Good behavior, good decisions: Should YA fiction have to teach a lesson?
Young-adult novelists write stories for impressionable young readers. So should their characters always be good role models?
That’s what readers are arguing about on Twitter, on blogs and in the comments section.
It’s a debate reignited by Jennifer Mathieu’s upcoming novel, “Moxie.” That’s right: The Houston author’s newest novel isn’t even out yet, but it’s stirring up arguments already. “Moxie,” which publishes in September, involves a group of fed-up high school girls who stage a girlpower revolution, and it deals with several weighty issues — including a rape accusation that is met with some doubt and disbelief.
An early review of the book called out “Moxie” because its characters don’t always handle tricky situations the best way or report crimes to the proper authorities. In other words, they act like the teenagers they are.
That review — and the backlash it inspired from readers, authors and librarians — has people talking: With a target audience ages 12 to 18, are YA authors obligated to create characters who model good decisions and ideal behavior? Can they allow characters to exhibit bad judgment or do risky things (sex, drinking, drug use) without learning a lesson or suffering the consequences?
“It’s always been an issue,” said Joy Preble, the children’s lit specialist at Brazos Bookstore, who has written several youngadult novels. “In kid lit, we get this extra expectation that we’re going to teach and we’re going to create good role models.”
A couple of months ago, disagreements flared over Jay Asher’s YA novel “Thirteen Reasons Why,” about a teen who commits suicide. Asher’s book was published a decade ago, but it slipped back into the spotlight this year when Netflix adapted it as a TV series. When the show premiered in March, schools in Colorado and Florida pulled the book from circulation, at least temporarily, because of fear Asher’s main character glamorized suicide.
Preble says she’s encountered the same “role model” expectations for her own novels. A few years ago, a librarian suggested she withdraw from a book festival because her novel “Dreaming Anastasia” has a main character who smokes. (Never mind that he’s immortal, a character with magical powers from the time of the Russian Revolution, Preble said. “I’m going to corrupt the youth of America by having him smoke a cigarette.”)
But the fact is, a lot of people expect something more from YA. The review of “Moxie” complains that the story “fails to educate readers” about the right things to do. And after the “Moxie” flap, a Chronicle reader posted a comment arguing that young-adult novels are a “special case”: “They are aimed at young impressionable minds who are still trying to build their right and wrong boundaries. So they have a little bit more responsibility to include some guidance … .” Not so, said Teri Lesesne, a professor of library science at Sam Houston State University who teaches courses in children’s and YA literature. “I don’t think it’s the author’s job to make the character do what somebody else wants them to do,” she said. In fact, Lesesne said, some of the best YA books feature kids who do the wrong thing, make a bad decision or get into trouble. And just like real life, not everyone in those books will learn a lesson or pay the price. “If you look at the banned-books list, you’ll find lots of YA books that don’t have that bow tie at the end — where it’s not all wrapped up and everybody’s happy,” she said. “That’s what probably makes adults crazy.” But for young readers, she said, reading about those bad decisions is a chance to reflect, to ask questions, to imagine a situation they haven’t yet encountered in their lives. Reading is “a safe way to experience somebody else’s slice of life,” said Lisa Stultz, a librarian who cofounded Houston’s annual TeenBookCon. Parents want to shelter their kids from bad decisions and unhealthy behaviors, she said, and “I totally get that.” But reading about other young people — especially if they’re not perfect — gives them a chance to figure out where they stand and what they believe. Besides, Stultz said, “teens are really savvy about being lectured by authors.” Expecting books for teens to be instructive is “missing the point,” said Kate Sowa, a Houston book blogger. Teen fiction, like adult fiction, has to be realistic. “When you read a book, you identify with the characters that are like you,” she said. “Representation is going to be messy sometimes. (Characters) are not going to do the right thing. They’re going to have relapses or go back to the boyfriend that beats them. That’s what happens in real life, and that’s what happens in messy, complicated YA books sometimes.” The purpose of young-adult fiction is “not to teach,” she said. “It’s to show you you’re not alone.”