YA Novels

Over the course of the past few months, I've read a few notable titles in young adult fiction just to get a feel for how it is written. According to my friend who has worked in the book industry both as a buyer and as a librarian, books written for people between the ages of 13 and 20 (approximately) are selling better than just about any other genre, which is both exciting and disheartening. On the one hand, we have evidence that young people still like to read and do so even when we think they are off playing video games while huffing paint, sexting, and engaging in occult murder plots. On the other hand, this genre is giving rise to more vampire/werewolf/depressed teen love triangles than you can shake a hexed wand at. Seriously, folks, I'm not interested in vampires. And enough with witch and wizard boarding schools already. I was as enchanted with the Harry Potter series as the next person, but I think it is fair to say that that subject is tapped.

As it is in adult fiction, just because a book makes the NY Times best seller list doesn't mean that it is good. So I decided to ask a few librarians their opinions on what YA Fiction I ought to read to experience the state of the art. These are the titles I have read so far:

1. The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian

As you can see by the cover image to the right, this book has done pretty well for itself since it was published in 2007. The author, Sherman Alexie, is best known for his adult fiction describing the experience of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest. In this book, Alexie introduces us to Arnold "Junior" Spirit, a Spokane Indian who decides to literally go off the reservation to attend high school in the mostly white town of Reardon, 22 miles away from his home. The narrative is equal parts funny and sad, told through Alexie's clear prose and Ellen Forney's amusing illustrations, and Arnold is an immediately sympathetic character despite all of his straight talk about masturbation and self-deprecation. It may be the only book I've read about life on a reservation by a Native American, and it is unflinching in its admission of the troubles associated with poverty and alcoholism to be found there. Still, it is a very optimistic book, and a delight to read. Like the National Book Award jurors, I give this book top marks. Also, I am looking forward to reading Alexie's novels for old adults.


2.  Monster

This book, by Walter Dean Myers, was a National Book Award Finalist and it won several big time prizes for literature upon its publication in 1999. Written both as a screenplay and as a diary, Monster tells the story Steve Harmon, a Harlem teen who has been arrested and is being tried for murder. The diary recounts Steve's fear that he might spend a lifetime in jail, and the screenplay, also written by Steve, describes the proceedings of the trial. While one is never really certain of Steve's guilt or innocence, his depiction of the prosecution and his own defense suggest the larger themes of poverty, racism, prosecutorial misconduct (or maybe simple zealotry), and internalization of social corruption that define the black experience in the modern American city. This book is smart, heartbreaking, and unflinching in its condemnation of social injustice, but it also does an amazing job of exposing the fear and innocence behind the tough-guy façade of the "monster" that is on trial. Like Alexie's novel, I found this book very difficult to stop reading until the story reached its not uncomplicated resolution.


3.  Jellicoe Road

Much like the two listed above, this book by Australian author Melina Marchetta, introduces the reader to a character unlike any other. The story revolves around Taylor Markham, a girl weighted down with the responsibility of leading her fellow boarding school soldiers in the Boarder Wars against the children from a rival school. The intensity of the conflict forces Taylor to confront difficult truths about her past and mature into the young woman that her guardians always hoped she would become. It's really a sad story, but it is fast paced, and illustrates a fascinating landscape around the Jellicoe Road, the sight of both past and present tragedies. Although I'll admit I didn't particularly like Taylor--her tough-as-nails exterior and romantic dithering may have rung true to some, but struck me as frustratingly stubborn--I did appreciate the complexity of the story and really rooted for her to triumph over the unfairness that seemed to rule her young life. I also liked the way the author wove in references to music that brought Taylor's parents to life even as they existed only as ghosts in her memories. (I really love that Waterboy's song "The Whole of the Moon", so maybe I was just susceptible to a cheep trick. I don't know, but it worked.)


4.  The Chocolate War

I read this book, published by Robert Cormier in 1974, when I was in high school and liked it very much, but reading it a second time as an adult, I am amazed by its severity. More so than any other novel I've read recently--young adult or otherwise--I believe The Chocolate Wars should be compulsory reading for all high schoolers. It tells the story of Jerry Renault, a freshman at Trinity High School who is unwillingly thrust into the center of a power struggle between a too-clever-by-half upperclass (both academic and social) bully and their even more vicious headmaster. All Jerry has to do is what he is told, but as it becomes more and more apparent that he can not serve two masters, Jerry learns that he must take a stand and break from the crowd to preserve his dignity. The tension in this book is incredible, and it rates consideration as among the best expositions on bullying, abuse, and mob rule ever written outside of academia. A bold claim, sure, but one that I make brazenly on this here blog.


I read and started a few other books, but these were the ones that I thought were worth promoting. Apparently, I respond well to books about non-traditional characters who must struggle to find and define themselves in an unjust world.  If you know of any as good as these, I'd sure like to read them.