Teen fiction and the issues surrounding it

How have all the readings developed your understanding of children’s literature and the issues surrounding it?

Teenage fiction is the category of books which is written by adults for teenagers and is usually read by teenagers. These books move on from the imaginative fiction that attracted children, to more realistic topics concerned with adolescent problems such as body changes with puberty and relationships with boyfriends/girlfriends. Some good books for teenagers are written by adults looking back with hindsight about moral choices that they made such as ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Jane Eyre’, but it is usually the ‘trashy’ “Point Horror” type books that teenagers, particularly girls favour themselves as they are more modern.

I think most people will agree that their teenage years were the hardest time of their lives as there were so many changes to come to terms with. Appleyard sums the characteristics of adolescence up well: “...sudden and erratic physical growth, intensified sexuality, idealism that is often grandiose as well as naive, self consciousness, romanticism, moodiness and ambivalence, ambition and drive, rebellion and crisis”. (Stanley Hall and Erik Erikson p96).

It is natural that most children change as they move from primary to secondary school as they know they are expected to behave more maturely. I forget when I stopped talking of ‘playtime’ as a child but I can understand how this notion disappears in year 7 when children become more self-conscious as they acquire new peers.

Adolescence is a time when we discover our ‘subjective self’ and ‘subjective experience’ (Kohlberg and Gilligan 1971 cited in Appleyard p96). This can lead to “isolation and loneliness” (Chandler 1975 cited in Appleyard p97). Adolescents learn to think about thinking and “reflect critically about one’s own thoughts” (Elkind 1981a, 90-5 cited in Applewood p97). Teenagers want freedom but often not the responsibility that goes with it. There is no exact point when children become adults; it is gradual and it depends on the individual. Appearances are deceptive; a person may look like an adult but still be very much a child. There are often examples of less mature adults in children’s literature which show us inadequate role models. (‘Buddy’, ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole’). I believe that this allows teenagers to appreciate the stability of their own parents who they probably perceive as stricter and old fashioned. I found it interesting to think about the fact that raising the school age has extended childhood and that ‘teenagers are restricted by adults’. I think that a lot of parents have a distorted idea of how mature their children are simply because they are still at school. I chose to leave my secondary school at 16 to transfer to a sixth form college even though I was perfectly happy there, because I was desperate for some independence and felt I was mature enough to not have to comply with school rules. I think had my mother stopped me from doing this I would never have enjoyed sixth form or decided to go to University. I can understand how parents can have a detrimental effect on their teenagers’ lives by trying to protect them from everything.

I found the ‘three types of response from reading teenage fiction’ useful when reading Appleyard’s chapter.
1) Identification – teenagers try out the different roles of the characters. They make judgements about the characters and become immersed in the experience of the characters.
2) Realism – books for teenagers are usually about the darker themes of life. (suicide, divorce, death, rape, murder, addiction). “Good and evil are not neatly separated but mixed up in the confused and often turbulent emotions of the central characters themselves”. (p100). They can learn more about life through the experiences of the characters in a ‘safe way’.
3) Books make us think and want to read on. They make the word meaningful. Adolescents become “an observer and evaluator of self and others”.

As children become teenagers, their personalities develop and their lives undergo many changes. I remember my parents getting divorced when I was 11. As none of my close friends had experienced this, suddenly I felt different from them and I found solace in books about divorce. I liked identifying with the characters in this way and realised that if things worked out for them then I would survive too. Nowadays, divorce is a lot more common and other issues, like drugs have moved to the forefront of what teenagers are interested in reading about.

When I was in year 9 at secondary school (In 1995), I remember the media frenzy surrounding the death of Leah Betts, the young girl who died after taking an Ecstasy tablet. At the time, I was shocked at the thought of experimenting with something that could potentially kill me so quickly, but I was also curious to learn about the effects of drugs. I vaguely remember my friend lending me her copy of ‘Junk’ at some point after this but for some reason I didn’t read it. Instead I read ‘fact sheet’ style information from magazines like ‘Just Seventeen’. I think presenting information like this to teenagers can be effective to some extent, but in my opinion, teenagers may view this as too simplistic and uninteresting and could want to try things for themselves.

Reading a book like ‘Junk’ is an alternative way of educating teenagers about drugs which I think is very unlikely to promote drug use and will more than likely make curious readers feel grateful that they are not addicts themselves. The book is written in simple colloquial language which would appeal to teenagers. I like the way that Burgess has used multi-narratives so that we can see what each of the characters are really thinking and what their front’ is to their friends. This reminds me of some of the school friends I had! Broughton (1978, 83-9 cited in Appleyard p97 ) continues this point, saying: “The inner self is seen as authentic, the outer self a social role to be played, an appearance put on for others”

The book also allows the reader to see how anyone can end up as a ‘junkie’ and starts off with the character of Gemma being attracted to the prospect of living with friends with no school or adults around, something that most teenagers dream of at some point. Burgess then slowly begins to introduce parties, alcohol and progressively dangerous drugs into the plot along with shoplifting, followed by prostitution, drug dealing and prison.

‘Junk’ shows the demise of characters through their physical appearance, their health condition and their distrust of one another. I like the fact that Burgess leaves us with an uncertain ending where we know that heroin may well come back into the characters’ lives. This serves to warn us of the addictive nature of drugs without being didactic. “A story that doesn’t give you the answers is better than a story that gives you a solution but doesn’t leave you anything to think about”. (Appleyard p95).

Burgess believes that the popularity of ‘Junk’ lies in the fact that it addresses teenagers directly whereas most other literature available is specifically for children or adults. I remember there being a tiny ‘Young Adult’ section in the public library where I used to get books from. I usually ended up saving my pocket-money to buy them in secret, as I was too embarrassed to ask for some of the books I wanted to read as presents.

Another reason for the success of ‘Junk’ is the fact that Burgess based his characters on real people and real events and is therefore an accurate portrayal of drug addiction and as such probably more enjoyable and engaging to read. The author believes that if you read this type of book when you are too young, it will ‘go over your head’. I think that if someone picked this book up and wasn’t curious about drugs to begin with, they wouldn’t continue reading it. As we heard Stephen say on the podcast, children choose to read books because they are interesting, relevant to them and to learn something. Generally children also read what they want in the way that they choose and no reader is the same.

I found a quote on Judy Blume’s website which sums up the reasons parents have for the censorship of books. “I believe that censorship grows out of fear, and because fear is contagious, some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfies their need to feel in control of their children's lives. This fear is often disguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if their children don't read about it, their children won't know about it. And if they don't know about it, it won't happen.”
I think that this is true but attempts at control usually cause rebellion in teenagers. I remember watching TV programmes and films my mum didn’t want me to watch. Teenagers have to learn by experience or in some cases reading about experience.

With regard to teaching teenage fiction, I don’t think a book like ‘Junk’ would be suitable for the classroom as I can imagine some immature comments being made by pupils and its topic is quite narrow and unlikely to be endorsed by parents. I think teenagers would feel embarrassed reading about certain topics in the classroom. However, I think it is important to incorporate some contemporary teenage fiction into the curriculum to ensure that pupils are being addressed directly by the author and therefore suitably engaged.

I think the best way to encourage teenagers to read is to provide them with access to a wide variety of books at home, school and in public libraries. They could compile a file of book reviews for books they have read in order to encourage their peers. This was done in the year five class I recently spent some time with on my SSE placement, and I think it this idea would be helpful in other year groups. I am not sure if children have their own ‘reading books’ in secondary school nowadays (I can’t remember having any after primary school) but I am sure it would be beneficial to help with their English as well as to instil a love of reading which many children do not develop until they are adults, if at all. This way, if the books they read as a class don’t appeal to them, they have their own choice of reading books to enjoy by themselves.

I recently came across a book in the library called “The Ultimate Teen Book Guide” when I was doing research for my children’s literature presentation. It is a series of reviews for different genres and age groups written by authors, experts, editors, and children. Having something like this available in schools would help children find books on a particular topic they might want to read about, such as drugs or relationships, as it is more targeted to the age group in question. It includes a mixture of classic and contemporary writers including poll winners such as “The best book about Relationships” and “The book you couldn’t put down”. (Amazon).

I remember being awarded for school achievements with book tokens and it really encouraged me read more as I loved choosing my own books. I also think the idea of being able to buy, sell and trade second-hand books at book fairs held on a monthly basis would be a fun way to obtain new books.

I remember the Leah Betts story too, I think it was the media frenzy surrounding that has had a lasting effect on me in that I associate drugs with death eventhough her story is probably quite rare.