 at 12:01 PM
If you read the comments you would see that I was using an extreme example to argue the point that girls should not grow up waiting for boys to rescue them - just as boys should not plan their whole lives based on rescuing a girl. The point was that we need to know how to rescue ourselves (something that lots of folks chimed in about).
And I'm sorry but Beck was not just opining about the main character rescuing his little sister, he was making a point that it is important for boys to rescue girls in order to become decent men. A lot of people took issue with the idea he presents of what a hero is.
He was also far off base about modern YA literature, something else we talked about in the comments.
FredTownWard on June 19, 2008 at 01:26 PM
Colleen, you were not "using an extreme example to argue the point that girls should not grow up waiting for boys to rescue them - just as boys should not plan their whole lives based on rescuing a girl", you were using an INSANE example to change the subject.
NOBODY IS SUGGESTING that girls should grow up waiting for boys to rescue them or that boys should plan their whole lives based on rescuing a girl!
Earth to Colleen, damn few girls are likely to need "rescuing" by themselves or male readers of YA literature, especially in THIS country. But should the need arise I HOPE that any boys that make the effort are greeted with less hostility, even if the girl happens not to NEED help in rescuing herself.
I submit that it is important for boys to BE WILLING to rescue girls in order to become decent men; at the very least a hero is certainly NOT someone who figures she can probably rescue herself as he justifies his own cowardice.
hope on June 20, 2008 at 05:25 AM
I agree, Glenn Beck seems to be an ass, and Colleen Mondor did little better. What's silly isn't either of the messages that Beck and Mondor want to promote, it's the insistence of both of them that there should be only one message.
Yes, we all need to be self-sufficient, but the ever-repeated mantra of "Save Yourself," is just as sick as Beck's definition of a hero, a one-way ticket to a self-centered existence chowing down at the feed-trough of life while others are starving.
Obviously we need more than one message. We all need to read more than one book. We need to be prepared to save ourselves, and to be ready to step up and save someone else. Yeah, boys and girls alike. And why stop there? Why not learn even more instead of holding on to just one idea and shouting down everyone else's?
Colleen on June 20, 2008 at 11:29 AM
Okay, look. I did not write an irate out of control post. It's actually a very mellow post. I didn't call Mr. Beck or Mr. Bell names. My whole problem with the interview was that Mr. Beck stated not only that he was glad that the boy rescued the girl, but further that the girl DID NOT do the rescuing. Then he continued that he felt this was important for young men to read - that they be the ones doing the rescuing.
I never said it had to be either/or (one extreme or the other). I just felt that Mr. Beck's broad generalization that boys NEED to be the ones who rescue and that they have not been in that position in YA literature for a long time was wrong. And then there is a long discussion in the comments where I expanded on those thoughts with many other commenters.
As for the use of what is termed here an "insane" example; that is your choice of words. You have your views, I have mine. (And I should point out that you are parsing a couple of sentences from my post as if they were the most significant point, which is incorrect.)
FredTownWard on June 20, 2008 at 01:09 PM
I don't know about the Honor Killing "couple of sentences" being "the most significant point" of your post, Colleen, but since it WAS your FIRST counter example, "Here's the problem that Misters Bell and Beck don't give a moment's thought to - sometimes the boy doesn't show up and the girl is all alone...." I think it deserved the shoot down I gave it.
In addition to everything else that is wrong with it, it is actually a pretty good example of a situation in which a girl cannot realistically expect to be able to rescue herself. Think about it. A young Muslim girl faces the prospect of being beaten to death by one or more crazed male relatives, all of whom are probably bigger and stronger than she is. Just about her ONLY chance for self-rescue is to flee beforehand (by reading her male relatives' minds?) or to carry a handgun. It would be hard to imagine a situation in which a girl is MORE in need of being rescued by some knuckle-dragging Neanderthal of a boy who is too hopped up on Traditional Male Heroism to understand that he is supposed to be more respectful of non-European, non-Christian, "oppressed" cultures and peoples.
Colleen on June 20, 2008 at 03:14 PM
I see no value to either of us in continuing this exchange. We agree to disagree.
Joanne Jowan on June 21, 2008 at 02:00 PM
Are "honor killings" really common enough among NON-MUSLIMS as to make this a sane response?
I am not discussing the appropriacy of the allusion, but if you check the International Campaign Against Honour Killings, you will find that in three of this week's cases, the murderers were Hindu or Sikh. And of course, Du'a Khalil, and her murderers, were Yezidi. 'Honour' killings happened within the indigenous populations of Italy and Spain as recently as the 1980s. 'Honour' killing is not specifically muslim, any more than FGM is.
FredTownWard on June 23, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Thank you for the correction, Joanne Jowan; I did not meant to imply that this is strictly a Muslim problem. However, I believe my two primary points still stand:
1. Outside of certain groups and particularly within the United States, the chances of a girl facing this possibility are so amall as to make it a ridiculous example.
2. However, precisely because it involves a savage and brutal betrayal by her own family, it is difficult to imagine a situation in which a girl is LESS likely to be able to rescue herself all by herself.