Teen Fiction : Teen Or Young Adult Fiction

Plenty of teenagers read books every day for entertainment and for school. But they don’t just read for amusement or that they need it for their classwork, they read because it is what they go to when things turn rough. Like what people said, books are a powerful thing, it can be hopeful and scary. Sherman Alexie is a wonderful writer, poet, and has published plenty of novels and short stories. Sherman Alexie’s purpose of writing is to give teenagers hope that things would work out alright, although it might be rough from time to time, and he also uses humor to entertain his readers. He provides teenagers things that they can relate to, and he addresses many crucial issues in his works. He uses numerous amount of stylistic techniques in his

Tyler, Anne. "Teenage Wasteland." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. Boston: Longman, 2012. 188-95. Print.

By definition A teenager, or teen, is a young person whose age falls within the range from 13–19. They are called teenagers because their age number ends with "teen". Today Grady and I will be adressing the represenatation of teenagers in the media and how and why they are percieved the way they are.

Some might claim the YA genre has grown to be too dark for its target audience. Meghan Gurdon, a firm believer of this idea, explains why she believes this in her article, “Darkness Too Visible”. Gurdon describes the experience of a mother of three in a bookstore looking to purchase a YA novel for one of her children, when she found herself leaving the bookstore empty-handed due to the content of the teen books. While teen books decades ago contained less violent/corrupted material, times have changed along with the genre. She is concerned that these books could have an effect on these young readers’ brains as they are merely transferring from childhood to adulthood. Gurdon still has faith that YA books would sell just as well and connect with young readers today without all of the dark subject matters discussed in them these days.

Although some people may think this book overexaggerates the stress in a teen’s life, , the author just tries to show the perspective of one teen’s life. The book shows that everyone has their own story and every teen experiences different things, rather good or bad. The book educates readers on teenagers and what some may experience, as well as provides solutions for the hectic lives teenagers may face. Whether a teen uses poetry, like Gabi, to challenge emotions or other activities, teenagers can all relate to each other with the stressful, hormonal life they all

This novel “is a book that truly speaks to adolescents in contemporary language and with teenage characters about adolescent sexuality” (Kaplan 27). Katherine is learning about her sexuality in the novel.

Genres are classifications of literature, easily distinguished by content. Young adult literature is very popular and commonly read by teens. The novel Live To Tell by Lisa Harrington is classified as young adult fiction because it contains intense subject matter, and language and contemporary issues teens can relate to.

Meghan Cox Gurdon’s article has many varying points of attack, while Sherman focuses all of his resources on one point; young adult (YA) literature isn’t detrimental. Gurdon contends the argument that youths being exposed to darker themes makes the themes less effective and ultimately undermines the intensity of the subjects, as well as spread them. She states this as “Self-destructive adolescent behaviors are observably infectious and have periods of vogue. That is not to discount the real suffering that some young people endure; it is an argument for taking care” (par. 13). Gurdon says young adult literature takes away a child’s innocence and negatively affects moral development (par. 6). In contrast, Sherman believes that YA books help people dealing with those troubles to overcome and accept them. He states, “... Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow schock a teenage

Jeannette’s battle against sexual abuse helps encourage teens who have experienced similar situations to fight on. As Jeannette Walls fights to institute normality in her family, abnormality is established by her parents. Reading such a story has a greater affect on teens, rather than reading an article on the topic of abnormality would because the teen can make more connections to the story. Peer pressure plays a strong role in the life of a teenager and causes the adolescent to conform in fear of rejection from their peers. With this being said, displaying novels about peer pressure and reading on how fictitious characters handle peer pressure not only helps the teen learn from the character’s mistakes, but teaches them how to problem solve for themselves. Rita Mae Brown once said, “The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself.” Going against the status quo may not make those around you happy, but it will make you happier in the long

Teens typically, feel rejected by their peers and intern isolates himself or herself from the rest of the world in order to cope and deal with stigmatism. Since Chris’s mother was going to take her to the doctor and Chris knew she had the bug she didn’t want her mother to know so she runaway. This communicates to the reader the incidence of runaway teens and the fear of talking to their parents about issues they are going through.

(Seisser 4). The novel appeals to a higher degree to the younger audience because the younger audience of this genre read about “teens in these novels [that] have to face far bigger issues and even survive day to day.” (4). This genre fills its audience with the

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure out who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of-age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspect of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial book

Using symbolic convergence theory and fantasy theme analysis, the researcher identified four fantasy types. The fantasy types include: 1) I am a survivor, 2) I am a dreamer, 3) I am an activist, and 4) I can do anything. Through these types and teenage-created content, this research used symbolic convergence theory to assess how photos and stories created an accurate reality for its readers to relate to. The study mentions how one of its competitors, Seventeen magazine, had stories that showcased girls insecurities, focused on putting fashion as a priority of a career, and how males are superior (with its gendered messages about employment). Based from this time era as well, the study describes that Teen Voice was emerging at a time in the 1990's in which females were concerned of feminist, gender, and beauty issues that targeted the 12 to 19 year old female demographic.

As an adult reader who has crossed over to the reality of life, reading about these characters can be a transparent, futile exercise because as adults looking back at youth we have the experience to know where these characters are headed before they even start their journey. However, for young adults who are still in the throes of existential angst this is a powerful novel that handles teenage rites of passage and coming-of-age issues such as loyalty, friendship, belonging, and even death and loss very well.

Teenage is a fundamental stage of life that each human being passes through. Some people face this period of their life strongly and positively, while others face many problems and difficulties. This depends on the environment these young adults live in, their parents, their friends, their living conditions, their education, and many other factors. Teenagers face many problems such as becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol, being influenced negatively by their peers, self-image and weight, or even arguments with their parents