Where does YA literature come from

1
Where does YA literature come from?

• Dr. Betty Marcoux
• LIS 566
• Winter Quarter 2004

2
Historical Timeline of YA Literature

• Civil War Children or Adult
• 1904 first time definition of other than the
  two categories started (Appleton, 1904)
• 1920 adolescents seen as a separate generation
  (Forisha-Kovacz, 1984)
• 1948 Adult Books for Young People list began
• 1958 YALSA established in ALA
• Still concerned about age categories
• 1966 Best Books for Young Adults starts
• I am coming more and more to the conclusion that
  adolescent literature is whatever any adolescent
  happens to be reading at any given time.
  (Holland, 1991)

3
Historical Timeline of YA Literature

• 1930-1940s first books began to appear that
  were specifically for YA reading.
• Sue Barton, Student Nurse (Boylston, 1930s)
• Cherry Ames, Student Nurse (Grossett, 1943)
• The Iron Duke (Tunis, 1938)
• Seventeenth Summer (Daly, 1942)
• Going on 16 (Cavanna, 1946)
• 1975 10 favorite novels of high school youth -8
  published as adult books. (Holland, 1991)
• Catcher in the Rye Go Ask Alice
• The Outsiders To Kill a Mockingbird
• A Separate Peace Jonathan Livingston Seagull
• Lord of the Flies Of Mice and Men
• Bright Dark The Exorcist
• The Chocolate War (Cormier, 1974)

4
Historical Timeline of YA Literature

• Criticism of YA literature
• slick, patterned, rather inconsequential stories
  written to capitalize on a rapidly expanding
  market (Alm, 1955)
• the stuff of adolescent literature, for the most
  part, is mealy-mouthed, gutless, and pointless
  (Jennings 1956)
• 1960s rise of realism in novels
• 1967 Carlson categorizes YA in three areas
• Early adolescence (11-14, grades 5-8)
• Middle adolescence (15-16, grades 9-10
• Late adolescence (17-18, grades 11-12)
• 1970s Golden Age of YA literature (popularity)
• 1980s Back to reality - multiculturalism - and
  to romance
• 1990s realistic problem novels at risk
• Formula driven
• Video/movie driven
• Electronic interests
• YA fiction not endangered rather it is its
  readers that my be endangered
• 2000s format driving content lowered buying
  power/funding

5
Possible definitions of YA literature

• In the main, these authors deal with an
  adolescents relationships with others his own
  age, with his parents and other adults, and with
  such worries as deciding upon and preparing for a
  job, going steady, marrying and facing the
  responsibilities of adulthood. (Alm, 1955)
• Perhaps the single theme most sought by the
  young adult is the book that details the movement
  of a character from adolescence into early adult
  life. (Carlsen, 1973)
• the great American theme in the final third of
  the 20th century has been the tribalizing of the
  young. (Peck, 1994)

6
Definitions of YA literature

• Definable?
• Literature all works of imagination which are
  transmitted primarily by means of the written
  word or spoken narrative that is, in the main,
  novels, stories, and poetry. (Townsend, 1980)
• YA is ever changing as ideas and understandings
  and attitudes evolve.

7
Working definition for this course

• From text (Nilsen/Donelson) Young adult
  literature is any book freely chose for reading
  by some 12-20 and is not necessarily
  distinguished by publishing house distribution.
• NOT necessarily the publishers age range that is
  important.
• Issues and approach is more important