tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/young-adult-fiction-10946/articlesYoung adult fiction – La Conversation2024-03-26T03:08:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2247362024-03-26T03:08:35Z2024-03-26T03:08:35ZSuffragettes resurrected, maternal ambivalence and toxic teens: two Australian novels impress, but one overpromises<p>Earlier this year, I spent a day immersed in the second wave of British feminism at Tate Britain’s <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/women-in-revolt?gad_source=1">Women In Revolt: Art and Activism in the UK 1970-90</a>. More of an event than an exhibition, the show was brimming with multimedia installations and artworks celebrating 20th-century, grass-roots activism. </p>
<p>I was equally struck by the audience and the exhibition. The gallery was buzzing as multiple generations gathered to learn and reminisce about the creative, politically engaged, socially diverse communities of women who altered British culture 50 years ago. </p>
<p>As their name suggests, second-wave feminists were not the first women to agitate for change. The pioneering work was done by suffragettes (the first-wave feminists), as Melanie Joosten explains in her vibrant new novel, <a href="https://ultimopress.com.au/products/like-fire-hearted-suns">Like Fire-Hearted Suns</a>. </p>
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<p><em>Review: Like Fire-Hearted Suns – Melanie Joosten (Ultimo), Thanks for Having Me – Emma Darragh (Allen & Unwin), Lead Us Not – Abbey Lay (Viking)</em></p>
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<p>Unlike their successors, first-wave feminists were mostly white, wealthy women, and the movement was characterised by structural privilege. But Joosten’s clever choice of protagonists allows her to critique this inherent issue, while detailing the struggles and dreams of the individuals involved. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Women in Revolt celebrates 20th-century, grass-roots activism.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>A suffragette prison story</h2>
<p>A fictionalised account based on historical research, the story begins in 1908 and revolves around two young students, Catherine Dawson and Beatrice Taylor. The third protagonist is prison warden Ida Bennett, who oversees the suffragette inmates of Holloway prison.</p>
<p>Ida, a widow of mixed ancestry with two young boys, is clearly distinct from the well-to-do Catherine and Beatrice. Resentful of the uppity attitudes and frivolous demands of her prisoners, her distress is further complicated by her racist treatment and the traumatic burden of having to force-feed the inmates when they go on hunger strike. But Ida is also a single working parent, unable to raise her own children: she understands the need for change more than most.</p>
<p>Catherine and Beatrice share student digs, similar wealthy backgrounds and a belief in women’s voting rights. They are also fiercely critical of each other’s lobbying styles and contrasting political approaches. </p>
<p>Beatrice is happy to throw bombs and smash windows as a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union, even though this results in repeated arrests and nightmarish spells in Holloway with Ida. </p>
<p>Catherine prefers the pacifist campaigns of the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/womens-freedom-league/">Women’s Freedom League</a> and sells copies of the League’s own newspaper, The Vote, while petitioning the government. Catherine does not approve of Beatrice’s tactics, and Beatrice deems Catherine’s actions to be ineffective.</p>
<p>Together with Ida’s conflicted attitude, the womens’ mutual irritation and political divide adds personal depth and insight to the historical context of their story. The varied perspectives remind the reader feminism has always been a pluralist discourse. </p>
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<p>With such distinct characters at play, the narrative’s omnipresent point of view works well enough, though the switches from one individual’s interior state to the next can be sudden and jarring, and the intentionally old-fashioned linguistic style is initially awkward to read. But Joosten is a gifted writer who manages to integrate factual detail into an engaging, compelling story with a fascinating cast. Her ability to revitalise such an important chapter of women’s history is a huge achievement. </p>
<p>Brutalised and sexually assaulted by the police and the public, and horribly abused within the penal system during their 25-year campaign to gain the vote (from 1903 to 1928), the suffragettes’ battle was a violent one, often enacted upon their own bodies. </p>
<p>Name-checked in recent years by <a href="https://rebellion.global/">Extinction Rebellion</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Rush">Climate Rush</a> and <a href="https://juststopoil.org/">Just Stop Oil</a>, they were honoured in 1981 by the women of <a href="https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/">Greenham Common</a>, who wore their predessors’ colours of green, purple and white while marching to the Royal Air Force base in Berkshire for their anti-nuclear campaign. </p>
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<span class="caption">In 1981, the women of Greenham Common honoured their predecessors during their anti-nuclear protest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/portfolio-items/jude-mundens-archive">Jude Munden Visual Archive</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Nevertheless, the suffragettes have been largely consigned to the history books, where their stories have been misrepresented and misunderstood. Joosten’s novel reasserts their right to be heard on a wider scale. </p>
<p>Like Women In Revolt’s tribute to the Greenham women at the Tate, it’s a worthy commemoration of a conflict that should never be forgotten.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-four-waves-of-feminism-and-what-comes-next-224153">What are the four waves of feminism? And what comes next?</a>
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<h2>Maternal ambivalence</h2>
<p>A very different tale of 20th-century women comes from Emma Darragh in her debut novel, <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Emma-Darragh-Thanks-for-Having-Me-9781761471018">Thanks for Having Me</a>, the first fiction release of <a href="https://www.joanpress.com/">Joan Press</a>, the new Allen and Unwin imprint under the curatorship of Gamillaroi and Torres Strait Islander actor, writer and producer (now publisher) <a href="https://harpersbazaar.com.au/nakkiah-lui-digital-cover-story/">Nakkiah Lui</a>. </p>
<p>Confronting, poignant and tender, the novel highlights some uncomfortable truths about the bonds of love and conventional family systems, within a mosaic of beautifully crafted stories that turn the spotlight on maternal ambivalence. </p>
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<p>Refusing a straightforward chronological sequence, these tales of transgenerational trauma unfold around each other organically, hanging together in a loose but discernible pattern. Fraught and fragile mother–daughter bonds are juxtaposed with toxic sibling rivalries and unfulfilling marriages. Lost ambitions are weighed against the disappointing realities of family life and unfulfilling relationships. Yet somehow, love is never quite absent from the picture. </p>
<p>Mary Anne, her mental health in the balance, walks out on her husband and teenage daughters, retreating to the seat of familial dysfunction that is her parents’ house. </p>
<p>Nursing a hot, maternal wound, Vivian is volatile and unstable but settles down with a caretaking husband, only to leave her own child, Evie, when life gets too beige to bear. </p>
<p>Little Evie, born around the millennium and named after her late great aunt, is left at home with her dad and her broken, child-sized heart. Caught in the crossfire, Vivian’s love leaves enough of a trace to sustain her. Over the years, she shifts into a touchingly maternal role with her motherless mother, who has never quite grown up.</p>
<p>Written with varying degrees of grit and empathy, Mary Anne and Vivian make ill-judged decisions and create terrible predicaments for themselves and those around them. They grasp at love, security, acceptance, and try their best to make things better – to <em>do</em> things better. This saves the novel from becoming bleak, despite the pervading sense of hopelessness.</p>
<p>An assured debut ringing with empathy, Thanks for Having Me critiques the flawed institution of motherhood by showing its impact on maternal experience. </p>
<p>With nonfiction publications like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/29/matrescence-by-lucy-jones-review-the-birth-of-a-mother">Lucy Jones’ Matrescence</a> now addressing maternal ambivalence and the challenges of parenting from the perspective of science as well as culture, second-wave feminists like psychotherapist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/oct/28/familyandrelationships.family2">Roszika Parker</a> and poet and essayist <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/of-woman-born-by-adrienne-rich-3528976">Adrienne Rich</a> are being reappraised. </p>
<p>Projects like the <a href="https://www.mothernet.eu/about/">MotherNet</a> collaboration between universities in Vilnius, Uppsala and Maynooth are funding research into a range of fields that converge on maternal experience, which doesn’t necessitate having a child. Conversations are changing, and Darragh’s novel is a valuable contribution.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ive-had-enough-of-sad-bad-girl-novels-and-sensationalised-trauma-but-im-hungry-for-complex-stories-about-women-213901">I've had enough of Sad Bad Girl novels and sensationalised trauma – but I'm hungry for complex stories about women</a>
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<h2>Teen girls and toxic friendship</h2>
<p>Thanks For Having Me is not just about family though. Friendships play a part here too, with their capacity to soothe or exacerbate familial harm. Joosten also acknowledges the importance of friendship within the testing conditions of political divide. And in her debut novel, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/lead-us-not-9781761340680">Lead Us Not</a>, Abbey Lay makes friendship the whole story. </p>
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<p>Toxic teenage dynamics have become something of a trope in recent years, and for good reason. With the complexity of adolescence now troubled by the rapid ascent of social media, and the added confusion of online networking, there is much to explore. But while Lay’s subject matter holds currency, especially with the added questions of sexual exploration, her story lacks intrigue and ultimately fails to convince. </p>
<p>The premise is familiar enough. Millie, an insecure teenage girl develops a fascination with the more beautiful, more sexually experienced Olive, who moves in next door. Both are in their final year at the same Catholic girls’ high school, though their paths have never previously crossed. </p>
<p>Olive quickly establishes herself with the upper hand in the relationship, while the fixated Millie does her new friend’s bidding, happily dumping her old one, Jess, in the process. Boys are present but peripheral, serving as fodder for the girls’ intimate discussions. To this end, Olive instructs Millie to lose her virginity with the painfully awkward Leon, while divulging the details of her own sex life with handsome tennis player, Hunter. </p>
<p>There is nothing surprising in any of this. Teenage girls are renowned for their intense, romantic, often cruel, sometimes transgressive friendships. The merging of identities and unequal power dynamics are virtually a high-school rite of passage. After all, TV shows like <a href="https://www.paramountplus.com/au/shows/yellowjackets/">Yellowjackets</a>, in which teen-girl rivalry escalates into lifelong trauma following a plane crash in the wilderness, were not born into a void. </p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with this story arc either – and Lay’s prose is elegant and well crafted. She carefully avoids extreme drama, while raising interesting questions about the authenticity of friendship. But while she builds tension with skill, the plot is too pedestrian and the characters are not compelling or mature enough to match the level of suspense she spins.</p>
<p>Olive and Millie, supposedly in year 12, behave more like year 9 or 10 students, setting out on relatively innocent social and sexual adventures with high-blown attitudes. However, their emotional concerns and conversations are too young for their age. </p>
<p>Next to <a href="https://theconversation.com/girlhood-misery-bullying-and-beauty-combine-for-laura-elizabeth-woolletts-unlikeable-west-coast-girls-211427">Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s West Girls</a>, with its complex twists of social, cultural and ethnic hierachies, their white middle-class preoccupations appear simplistic and anodyne. </p>
<p>There is a distinct uniformity to Olive and Millie’s world. All their friends are from conservative backgrounds, with good-enough families and comfortable homes. The Catholic girls consort with the boys from St Marks as if in a preordained bubble. Nobody deviates or dissents, which makes Millie’s obsession with Olive all the more curious, because apart from a touch of drama-school charisma, Olive is no different to the rest.</p>
<p>When the girls explore the boundaries of their friendship during a school camping trip, there is potential for something to develop. But the tentative steps they take towards each other are barely discernible, and the emotional landscape remains under-explored. </p>
<p>After the trip, a communication failure brings the unhealthy dynamic to a head. Olive retreats, leaving Millie upset and confused. Millie, an intelligent, sensitive girl on the verge of womanhood, inexplicably fails to understand why Olive has withdrawn from her. The narrative presents this emotional temperature change as a pivotal mystery for both Millie and the reader, but it’s too much of a stretch: there is no mystery. The reasons for Olive’s vanishing act are all too plain.</p>
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<span class="caption">Abbey Lay is ‘hopefully on the edge of a promising career’.</span>
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<p>Overall, Lay’s novel would be better suited for the young adult (YA) market. The book’s attempt to interrogate themes of control, vulnerability, trust and honesty within a toxic dynamic is worthwhile, but the level at which these topics are addressed is too naive to satisfy an adult, or even an older YA readership. </p>
<p>A poised and assured writer, Lay is hopefully on the edge of a promising career, but her use of subtlety and restraint needs to be balanced with greater depth and scope. And her characters are in danger of sleepwalking into the future. By contrast, the women and girls of Like Fire-Hearted Suns and Thanks For Having Me understand the need to fight. </p>
<p>If I could, I’d pitch the Catholic girls into the thick of a suffragette rally with Beatrice, or get Evie to sneak them some vodka at a party while Vivian flirts her arse off. Then I’d transport them to the Tate and the epicentre of Women In Revolt, where <a href="https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/11/15/women-in-revolt-british-feminist-art-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-takes-over-tate-britain">Gina Birch’s Three Minute Scream</a> echoes through the galleries. </p>
<p>Finally, I’d guide them through all the feminist diversity of that whole heartstopping show, in the hope of enriching their perspectives and expanding their vision. </p>
<p>And then I’d let go of their hands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Evans' debut novel, Catherine Wheel, is to be published by Ultimo Press in August 2024.</span></em></p>A novel about first-wave feminists cleverly critiques the movement’s privilege. The first fiction from Nakkiah Lui’s imprint highlights uncomfortable truths. And a debut about teen girls is ‘too naive’.Liz Evans, Writer, author, journalist, Associate Lecturer in English & Writing, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2231992024-03-12T19:14:35Z2024-03-12T19:14:35ZFire represents power and control for an Indigneous teenager who lacks both, in Melanie Saward’s compassionate debut novel<p>“From the moment I got here, I’ve wanted to set the whole of Brisbane on fire,” reflects Andrew, the protagonist of Melanie Saward’s debut novel.</p>
<p>Saward, a Bigambul and Wakka Wakka author, moved to Bracken Ridge in the northern suburbs of Brisbane as a teenager, after growing up in Tasmania. So does Andrew, who like her, is Indigenous.</p>
<p>When we meet him, he is in Year 10 and has recently moved to Bracken Ridge with his mother, Linda, and her boyfriend, Dave. Neither of them show Andrew much love or care and he is saving to return to Tasmania to find his father, who he is no longer in contact with. </p>
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<p><em>Review: Burn – Melanie Saward (Affirm Press)</em></p>
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<p>In alternating chapters, Saward fills in the back story. After eight-year-old Andrew lit a fire in his primary school’s bathroom, his father pulled him out of school and they all moved from social housing in an impoverished suburb of Launceston to a caravan in Port Sorell on the north-east coast of Tasmania. </p>
<p>The novel is structured around three main fires. The first is the one Andrew lights at his primary school. Then a fire lands Andrew and his closest friend Sarah, an adopted Indigenous girl being raised by religious parents, in the youth justice system. Threaded through the book, there’s the drama of a third, serious fire in Queensland, in which Andrew is implicated. </p>
<p>Fire is symbolic: it’s power and control for Andrew, who has precious little control over his life.</p>
<h2>Reading as ‘invited guests’</h2>
<p>In her chapter “Presencing” in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-the-australian-novel/4AE03434E69DB67466E58C9AD5CDCADD">The Cambridge Companion to the Australian Novel</a>, Wiradjuri writer and scholar <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/authors/jeanine-leane">Jeanine Leane</a> urges settlers to approach Indigenous texts not as “tourists” but “invited guests”. Writes Leane: </p>
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<p>Presencing means the recognition that First Nations works are happening in the same ‘now’ as the settler reader. The writer and the reader are in the same moment in time, but this moment in time is interpreted from different cultural standpoints and perspectives. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579103/original/file-20240301-17-qbt90m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C83%2C1559%2C977&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579103/original/file-20240301-17-qbt90m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C83%2C1559%2C977&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579103/original/file-20240301-17-qbt90m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579103/original/file-20240301-17-qbt90m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579103/original/file-20240301-17-qbt90m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579103/original/file-20240301-17-qbt90m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579103/original/file-20240301-17-qbt90m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579103/original/file-20240301-17-qbt90m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melanie Saward’s debut novel is set in the Brisbane suburbs she moved to as a teenager. Jill Kerswill.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I also had a Tasmanian adolescence. While my own experience was very different, I recognise the way poverty and deprivation press up against natural beauty in Saward’s novel. </p>
<p>As an adult living in Melbourne, I became gradually aware of the <a href="https://www.griffithreview.com/editions/tasmania-the-tipping-point/">economic gap between the mainland and Tasmania</a>. High levels of youth unemployment and lack of opportunity, low levels of education, limited health services, and an appalling lack of duty of care to young, vulnerable people were all part of my adolescence. They were reasons I left the state when I was old enough to do so. </p>
<p>The consolation of a Tasmanian adolescence was wilderness. I grew up in the foothills of a mountain, observing the way the weather moved across the landscape. I was soothed by the sound of Silver Falls, and the way streams of bright sun penetrated the fern forests on the pipeline track where we used to go to drink, smoke, bitch and have sex. </p>
<p>Despite living in Melbourne for nearly 30 years, I still feel the thread Saward writes about, connecting me to Tasmania.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dad used to say that we were connected to Tassie, even though we didn’t really know who our people were. ‘It’s about where you’re made as much as where your people come from,’ he said. I never understood what he meant by that till Mum told me we were leaving. From the minute the plane took off, I felt the thread connecting me to home get more and more stretched.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Like Andrew and his father, I was made in Hobart. But I was the child of a third-generation Tasmanian mother descended from Scottish and Irish farmers and teachers, and a father who moved to Tasmania as a ten-pound pom after his first marriage ended. </p>
<p>When I was a child in the 1980s, we were taught in schools that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/28/unesco-removes-hurtful-document-claiming-tasmanian-aboriginal-people-extinct#:%7E:text=The%20inaccurate%20claim%2C%20stating%20that,world%20heritage%20list%20in%201982.">Tasmanian Aboriginals were extinct</a>, a lie that serves the idea colonialism is something that has already happened and exists only in the past – in remote, almost mythical, places like Botany Bay and Port Arthur. </p>
<p>By turning her gaze on the impacts of <a href="https://www.indigenousmhspc.gov.au/publications/trauma">intergenerational trauma</a>, Saward shows the full force of present-day colonialism in Australia. </p>
<p>I was tender towards Andrew and understood his rage. I was angry with his absent and neglectful parents. Burn, however, generates a type of “presencing” that allows you to see complexity in the way the past manifests in the present. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-30-years-after-mabo-what-do-australias-battler-stories-and-their-evasions-say-about-who-we-are-187110">Friday essay: 30 years after Mabo, what do Australia's battler stories – and their evasions – say about who we are?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Inside family trauma</h2>
<p>When eight-year-old Andrew first lands in Port Sorrell with his parents, he is happy there, fishing and riding his bike with his father. However, Andrew’s mother’s mental health worsens and Andrew’s dad withdraws, emotionally at first, before finally leaving town without saying goodbye.</p>
<p>Before that happens, Andrew’s dad takes him fishing in a tidal pool, but warns him not to swim there.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We don’t know how deep it is,” he said the first time I started wading in for a paddle. “And we don’t know if there are sharks and other nasties trapped in there. They’ll be angry about being stuck and hungry. If a nice, warm, nearly nine-year-old boy gets in, they might think you’re their dinner.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The tidal pool becomes a recurring image for trauma. In one scene, Sarah dares him to go skinny-dipping in the tidal pool. Andrew warns her against it, remembering his father’s warning. This scene poignantly foreshadows both Andrew’s resilience and Sarah’s inability to resist her own hidden darkness. </p>
<p>At first Andrew’s mother, Linda, reminded me of the cold, angry mother in Jasper Jones, a flat character with no redemption. But unlike Craig Silvey, whose loyalty lies solely with his young characters, Melanie Saward writes with deep compassion and understanding for Andrew’s parents. </p>
<p>We see inside family trauma, how the dynamics are self-perpetuating. The parents are confronted with the messiest, most vulnerable, most hidden and shameful parts of themselves – made manifest in Andrew. </p>
<p>We also bear witness to the role institutions play in exacerbating trauma associated with colonialism, such as ongoing disconnection from culture. School, youth justice, community housing and the health system all fail Andrew and his parents in multiple ways, even when individuals within these institutions mean well. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/my-favourite-fictional-character-queenie-a-young-black-woman-living-and-dating-in-london-is-complex-funny-broken-fun-188297">My favourite fictional character: Queenie, a young Black woman living and dating in London, is 'complex, funny, broken, fun'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Crossover appeal</h2>
<p><a href="https://affirmpress.com.au/browse/book/Melanie-Saward-Burn-9781922848482">Burn</a> has obvious crossover appeal for teen and adult audiences, with a strong adolescent protagonist driving the story. So it interests me that this novel has been published as adult fiction. In fact as a young adult author and once-upon-a-time editor of books for teenagers, I puzzled over the decision. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579105/original/file-20240301-16-8hnnku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579105/original/file-20240301-16-8hnnku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579105/original/file-20240301-16-8hnnku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579105/original/file-20240301-16-8hnnku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579105/original/file-20240301-16-8hnnku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579105/original/file-20240301-16-8hnnku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579105/original/file-20240301-16-8hnnku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579105/original/file-20240301-16-8hnnku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>But ultimately, Burn breaks a particular young adult formula. When teaching young adult fiction to creative writing and publishing classes, I often ask <a href="https://www.liliwilkinson.com.au/">Dr Lili Wilkinson’s</a> four powerful plotting questions: What does your character want? What’s stopping them from getting what they want? What will happen if they fail? What do they need to do? </p>
<p>In this novel, there is nothing Andrew alone can do to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma. The only answer posed to the question, “What does Andrew need to do?” is: light fires. The most uncomfortable truth at the heart of this novel is that Andrew exists in a narrow space of limited possibility. He can’t save himself. Individual agency is not the solution to intergenerational trauma or broken systems. </p>
<p>Andrew lights fires under the adults who have turned from him and failed him. Andrew lights fires to disrupt colonialism and patterns of intergenerational trauma. Andrew lights fires which destroy, but Andrew’s fires also offer regeneration and renewal. </p>
<h2>‘Who’s your mob?’</h2>
<p>Something I particularly loved about this novel was the way the adolescent characters try to take care of each other. In Tasmania, Sarah and Andrew try and fail to imagine new futures for themselves, to generate a fantasy of who they might be. In Queensland, friends Doug and Trent strive to dismantle Andrew’s barriers. New love interest, Tess, makes clumsy attempts to connect with Andrew, and he in turn tries hard not hurt her. </p>
<p>In a white, middle-class novel about a young protagonist, these friendships might have become Andrew’s found family – the non-biological ties that so often permeate youth stories in the face of adult failure. However, Melanie Saward decides not to place the burden of Andrew’s continued wellbeing on his peers. Instead, she allows herself a speculative experiment in future thinking, within the framework of contemporary realism. </p>
<p>What could an ending for a kid like Andrew look like when youth justice is decolonised? Melanie Saward looks to the adults and the systems they control to step up and take control.</p>
<p>The question Sarah asks Andrew – “Who’s your mob?” – demands an answer, in order to end the cycle of trauma and create a hopeful ending. This question cuts to the heart of what it means to belong: to family, to Country, to culture and to your own story.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penni Russon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bigambul and Wakka Wakka author Melanie Saward’s Burn is structured around three fires. It bears witness to the role institutions play in exacerbating trauma associated with colonialism.Penni Russon, Senior Lecturer, School of Communication, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235332024-02-29T13:38:58Z2024-02-29T13:38:58ZHow teens benefit from being able to read ‘disturbing’ books that some want to ban<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578696/original/file-20240228-24-s5xddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C59%2C7892%2C5190&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young readers report becoming more thoughtful after reading stories that feature characters who face complex challenges.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/student-choosing-a-book-on-library-royalty-free-image/959761242?phrase=teens+books&adppopup=true">FG Trade via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Should we worry, as <a href="https://pen.org/report/book-bans-pressure-to-censor/">massive book-banning efforts</a> imply, that young people will be harmed by certain kinds of books? For over a decade and through hundreds of interviews, my colleague, literacy professor <a href="https://www.albany.edu/education/faculty/peter-johnston">Peter Johnston</a>, and I have <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/teens-choosing-to-read-9780807768686">studied</a> how adolescents experience reading when they have unfettered access to young adult literature. Our findings suggest that many are helped rather than harmed by such reading.</p>
<p>For one study, we spent a year in a public middle school in a small, mid-Atlantic town, observing and talking to eighth grade students whose teachers, rather than assigning the “classics” or traditional academic texts, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.46">let students choose what to read</a> and gave them time to read daily in class. To support student engagement, they made available hundreds of contemporary books that are relevant to the students’ lives. The books included many of the <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a6v7R7pidO7TIwRZTIh9T6c0--QNNVufcUUrDcz2GJM/edit#gid=9827573720">titles currently being challenged</a>, according to PEN America, which is a nonprofit that advocates against censorship, among other things. The titles include Ellen Hopkins’ “<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/Identical/Ellen-Hopkins/9781416950066">Identical</a>,” Jay Asher’s “<a href="https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780451478290">Thirteen Reasons Why</a>,” Patricia McCormick’s “<a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/sold">Sold</a>,” and others that were banned because of themes of sex and violence.</p>
<p>We were interested in what the students perceived to be the consequences of reading young adult literature. They tended to read books they described <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2024.2317944">as “disturbing</a>.” At the end of the school year, we interviewed 71 of the students about changes in their reading and relationships with peers and family. </p>
<p>We also asked open-ended questions about how, if at all, they had changed as people since the beginning of the year. Beyond reading substantially more than they had previously, they reported positive changes in their social, emotional and intellectual lives that they attributed to reading, the kinds of books they read and the conversations those books provoked.</p>
<p>Here are six ways students told us they had been changed by reading and talking about edgy young adult books. </p>
<h2>1. They became more empathetic</h2>
<p>The students chose mostly fiction, with characters whose life circumstances in many cases differed from their own, including those associated with race, gender, sexuality, culture, language, mental health and household income. Because fiction <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.06.002">provides windows into the minds of others</a>, it has the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1239918">potential to improve empathy</a>, which becomes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055341">more probable when readers get emotionally involved in stories</a>.</p>
<p>This is consistent with what the students reported. As one student explained after reading a book about a bullied character, “Like when you see people … you think, well, they don’t have problems or whatever, but then some of the ones I’ve read, you can just understand people better.”</p>
<h2>2. They improved relationships</h2>
<p>The books contained stark realities about humanity. For instance, some books dealt with how children and teens might be exploited by adults or how mental illness might radically affect a person’s behavior.</p>
<p>Students shared that as they read, they were encountering some of this information for the first time. Their initial instinct, they said, was to find someone else who had read the book and talk about it. </p>
<p>Consequently, students who rarely talked to each other came together over books. In the process, they learned about each other, became friends or at least developed greater appreciation for each other. They also talked to family members, including parents, some of whom they convinced to read the books. </p>
<p>Relationships in books made teens rethink their own relationships. “Her mom was all rude to her,” one student recalled about a character. “It kind of had me feeling bad, ‘cause I was rude to my aunt, and my situation could have been worse.” </p>
<p>Students shared that reading about characters in dire circumstances changed how they thought about their own families. For instance, several admitted that reading a book about a girl their age who was abducted and abused by an adult male made them more likely to listen to their parents’ advice about safety. Others reading that same book reported becoming more protective of siblings.</p>
<h2>3. They became more thoughtful</h2>
<p>Reading about the decisions characters made gave the teens a chance to see the potential consequences of their own future choices.</p>
<p>Some described positive characters as role models. Others described using characters who made questionable decisions as cautionary tales and tools of self-reflection. </p>
<p>Statements such as one student’s comment that “I have changed because I think more about things before I do them” were common and were related to problems teens were already facing or could see on the horizon. These problems included toxic relationships, substance abuse, gang-related activity and risky sexual behaviors. </p>
<h2>4. They were happier</h2>
<p>Despite the fact that many students chose books with serious and unsettling content, students claimed reading made them feel better.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl lies on her back on a bench reading a book that she is holding." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578709/original/file-20240228-26-6snxit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578709/original/file-20240228-26-6snxit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578709/original/file-20240228-26-6snxit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578709/original/file-20240228-26-6snxit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578709/original/file-20240228-26-6snxit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578709/original/file-20240228-26-6snxit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578709/original/file-20240228-26-6snxit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Teens say reading books can boost their mood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teenage-girl-reading-book-outdoors-royalty-free-image/1223187399?phrase=teens+books&adppopup=true">Westend61 via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Some explicitly attested to the pleasure of reading. “It’s the happiest I’ll get,” one student stated about the time she spent with the books.</p>
<p>More frequently, students described how mental trips through books helped them reconsider their own worries compared with characters with much harder lives.</p>
<p>“You do get an appreciation for what you do have, and, like, for being thankful for the happiness and joy in your life,” one explained. “Some of those books, it’s crazy what’s in there.”</p>
<h2>5. Books helped students heal</h2>
<p>Some students reported that books helped them heal from depression and grief.</p>
<p>“When I was younger, I lost my best friend,” one student shared after reading about a character whose mother died. “It was really hard for me, but books like that really take me back and help me remember her but without getting really upset.” </p>
<p>Many pointed to good feelings they got from meaningful book conversations with peers. That is not surprising given the link between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-007-9083-0">positive social relationships and young people’s happiness</a>.</p>
<h2>6. They became better readers</h2>
<p>Some of the books were difficult for students to read, but they persisted even though they had to work harder to understand them. Other research has found that this persistence is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2010.481503">related to the interest</a> that students had in the subjects of the books.</p>
<p>Students reported rereading large chunks of books or even entire books to clear up confusion about storylines, and asking teachers and peers for help with problems such as unfamiliar vocabulary. Their scores on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.46">end-of-year reading tests improved</a>, whereas scores for other students remained flat. That is not surprising, since the students in our study <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.404">read so much</a>. Also, they read mainly fiction, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3498">which is correlated with better reading skills</a> compared with other genres.</p>
<p>Students said they started visiting public libraries and bookstores. Declarations like “I’m a bookworm now” suggested they began viewing themselves as readers. They also reported larger changes. “I think I got smarter,” one student remarked. </p>
<p>The positive transformations reported by students we interviewed cannot be generalized, but experimentally controlled studies yield related findings. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2019.101216">adolescents who read and talk to each other</a> about stories with social themes report greater motivation to read, greater use of reading strategies, such as rereading what they don’t understand, and insight into human nature than those who do not.</p>
<p>Our research left us reflecting on why we want young people to read in the first place. Do we want them to reap the social, emotional, moral and academic benefits that reading confers? If so, preserving their access to relevant books – even the “disturbing” ones – matters a lot.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gay Ivey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Amid calls to ban certain books from libraries and schools, research shows that students benefit when they have the ability to choose which materials they want to read.Gay Ivey, Professor of Literacy, University of North Carolina – GreensboroLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2231592024-02-16T13:19:19Z2024-02-16T13:19:19ZWhat’s behind the astonishing rise in LGBTQ+ romance literature?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575427/original/file-20240213-24-vujzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C9%2C6000%2C3991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">America's biggest book publishers originally viewed LGBTQ+ romance as a niche market.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/lesbian-couple-relaxing-and-reading-in-couch-royalty-free-image/857306488?phrase=gay+couple+reading&adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graphic reading 'Significant Figures: 40% - Sales growth of LGBTQ+ romance books from 2022 to 2023 – the largest increase in any genre.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>A major transformation is underway in Romancelandia. </p>
<p>Once upon a time, romance novels from major U.S. publishers featured only heterosexual couples. Today, the five biggest publishers regularly release same-sex love stories.</p>
<p>From May 2022 to May 2023, <a href="https://www.circana.com/intelligence/press-releases/2023/soaring-sales-of-lgbtq-fiction-defy-book-bans-and-showcase-diversity-in-storytelling">sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew by 40%</a>, with the next biggest jump in this period occurring for general adult fiction, which grew just 17%.</p>
<p>The data from 2023 extends a boom that began in 2016: In the five years from May 2016 to May 2021, sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/books/lgbtq-romance-novels.html">by a jaw-dropping 740%</a>.</p>
<p>It’s tempting to see this trend as a sign of the times. </p>
<p>After all, same-sex couples now populate TV shows, commercials and even <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/opinion/hallmark-lgbtq-christmas-movies-gay-lesbian-couples-rcna130407">Hallmark Christmas movies</a>. </p>
<p>Surely it was only natural for books such as Casey McQuiston’s “<a href="https://www.caseymcquiston.com/red-white-royal-blue">Red, White & Royal Blue</a>,” Lana Harper’s “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/672445/paybacks-a-witch-by-lana-harper/">Payback’s a Witch</a>” and Cat Sebastian’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15171247.Cat_Sebastian">sparkling same-sex historical romance novels</a> to eventually find their way onto bestseller lists. </p>
<p>But it turns out that this rise in LGBTQ+ romance was far from inevitable.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231218991">recent paper</a>, based on interviews with romance editors and authors, shows that America’s biggest book publishers originally viewed LGBTQ+ romance as a niche market, tweaking their approach only after witnessing the huge success of independently published LGBTQ+ e-books. </p>
<h2>The business of romance</h2>
<p>Book publishing, like most of the entertainment industry, has traditionally operated under what <a href="https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2013/12/the-way-of-the-blockbuster">Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse</a> calls the blockbuster strategy: Publishers invest huge sums into acquiring and promoting surefire bestsellers, such as Prince Harry’s “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/books/prince-harry-spare-review.html#:%7E:text=The%20prince%20claims%20to%20have,who's%20leaking%20what%20and%20why.">Spare</a>,” which earned <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9805467/A-book-Harry-written-Meghan-Royals-brace-20m-Megxit-memoir.html">a US$20 million advance</a>. </p>
<p>It’s simply more efficient for publishers to pursue a “one-to-many” business model – that is, to sell one book to a mass audience – than a “many-to-many” business model, selling a wider variety of books to many more small markets. </p>
<p>Historically, publishers assumed that same-sex romance would draw relatively small niche audiences, making them a riskier investment. As a result, for decades, LGBTQ+ love stories were left to small gay or lesbian presses.</p>
<p>Starting around 2010, however, digital romance publishing – both from self-published authors and small digital-only publishers like <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/57460-patty-marks-sex-romance-and-erotic-bestsellers.html">Ellora’s Cave</a> and <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/69517-samhain-publishing-to-shut-down-operations.html">Samhain</a> – revealed a vast, untapped appetite for more varied romance. The “<a href="https://bookscouter.com/blog/big-five-publishing-houses/">Big Five</a>” publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster – realized their go-to strategy was leaving money on the table.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Crowds of people browse the HarperCollins exhibition at a book fair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">HarperCollins is one of the ‘Big Five’ publishing houses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-harper-collins-stand-during-the-first-day-of-the-london-news-photo/1251977849?adppopup=true">Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Initially, big publishers tried to shoehorn digital romance authors into the blockbuster model by acquiring their books and issuing them in print. </p>
<p>That worked for E.L James’ “<a href="https://www.eljamesauthor.com/books/fifty-shades-of-grey/">Fifty Shades of Grey</a>,” which started out as fan fiction, was later released by a tiny online publisher and was eventually published by Penguin.</p>
<p>But for LGBTQ+ romance authors, the economics of high overhead, big print runs and a yearlong production schedule simply didn’t work for books geared for presumably smaller audience segments. </p>
<p>As romance readers abandoned mass-market paperbacks for a wider, fresher range of stories, romance editors at large and medium-sized publishers realized they needed to become more like digital presses.</p>
<h2>Making love pay</h2>
<p>How did they do this? </p>
<p>First, they hired new editors who had cut their teeth at tiny digital publishers with a history of releasing same-sex romance. For our paper, we interviewed several of these editors, including <a href="https://read.sourcebooks.com/editorial-mary-altman.html">Sourcebooks’ Mary Altman</a> and <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/22629-james-tabbed-to-run-harlequin-s-e-book-only-carina-press.html">Angela James</a>, founder of Harlequin’s Carina Press. Harlequin has been owned by HarperCollins since 2014.</p>
<p>James, formerly at Samhain, broke sacred publishing rules when she launched Carina, the first digital-only imprint at a traditional publisher. Carina lowered production and distribution costs by publishing only e-books and by offering authors higher royalties but no advances.</p>
<p>The lower-overhead strategy worked so well that in 2020 the imprint created <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/82161-harlequin-s-carina-press-to-launch-queer-romance-line.html">Carina Adores</a>, an e-book and print line dedicated to LGBTQ+ romance. </p>
<p>Altman, who had been accustomed to acquiring same-sex romance during her tenure at Ellora’s Cave, continued to do so at Sourcebooks, a mid-sized publisher partly owned by Penguin Random House. In 2020, she released the breakout LGBTQ+ bestseller “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Boyfriend-Material-Alexis-Hall/dp/1728206146">Boyfriend Material</a>” by Alexis Hall. Sourcebooks also launched a new imprint, <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/91686-dominique-raccah-does-it-her-way.html">Bloom Books</a>, in 2021, which sped up publishing schedules to meet the demands of self-published and other entrepreneurial authors.</p>
<p>These structural changes made romance imprints at large publishers nimbler, more innovative and more open to all kinds of couples.</p>
<p>Ironically, many of these more inclusive stories ended up appealing to mass audiences after all. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://read.sourcebooks.com/fiction/9781728206141-boyfriend-material-tp.html">Boyfriend Material</a>” dominated Best Romance of the Year lists in 2020. Adriana Herrera, Alyssa Cole, K.J. Charles and dozens of other authors of LGBTQ+ romance now regularly appear on such lists. “Red White and Royal Blue” is now an Amazon Original movie. </p>
<p>It’s important to note that LGBTQ+ romances still represent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/books/lgbtq-romance-novels.html">only 4% of the print book romance market</a>. Meanwhile, other diverse voices, including Black authors, <a href="https://www.therippedbodicela.com/state-racial-diversity-romance-publishing-report">are still underrepresented</a>. As a whole, the Big Five publishing houses are still adhering to the blockbuster strategy. Nonetheless, the structural changes they’ve made in romance imprints have fostered an outpouring of more diverse love stories. </p>
<p>At a time when other institutions, including universities and businesses, are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/12/27/dei-affirmative-action-legal-challenges-corporate-america/">dismantling programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion</a>, the LGBTQ+ romance boom serves as a reminder that inclusion doesn’t “just happen.” </p>
<p>Ongoing social and cultural change requires new systems, processes and structures. Without institutional support, many people won’t get their happy ending.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223159/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s tempting to see this trend as a sign of the times. But the biggest book publishers started changing their approach only once they realized they were leaving money on the table.Christine Larson, Assistant Professor of Journalism, University of Colorado BoulderAshley Carter, PhD Student in Journalism, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217262024-02-06T19:08:09Z2024-02-06T19:08:09ZWhy Heartstopper is Gen Z’s defining publishing phenomenon<p>When Volume 5 of Heartstopper, Alice Oseman’s graphic novel series (turned Netflix adaptation, turned cultural juggernaut) was published in December last year, the book was declared an <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/alice-oseman/heartstopper-volume-5-instant-number-one-bestseller-the-graphic-novel-series-now-on-netflix">instant number-one bestseller</a>. In Australia alone, it sold 12,300 copies <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/12/15/244785/heartstopper-the-secret-top-christmas-charts-in-aus-aotearoa-nz/">in its first week</a>.</p>
<p>To every generation a publishing phenomenon is born – and for Generation Z, it’s Heartstopper, which Oseman started writing aged 22 (she’s still just 29).</p>
<p>The rise of Heartstopper reads like a history of the last ten years in publishing tools and platforms. Oseman started self-publishing the comics on microblogging site <a href="https://aliceoseman.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a> and webtoon platform <a href="https://tapas.io/aliceoseman">Tapas</a> in 2016, building up a loyal following and clocking millions of views. </p>
<p>Crowdfunding for the first print run <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/oseman-crowdfunds-lgbt-comic-two-hours-816316">met the funding goal within two hours</a>. Hachette Children’s Group picked up <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/hcg-publish-oseman-s-online-graphic-novel-869686">world rights</a> for the series, publishing Volume One in 2019. </p>
<p>To date, five graphic novels, two novellas, a yearbook and a colouring book have been <a href="https://aliceoseman.com/heartstopper/graphic-novels/">published</a>. The graphic novels have also been adapted into a <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/heartstopper/s01">successful Netflix series</a>, with scripts written by Oseman herself. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Heartstopper author Alice Oseman has written the scripts for the Netflix series.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marcus Laing/Netflix</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Heartstopper follows the sweet friends-to-lovers arc of Charlie and Nick, whom we first meet in Year 10 and Year 11. It depicts the giddying highs and dizzying lows of being young, queer and in love. </p>
<p>Through Charlie, Nick and other well-drawn characters, Alice Oseman beautifully portrays the inner workings of a healthy relationship, modelling open communication, help-seeking, allyship and active consent. The books also touch on rarely discussed topics like male eating disorders.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-beautiful-females-and-familiar-dystopias-new-graphic-nonfiction-interrogates-21st-century-life-182224">Big beautiful females and familiar dystopias: new graphic nonfiction interrogates 21st-century life</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>Queer joy</h2>
<p>Queer joy is <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/queer-joy">defined by Oxfam</a> as a positive feeling we get from encountering signs of progress in gender equality and gender diversity. In the Heartstopper series, the narrative engine runs on themes of love, identity, first times, self-discovery, friendship and allyship. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>When we meet Charlie in Volume 1, he’s been out at his school as gay for a while. He mentions past bullying and there are moments of homophobia, but largely Charlie is accepted at school. Charlie’s friend Elle has transitioned their gender and has been enrolled into the girls’ school across the road. There’s never any suggestion this has been met with resistance or nastiness.</p>
<p>Of course, not everything comes easily to Charlie and Nick. The shadow side of the themes of love, connection and community includes <a href="https://theconversation.com/treating-a-childs-mental-illness-sometimes-means-getting-the-whole-family-involved-169729">mental ill-health</a>, body dysmorphia, <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-half-of-australians-will-experience-trauma-most-before-they-turn-17-we-need-to-talk-about-it-159801">trauma</a>, family conflict and <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-questions-your-childs-school-should-be-able-to-answer-about-bullying-222255">bullying</a>. </p>
<p>Nick’s brother, David, takes every opportunity to shame Nick for being gay, while Nick’s father is an absent parent. Meanwhile, trauma from Charlie’s past, including bullying and his <a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-masculinity-what-does-it-mean-where-did-it-come-from-and-is-the-term-useful-or-harmful-189298">toxic</a>, closeted ex Ben’s coercive behaviour, has had some heavy impacts. </p>
<p>Charlie confesses to Nick that he used to <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-teens-doing-well-but-some-still-at-high-risk-of-suicide-and-self-harm-83303">self-harm</a>, and Nick observes some worrying behaviour in Charlie in terms of food avoidance and anxiety. Nick talks to his mother who tells him, “Love can’t cure a mental illness”, and gives some practical advice: listen, talk, ask him what he needs, stand by him, but don’t try to take it on by yourself. </p>
<p>Nick encourages Charlie to seek help. After some reluctance, Charlie talks to his parents. He is diagnosed with <a href="https://theconversation.com/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-is-more-common-than-you-think-but-it-can-take-9-years-for-an-ocd-diagnosis-196651">obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)</a> and anorexia and is admitted to a residential treatment program. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-male-character-on-heartstopper-has-an-eating-disorder-thats-more-common-than-you-might-think-211912">assistant professor of psychology Vivienne Lewis has noted</a>, eating disorders in boys and men are underrepresented in media and little understood in the community, so Alice Oseman is breaking important ground here.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heartstopper-depicts-queer-joy-heres-why-that-can-bring-about-complicated-feelings-for-those-in-the-lgbtiq-community-183729">Heartstopper depicts queer joy - here's why that can bring about complicated feelings for those in the LGBTIQ community</a>
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<hr>
<h2>‘Felt gaps’: the magic of comics</h2>
<p>Comics have a tumultuous history, especially for children. In 1953, in his book <a href="https://archive.org/details/fredricwerthamseductionoftheinnocent19542ndprinting">Seduction of the Innocent</a>, Frederic Wertham argued comics inhibit literacy, and called them “death on reading”. But the opposite seems to be true. </p>
<p>Comics and graphic novels are, for some kids at least, the gateway to a passion for books. For already engaged readers, it’s a way to diversify their reading and develop their visual literacy. English teacher <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.039375598684308">Matt McCabe</a> points out that while comics can be read and understood comparatively quickly, they can be “studied multiple times from different angles”, making them suited to readers of all abilities. </p>
<p>Reading comics calls on a heightened awareness of the senses to make sense of the unfolding world within. Some of the magic of comics occurs in the gutter: the space between panels. The comics medium is also known for its disjuncture of word and image. These “felt gaps” prompt the reader to harness their imagination and life experience. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The space between panels in comics prompts the reader to harness their imagination and life experience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hachette Australia</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Because comics can show and tell two things at once, they are particularly good at representing the way identities are formed in relation to society and culture. There’s a scene in Volume 1 where Nick turns to Google to ask, “Am I gay?” Google searches like these have become a rite of passage for young Gen Zs, <a href="https://youthsense.com.au/youth-insights/why-australian-gen-z-lgbtqia-numbers-are-skyrocketing/">who are much more likely than older generations to identify as queer</a>. </p>
<p>An examination of Google trends from 2004 to 2023 highlights a steep rise in queries about sexuality, with <a href="https://www.culturalcurrents.institute/insights/lgbtq-identity">such searches surging over 1,300%</a>. Alice Oseman uses jagged panels and fragmentation to show Nick’s worldview exploding as he comes to terms with this new information about himself, in the fractured environment of a Google search response page.</p>
<h2>Heartstopper Volume 5</h2>
<p>By Heartstopper Volume 5, Nick is out to family and friends and Charlie is home and in therapy, but generally well. Charlie and Nick are in an established relationship, thinking about taking things to the next level. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>They are surrounded by a supportive and diverse group of friends, including a trans girl, another gay boy who is not interested in coming out, Charlie’s asexual sister, and a lesbian couple, reflecting a spectrum of LGBTQ+ experiences many kids would encounter in their own social milieu. </p>
<p>There is a subplot of two male teachers falling in love. One of these teachers encourages Charlie to consider running for Head Boy. (We’ll have to read Volume 6 to find out if he’s successful!) </p>
<p>Heartstopper Volume 5 focuses a lot on Nick who, as a final-year student, needs to make a decision about university. Initially he assumes he’ll go to the closest one, to stay near Charlie. Two friends, also facing this decision, accompany Nick on a road trip to visit campuses elsewhere, and gently encourage him to explore other options. </p>
<p>Alice Oseman handles with delicacy the fact that as high-school sweethearts, their paths may take them in different directions – and that only through supporting each other to grow will they both thrive. </p>
<p>Another important plot point involves discussions about sexual readiness, with both boys talking to each other and their friends about recognising when you might be ready for sex. The conversations demonstrate nuances of active consent and communication, and stand in stark contrast to Ben’s entitlement and aggression in Volume 1. A conversation in class shows not all young people are ready for sex –and that’s normalised too.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-w-has-withdrawn-welcome-to-sex-from-its-stores-to-protect-staff-but-teen-sex-education-can-keep-young-people-safe-209979">Big W has withdrawn Welcome to Sex from its stores to protect staff – but teen sex education can keep young people safe</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Normalising queer love</h2>
<p>In Heartstopper, the representations of mental illness, trans identities and queer love are destigmatising and normalising. Charlie’s queer and quirky friendship group reminds me of the young people who trail in and out of my house on a regular basis. (My oldest daughter ran the queer club at her school, my middle child is non-binary.) </p>
<p>The depiction of Charlie’s OCD and anorexia as a result of past trauma is carefully optimistic, showing a fairly linear pathway from help-seeking to effective treatment. Oseman acknowledges, through Nick, that isn’t always the case: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Staying in a hospital was a big risk. It probably isn’t helpful for everyone. But it was for him. He could actually focus on his mental health without worrying about school and what everyone thought.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Oseman uses the comic form to alleviate the intensity, avoiding details about self-harm and restrictive eating, and never showing anything graphic. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The representations of queer love in Heartstopper are destigmatising and normalising.</span>
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<p>The message when it comes to mental health is that it takes a village to treat mental illness (siblings, parents, friends, clinicians, teachers).</p>
<p>Some readers, especially those of us who grew up in earlier decades, might feel sad or angry when they compare their school experiences to what’s shown in Heartstopper. Some who experienced the bullying but not the friendships in high school may struggle to believe kids can be this kind to each other. </p>
<p>For me, though, this is the queer joy of reading Heartstopper. In its focus on the love and community that surrounds Charlie and Nick, the Heartstopper graphic novels create a space for the reader, who becomes an intimate confidante – another member of Charlie and Nick’s tight-knit friendship group.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penni Russon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Heartstopper is a celebration of ‘queer joy’ that uses the imaginative intimacy of graphic novels to invite the reader into its tight-knit world.Penni Russon, Senior Lecturer, School of Communication, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2133112023-09-21T15:09:17Z2023-09-21T15:09:17ZHow BookTok trends are influencing what you read – whether you use TikTok or not<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549334/original/file-20230920-27-dsmzsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C12%2C8218%2C5475&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/creative-collage-portrait-huge-hand-black-2170471681">Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve been in a bookshop recently, you may have seen references to BookTok – whether it’s stickers on books or whole tables dedicated to “BookTok favourites”.</p>
<p>BookTok is a community on the social media app TikTok. Creators make short videos recommending, reviewing, or just generally chatting about books. This community has become one of the biggest on the platform and its hashtag (<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/BookTok">#BookTok</a>) has been used on over <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemcneal/colleen-hoover-booktok-bestsellers">60 billion videos</a>. BookTok’s influence over the publishing industry and what young people are reading is staggering.</p>
<p>Online reading communities have been around for a while. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/">Goodreads</a> – a social cataloguing platform where readers can follow friends and authors, get book recommendations and read user-submitted reviews – was launched in 2007, and there are other communities on sites such as YouTube (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/booktube">BookTube</a>) and Instagram (<a href="https://readerhaven.com/how-to-start-a-bookstagram/">Bookstagram</a>). </p>
<p>However, none of these sites seem to have captured the attention of readers, publishers and retailers quite like BookTok. Caroline Hardman, a literary agent at Hardman & Swainson, corroborates this, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/06/i-cant-stress-how-much-booktok-sells-teen-literary-influencers-swaying-publishers">telling The Guardian</a>: “It’s having a strong effect on what publishers look for.”</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.
_
_You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/friends-with-benefits-what-a-sex-and-relationship-therapist-wants-you-to-know-210854utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Friends with benefits – what a sex and relationship therapist wants you to know</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/girl-math-may-not-be-smart-financial-advice-but-it-could-help-women-feel-more-empowered-with-money-211780utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">‘Girl math’ may not be smart financial advice, but it could help women feel more empowered with money</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/love-or-hate-tiktoks-viral-bottle-smashing-trend-a-neuroscientist-explains-what-that-says-about-your-brain-211963utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Love or hate TikTok’s viral bottle-smashing trend? A neuroscientist explains what that says about your brain</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Is BookTok’s impact positive or negative?</h2>
<p>The main demographic of BookTok creators, viewers and authors is <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2023/01/02/never-underestimate-the-power-of-booktok/">young women</a>. While books popular with young women have gained immense broad popularity before – for example, the <a href="https://stepheniemeyer.com/the-twilight-saga/">Twilight saga</a> (from 2005) by Stephenie Meyer, and the paranormal romance fever that followed – young women have rarely been taken seriously as either critics and readers.</p>
<p>But times are changing. The books most popular with BookTok – such as romance, fantasy and the hybrid genre “romantasy” – are being <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/Frankfurt-Book-Fair/article/90668-frankfurt-book-fair-2022-romantasy-and-revelry-on-the-fair-floor.html">picked up more and more by publishers</a> and <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/login?Refdoc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ethebookseller%2Ecom%2Ffeatures%2Fpublishers%2Dand%2Dmarketeers%2Dlaud%2Dimpact%2Dof%2Dbooktok%2Din%2Dthe%2Dresurgence%2Dof%2Dromance#:%7E:text=Maddy%20Marshall%2C%20senior%20marketing%20manager,there%20are%20whole%20table%20displays">displayed more prominently in bookshops</a>. </p>
<p>Book series such as <a href="https://sarahjmaas.com/books/a-court-of-thorns-and-roses-series/">A Court of Thorns and Roses</a> by Sarah J Maas (from 2015) are immensely popular on BookTok – with some videos about the series amassing <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@itsthesuriel/video/7216831361120865578?q=A%20Court%20of%20Thorns%20and%20Roses&t=1694440196044">over a million views</a>. The series is marketed alongside new releases like <a href="https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-hurricane-wars-the-hurricane-wars-book-1-thea-guanzon">The Hurricane Wars</a> by Thea Guanzon or <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/261299-hades-x-persephone-saga">A Touch of Chaos</a> by Scarlett St. Clair, with Maas’s series appearing as “similar” or “recommended” on Amazon, Waterstones and Goodreads, as well as often being mentioned in readers’ reviews.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young woman in a yellow hoodie smiling at her phone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young women are shaping publishing like never before.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-millennial-hispanic-teen-girl-checking-1734170210">Ground Picture/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mythology retellings are also immensely popular on BookTok, sparked by titles such as <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/song-of-achilles-9781526648174/">The Song of Achilles</a> by Madeline Miller (2011). Such titles now heavily feature on publishers’ new release and coming soon lists. </p>
<p>While it is fascinating to see that young women and their tastes can have such a big impact on the publishing industry, there’s a risk it may homogenise the industry. Literary critic <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/booktok-tiktok-books-community">Barry Pierce</a> has said that BookTok reads “all sort of have the same cover”. Meanwhile author <a href="https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/sweetbitter-author-stephanie-danler-booktok-instagram">Stephanie Danler said</a> of her foray into BookTok: “It seemed impossible to discover different fiction. It was the same 20 books over and over.” </p>
<p>BookTok also has a problem with diversity – in more ways than one. Its recommendations are <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2022/11/booktok-racial-bias-tiktok-algorithm.html">overwhelmingly by white authors</a>, and it is unclear what the long-term effects of this will be on both publishing and the young readers who flock to the app for recommendations. Furthermore, by catering to this huge audience of young women, publishers are forgoing books by men, <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/54863/1/where-have-all-the-young-male-novelists-gone">especially emerging writers</a>.</p>
<h2>Reviving books and identifying as ‘readers’</h2>
<p>BookTok is also proving a powerful tool for renewing interest in past titles. At the inaugural <a href="https://mashable.com/article/tiktok-book-awards-booktok-bolu-babalola#:%7E:text=The%20inaugural%20TikTok%20Book%20Awards,fans%20voting%20via%20the%20app.">BookTok Awards</a> held in August, Dolly Alderton’s memoir <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/306824/everything-i-know-about-love-by-alderton-dolly/9780241982105">Everything I Know About Love</a> won in the “best book to end a reading slump” category, despite being published in 2018. </p>
<p>These awards even had a “best BookTok revival” category, with the award going to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813). It’s funny to think that Austen, an author so revered that is she is printed on the <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/polymer-10-pound-note#:%7E:text=We%20first%20issued%20our%20current,features%20the%20author%20Jane%20Austen.">£10 note</a>, is being “revived”, but the younger demographic of BookTok may mean that new audiences are coming to even such established authors.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1692261746365411602"}"></div></p>
<p>It also makes startlingly clear how much BookTok and its creators are tastemakers who are shaping what and how young people read. As some creators themselves <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/25/the-rise-of-booktok-meet-the-teen-influencers-pushing-books-up-the-charts">have said</a>, BookTok favours “convincing you to read books based on their aesthetics”.</p>
<p>This might appear a shallow way to read but it is clearly very compelling, especially for a generation for whom countercultures have given way to microtrends and niche aesthetic identities. Young people are no longer punks, hippies or goths, but instead dress with a “<a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/what-exactly-is-cottagecore">cottagecore</a>” or “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-reading-dark-academia-novels-can-help-new-students-feel-more-at-home-at-university-213276">dark academia</a>” aesthetic.</p>
<p>Identity and aesthetics are potent tools that BookTok utilises to drive views, enthusiasm and sales – even if the latter isn’t the creators’ explicit aim. BookTok encourages people to <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/booktok-tiktok-books-community">identify as “readers”</a> rather than simply to read – indeed, to identify as specific kinds of reader such as “romance readers” or “fantasy readers”. </p>
<p>The constant supply of new content, book releases and ways to show yourself to be a reader – all displayed in visually compelling snippets – means that BookTok’s impact on what young people are reading is uniquely powerful.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Wall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Online reading communities have been around for a while but none of them have captured the attention of readers, publishers and retailers quite like BookTok.Natalie Wall, PhD in English Literature, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2048862023-05-31T12:39:02Z2023-05-31T12:39:02ZSummer reading: 5 books that explore LGBTQ teen and young adult life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528449/original/file-20230526-19-zowllg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C38%2C5137%2C3350&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Coming of age brings new challenges for central characters who are discovering their own sexuality.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/reading-at-the-beach-royalty-free-image/102491237?phrase=summer+reading&adppopup=true">Chris Hackett via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In recognition of LGBT Pride Month, The Conversation reached out to <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uBrR7S0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">Jonathan Alexander</a> – an English professor with a scholarly interest in the interplay between sexuality and literature – for recommendations of young adult fiction books that feature LGBTQ characters. What follows is a list that Alexander, who has just stepped down as the children’s and young adult fiction section editor for the <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/">Los Angeles Review of Books</a>, considers as “must-reads” for this summer.</em></p>
<h2>1. Darius the Great Is Not Okay</h2>
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<img alt="Two boys sitting and looking at an urban landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527550/original/file-20230522-19-alwc0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527550/original/file-20230522-19-alwc0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527550/original/file-20230522-19-alwc0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527550/original/file-20230522-19-alwc0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527550/original/file-20230522-19-alwc0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527550/original/file-20230522-19-alwc0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527550/original/file-20230522-19-alwc0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Darius the Great Is Not Okay’ by Adib Khorram.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/573023/darius-the-great-is-not-okay-by-adib-khorram/">Penguin Random House</a></span>
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<p>Written by Adib Khorram, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/573023/darius-the-great-is-not-okay-by-adib-khorram/">Darius the Great Is Not Okay</a>” is told from the perspective of a Persian American teen battling an anxiety disorder while navigating the complexities of growing up in a culturally mixed household. Darius’ parents – an Iranian immigrant mother and a white father – are kind and sympathetic, even as they are dealing with their own issues, including the dad’s struggle with mental health issues and the mother’s attempt to maintain family relations with relatives in a country that is not only halfway around the world but whose government is viewed with suspicion by many Americans. Still, Darius’ family pulls together, even making a trip to Iran to visit relatives. While there, Darius learns about his cultural background as Persian, makes a lifelong friend in an Iranian cousin, and considers his own sexuality. He might be gay. How will that complicate his life? </p>
<p>Khorram beautifully handles the challenges – and pleasures – of growing up in a culturally mixed but rich and loving household while also dealing with mental health challenges and identity exploration. And there are a lot of sweet touches throughout, including a love of tea and “Star Trek.” Highly recommended for its sensitivity and authenticity. </p>
<h2>2. Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution</h2>
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<img alt="Two teenagers holding hands and smiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527556/original/file-20230522-23-49gxsv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527556/original/file-20230522-23-49gxsv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527556/original/file-20230522-23-49gxsv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527556/original/file-20230522-23-49gxsv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527556/original/file-20230522-23-49gxsv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527556/original/file-20230522-23-49gxsv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527556/original/file-20230522-23-49gxsv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution’ by Kacen Callender.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/lark-kasim-start-a-revolution_9781419756870/">Abrams Books</a></span>
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<p>Kacen Callender, whose groundbreaking “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/felix-ever-after-kacen-callender?variant=32280909578274">Felix Ever After</a>” delighted readers with its tale of a Black trans boy learning how to navigate being in and out of love, returns with a new book just as compellingly real. Lark and Kasim are old friends whose relationship has seen better days. Lark is working hard at being a writer while also trying to help Kasim figure out how to handle the complexities of living at least part of their young lives in the shadows of social media. Ultimately, the book is as much about forging friendships – and learning how to handle their evolution – as about crushes and teen love. </p>
<p>With richly drawn nonbinary and queer characters, “Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution” joins Callender’s previous award-winning books in contributing beautifully written and deeply imagined Black, queer and trans characters that readers of all kinds will come to love. </p>
<h2>3. Last Night at the Telegraph Club</h2>
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<img alt="An empty city street with two people holding hands under a lamppost." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527560/original/file-20230522-14801-xyo5r1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527560/original/file-20230522-14801-xyo5r1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527560/original/file-20230522-14801-xyo5r1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527560/original/file-20230522-14801-xyo5r1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527560/original/file-20230522-14801-xyo5r1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527560/original/file-20230522-14801-xyo5r1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527560/original/file-20230522-14801-xyo5r1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Last Night at the Telegraph Club’ by Malinda Lo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/565819/last-night-at-the-telegraph-club-by-malinda-lo/">Penguin Random House</a></span>
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<p>Malinda Lo’s<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/565819/last-night-at-the-telegraph-club-by-malinda-lo/"> National Book Award-winning novel</a> is set in mid-20th-century San Francisco, in a Chinese American immigrant community in which Lily Hu has to learn to deal with racism, the “Red Scare” and the possibility that she might be a lesbian. A masterwork of historical young adult literature, “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” introduces readers to how lesbian communities formed – and thrived – even during some of the most repressive and homophobic moments in U.S. history. </p>
<p>Lo’s novel joins her previous works, such as the groundbreaking “<a href="https://www.malindalo.com/ash">Ash</a>,” a retelling of Cinderella from a lesbian perspective, in creating exciting and affirming work for young queer readers, as well as for anyone who cares for those questioning their sexuality and sense of belonging in the world. </p>
<h2>4. Café Con Lychee</h2>
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<img alt="Two boys making eye contact in front of sugary snacks and drinks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527562/original/file-20230522-15-b7kh5t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527562/original/file-20230522-15-b7kh5t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527562/original/file-20230522-15-b7kh5t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527562/original/file-20230522-15-b7kh5t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527562/original/file-20230522-15-b7kh5t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527562/original/file-20230522-15-b7kh5t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527562/original/file-20230522-15-b7kh5t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Café Con Lychee’ by Emery Lee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/cafe-con-lychee-emery-lee?variant=40682132668450">Harper Collins Publishers</a></span>
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<p>Emery Lee’s delicious novel centers on the rivalry between an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery in a small Vermont town – with both eateries facing competition from a new fusion restaurant that has just opened. The families that own the cafés each have a young son working in them – Theo and Gabi, respectively – who have to learn to overcome their own rivalry and help their families survive the precarities of operating a business in a world of cutthroat capitalism.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780063210271/cafe-con-lychee/">Café Con Lychee</a>” shows how love survives economic challenges and family foibles as the two young men move from rivalry to romance. A sweet and nourishing tale, the book offers readers a relatable glimpse into making it – and making out – during a time of economic upheaval.</p>
<h2>5. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe</h2>
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<img alt="A red truck parked on grass at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527563/original/file-20230522-17128-jkclqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527563/original/file-20230522-17128-jkclqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527563/original/file-20230522-17128-jkclqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527563/original/file-20230522-17128-jkclqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527563/original/file-20230522-17128-jkclqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527563/original/file-20230522-17128-jkclqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527563/original/file-20230522-17128-jkclqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe’ by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Aristotle-and-Dante-Discover-the-Secrets-of-the-Universe/Benjamin-Alire-Saenz/Aristotle-and-Dante/9781665925419">Simon & Schuster</a></span>
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<p>I want to conclude this year’s summer reading list with an older work – Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s still beautiful, still vital and still very necessary paean to young gay love. Ari and Dante, from two different walks of life, learn to find love and self-acceptance in this beautifully written book. At the start of the book, Ari is dealing with family trouble, including a brother in prison, and Dante is perhaps a bit too smart for his own good. The two meet at a swimming pool one summer, setting the stage for a steamy exploration of friendship that might turn into something more. If you haven’t read “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” catch up this summer with this classic of contemporary LGBTQ young adult fiction, and then check out its recently published sequel, “Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World.” Happy reading!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Alexander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of young adult fiction presents a fresh list of LGBTQ ‘must-reads’ for the summer of 2023.Jonathan Alexander, Professor of English and Gender & Sexuality Studies, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2026402023-04-25T20:01:28Z2023-04-25T20:01:28ZEven the word ‘period’ is now politicised. That makes Judy Blume’s classic ode to puberty especially relevant<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522345/original/file-20230421-25-1juvvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C8%2C5667%2C3555&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Author and producer Judy Blume and actors Abby Ryder Fortson and Rachel McAdams at the premiere of Are You There God It's Me Margaret in LA. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Pizello/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years ago, my friends and I reminisced about our favourite novels as children. One of them was Judy Blume’s 1970 classic, <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781035028498/">Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret</a>, released this week (in the US, though not yet in Australia) as a film. </p>
<p>Blume’s novel centres on a year in the life of 11-year-old Margaret Simon, after she moves from New York City to the suburbs of New Jersey. Margaret was raised without religion: her mother was disowned by her Christian parents when she married Margaret’s Jewish father. </p>
<p>But Margaret secretly talks to God as she grapples with the challenges of puberty, friendship and finding her religious identity. Margaret and her friends, who dub themselves the Pre-Teen Sensations, are obsessed with growing breasts and getting their periods.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LzRzojHC3iE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Judy Blume’s 1970 classic is now a film for the first time.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Despite Blume’s novels’ enduring legacies, there have been few screen adaptations of her work – and Blume has frequently <a href="https://ew.com/article/2013/05/13/judy-blume-hollywood-tiger-eyes/">been disappointed</a> by them. </p>
<p>But she was convinced by the <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/03/judy-blume-movie-deal-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret-lionsgate-kelly-fremon-craig-james-l-brooks-1202872233/">passion</a> of director Kelly Fremon Craig (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1878870/">The Edge of Seventeen</a>) and producer James L. Brooks (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092699/">Broadcast News</a>, The Simpsons). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-and-other-reasons-why-we-ban-books-for-young-people-47514">Sex and other reasons why we ban books for young people</a>
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<h2>Speaking out against censorship</h2>
<p>Blume has spoken out against <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/03/judy-blume-book-banning-now-much-worse-in-us-than-in-1980s">current movements to ban and censor books</a>, observing the climate is worse now than in the 1980s, “because it’s become political.”</p>
<p>Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781447281047/">Forever</a> (1975) – also slated for a screen adaptation, <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/forever-judy-blume-show-announcement">by Netflix</a> – are Blume’s most controversial books, for their frank depictions of puberty and teen sexuality. </p>
<p>Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret was listed in the American Library Association’s <a href="https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade1999">100 most challenged books</a> – books people were seeking to ban – from the 1990s (when the association first started tracking) until the 2010s. It was even banned in Blume’s children’s <a href="https://booksandbookskw.com/judy-blume-on-the-50th-anniversary-of-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/">school library</a>. </p>
<p>Forever, a no-holds-barred, sweet and funny account of first love and first sex, published in 1975, ranks number seven on the most challenged books list. Most recently, it was banned by <a href="https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/2023/03/16/list-florida-school-district-removes-books-sex-racial-content-martin-county/70009140007/">a school district in Florida</a>.</p>
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<p>Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret was also controversial for its treatment of religion. Many of us might remember it for the Pre-Teen Sensations’ preoccupation with periods, breasts and boys. But Margaret’s search for a religious identity – and her understanding of how this shapes her family relationships – is at the heart of the novel. Ultimately, the book’s message seems to be that organised religion matters less than Margaret’s personal relationship to God.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://pen.org/report/banned-usa-growing-movement-to-censor-books-in-schools/">PEN America report</a> released late last year, there are currently 1,648 unique book titles affected by bans in the United States. </p>
<p>Of these, 49% of banned books are intended for a young adult audience, 22% of books are banned for sexual content – including depictions of puberty – and 4% are banned for featuring stories with religious minorities, including Judaism. But reading diverse and sometimes difficult stories is important for developing <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/judy-blume-roald-dahl-censorship-book-bans-queer-books-1235570001/">empathy and understanding</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/book-bans-reflect-outdated-beliefs-about-how-children-read-189938">Book bans reflect outdated beliefs about how children read</a>
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</em>
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<h2>‘Don’t Say Period’ legislation</h2>
<p>In an era where so-called “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/20/florida-considers-ban-on-discussion-of-periods-menstruation-before-sixth-grade">Don’t Say Period</a>” legislation is being debated in Florida, Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret’s focus on menstruation and puberty has renewed political and cultural significance. </p>
<p>The legislation seeks to ban instruction about menstruation in US schools before grade six – Margaret’s own age in the novel. </p>
<p>“Even if they don’t let them read books, their bodies are still going to change and their feelings about their bodies are going to change,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/03/judy-blume-book-banning-now-much-worse-in-us-than-in-1980s">says Blume</a> about the ban. “And you can’t control that. They have to be able to read, to question.”</p>
<p>Blume’s books are already on banned lists in Florida. So it’s perhaps overly optimistic to hope Florida school libraries will overlook copies of Margaret in the stacks to ensure this generation of readers can find an empathetic voice in this context. </p>
<p>Many young readers found a kindred spirit in Margaret. She helped normalise the confusing feelings of puberty and the complicated process of figuring out who you are for generations of readers, and still does.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522423/original/file-20230422-3345-rekxyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522423/original/file-20230422-3345-rekxyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522423/original/file-20230422-3345-rekxyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522423/original/file-20230422-3345-rekxyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522423/original/file-20230422-3345-rekxyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522423/original/file-20230422-3345-rekxyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522423/original/file-20230422-3345-rekxyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522423/original/file-20230422-3345-rekxyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Margaret helped normalise the confusing feelings of puberty and the complicated process of figuring out who you are.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-i-looked-at-100-ads-for-menstrual-products-spanning-100-years-shame-and-secrecy-prevailed-152685">Friday essay: I looked at 100 ads for menstrual products spanning 100 years — shame and secrecy prevailed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Menstrual belts and new-generation updates</h2>
<p>My friends and I howled with laughter about the confusion our adolescent selves had felt about the <a href="https://underpinningsmuseum.com/museum-collections/sanitary-belts-by-de-luxe-kleinert/">menstrual belt</a> described in the novel – a form of menstrual hygiene product already on its way out in the 1970s, let alone when we were reading the novel in the 1980s and early 1990s.</p>
<p>As Margaret awaits her period’s arrival, she practises wearing a menstrual belt and pad. So, she is well-prepared when her period finally does arrive on the last day of sixth grade. After reading the novel as a child, I remember rummaging through my mother’s bathroom supplies in search of such a contraption, finding only adhesive pads.</p>
<p>When I reread the novel as an adult, The Belt was nowhere to be found – Margaret uses adhesive pads instead. I wondered: did we misremember it?</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522344/original/file-20230421-2128-u5xdn6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522344/original/file-20230421-2128-u5xdn6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522344/original/file-20230421-2128-u5xdn6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522344/original/file-20230421-2128-u5xdn6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522344/original/file-20230421-2128-u5xdn6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522344/original/file-20230421-2128-u5xdn6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1022&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522344/original/file-20230421-2128-u5xdn6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1022&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522344/original/file-20230421-2128-u5xdn6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1022&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian Women’s Weekly advertisement.</span>
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</figure>
<p>The answer is no: the novel itself was <a href="https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2007/08/16/honoring-teens-sexual-reality-judy-blume/">updated in 1998</a>. Other period (pardon the pun) details are unchanged. Margaret’s mother gives her a cream rinse and sets her hair in rollers before a party. The girls split into pairs to call each other nightly on the landline telephone (no group chat here!). And it only costs five dollars to have a neighbourhood kid mow the lawn.</p>
<p>Unlike the recent controversial changes <a href="https://theconversation.com/roald-dahl-rewrites-rather-than-bowdlerising-books-on-moral-grounds-we-should-help-children-to-navigate-history-200254">made to Roald Dahl’s children’s books</a>, the changes to Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret were made by Blume herself. </p>
<p>For Blume, it was more important to ensure that a new generation of readers were receiving useful health information than to capture in amber a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc-mEXEumy0">moment of menstrual history</a>. Similarly, revised editions for her 1975 novel, Forever, include a preface where Blume points out the outdated sexual health advice provided to the protagonist, and refers readers to services such as Planned Parenthood.</p>
<p>Older generations of nostalgic readers might miss The Belt (it can still be found in some e-book versions), but Blume’s attitude to revising her own work to benefit each generation of new readers highlights her sense of responsibility to them. </p>
<p>It also emphasises the important role literature plays in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-stories-matter-for-childrens-learning-52135">educating young readers</a>. Certainly, they might miss out on learning a historical fact about menstrual hygiene in the 1970s, but the revised versions might make them better equipped to deal with menstruation today.</p>
<h2>Enduring spirit</h2>
<p>Where the 1970s might be hard to interpret on page, it provides a vibrant visual setting <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/12/23/arts/getting-beyond-disco-double-knits/">on screen</a> that will engage newer generations in the visual and cultural details of the novel’s original context. (And help them learn <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnUufkkJRWw/">the definitive way of performing</a> the Pre-Teen Sensations’ iconic chant, “we must increase our bust”.)</p>
<p>Importantly, the spirit of the story and the characters remains the same. At its heart, Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret is a coming-of-age story about identity, relationships with others, and relationships with your own body. </p>
<p>The specifics of menstrual belts, tampons, or period underwear matter less than seeing the glorious, confusing awkwardness of puberty and girlhood taking up space on the big screen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202640/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jess Carniel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret is a coming-of-age story about identity, relationships, and relationships with your own body. It’s frequently challenged – and enduringly loved.Jess Carniel, Senior Lecturer in Humanities, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2028322023-03-30T21:56:32Z2023-03-30T21:56:32Z5 books for kids and teens that positively portray trans and gender-diverse lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518331/original/file-20230330-26-jxm86e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5607%2C3732&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexandra Gray/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/blog/trans-day-visibility-global-perspective">International Transgender Day of Visibility</a> is an opportunity to celebrate trans and gender-diverse people – and to raise awareness of the ongoing discrimination they experience.</p>
<p>Trans and gender-diverse people <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7826417/">experience</a> higher levels of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal behaviours than the general population. </p>
<p>Recent events in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/25/whats-behind-the-terrifying-backlash-against-australias-queer-community">Australia</a>, <a href="https://time.com/6250646/united-kingdom-scotland-transgender-bill/">the United Kingdom</a> and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d378d/anti-trans-bills-2023">the US</a> remind us of the need to promote acceptance of trans and gender-diverse young people, and to support their mental health and wellbeing.</p>
<p>Community, school and family <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-019-00118-w">are vital</a> tools for this. </p>
<p>So are books that positively represent trans and gender-diverse experiences, themes and issues. Such books can expand young people’s awareness, understanding and acceptance of gender differences from an early age. They also validate the lived experience of trans and gender-diverse youth.</p>
<p>The five books below all positively portray trans and gender-diverse lives in age-appropriate ways.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trans-people-arent-new-and-neither-is-their-oppression-a-history-of-gender-crossing-in-19th-century-australia-201663">Trans people aren’t new, and neither is their oppression: a history of gender crossing in 19th-century Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>1. My Shadow is Purple by Scott Stuart (ages 4-9)</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518358/original/file-20230330-24-jxm86e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518358/original/file-20230330-24-jxm86e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518358/original/file-20230330-24-jxm86e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518358/original/file-20230330-24-jxm86e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518358/original/file-20230330-24-jxm86e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518358/original/file-20230330-24-jxm86e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518358/original/file-20230330-24-jxm86e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518358/original/file-20230330-24-jxm86e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>This picture book, <a href="https://larrikinhouse.com.au/products/my-shadow-is-purple">My Shadow Is Purple</a>, considers gender diversity through the use of colour. The story focuses on a boy whose shadow is purple: presumably a blend of masculine blue and feminine pink.</p>
<p>Early in the story, the boy celebrates his gender hybridity, enjoying a range of both traditionally masculine and feminine activities. Stuart also explores the way society regulates and limits gender expression, and how this can have negative effects on individuals.</p>
<p>That said, the picture book is positive and offers a promising message to readers. Through both resistance and collective support, we can acknowledge and celebrate the spectrum of colours our shadows might take. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supporting-trans-people-3-simple-things-teachers-and-researchers-can-do-149832">Supporting trans people: 3 simple things teachers and researchers can do</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff (ages 10-12)</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518360/original/file-20230330-16-i75ehz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518360/original/file-20230330-16-i75ehz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518360/original/file-20230330-16-i75ehz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518360/original/file-20230330-16-i75ehz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518360/original/file-20230330-16-i75ehz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518360/original/file-20230330-16-i75ehz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518360/original/file-20230330-16-i75ehz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518360/original/file-20230330-16-i75ehz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>In his <a href="http://www.kylelukoff.com/my-books/tbts">award-winning</a> junior novel, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/too-bright-to-see-9780593111178">Too Bright to See</a>, Kyle Lukoff uses the ghost story to explore <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/">gender dysphoria</a> and grief. </p>
<p>Trans boy Bug, aged 11, lives in a house with relatively benign spirits. However, during the summer before school starts, Bug’s uncle dies and a new ghost takes up residence in the house.</p>
<p>It is not only the grief of his uncle’s death that Bug must learn to live with. His best friend, Moira, is eager to give him a feminine makeover and the new ghostly resident seems intent on sending him a message.</p>
<p>Bug’s investigation of the ghost and his journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance is sensitive and nuanced, allowing readers to learn about transgender issues (and grief) alongside Bug. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-words-can-harm-young-trans-people-heres-what-we-can-do-to-help-176788">Yes, words can harm young trans people. Here's what we can do to help</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Euphoria Kids by Alison Evans (ages 12+)</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518361/original/file-20230330-21-g5ctxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518361/original/file-20230330-21-g5ctxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518361/original/file-20230330-21-g5ctxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518361/original/file-20230330-21-g5ctxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518361/original/file-20230330-21-g5ctxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518361/original/file-20230330-21-g5ctxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1185&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518361/original/file-20230330-21-g5ctxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518361/original/file-20230330-21-g5ctxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1185&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p><a href="https://www.echopublishing.com.au/books/euphoria-kids">Euphoria Kids</a> is an urban fantasy young adult novel that centres on three trans and gender-diverse teenagers: Iris, who grew from a seed; Babs, the daughter of a local witch; and the boy, named so because his current name does not fit him.</p>
<p>The world Evans creates is one of strange magic, free from the trauma and gender dysphoria often associated with representations of transgenderism <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-transgenderism-in-film-and-literature-71809">in literature and film</a>. The characters’ quest to break a curse enables them to demonstrate their resilience, develop their confidence and experience euphoria.</p>
<p>Evans explains (in the author note) their decision to create a positive narrative for trans youth:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I want people to know about gender euphoria. I want them to learn about it before gender dysphoria. I want young trans kids that will read this book to be proud of who they are, and imagine wonderful magic lives for themselves.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/queer-young-adult-fiction-isnt-all-gloomy-realism-here-are-5-uplifting-books-to-get-you-started-141125">Queer young adult fiction isn't all gloomy realism. Here are 5 uplifting books to get you started</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee (ages 14+)</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518362/original/file-20230330-24-n1uzfa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518362/original/file-20230330-24-n1uzfa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518362/original/file-20230330-24-n1uzfa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518362/original/file-20230330-24-n1uzfa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518362/original/file-20230330-24-n1uzfa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518362/original/file-20230330-24-n1uzfa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518362/original/file-20230330-24-n1uzfa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518362/original/file-20230330-24-n1uzfa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780063038837/meet-cute-diary/">Meet Cute Diary</a>, a heartfelt young adult romantic comedy, explores gender identity and sexuality – and recognises self-discovery entails continuous questioning, rather than a linear progression.</p>
<p>Noah Ramirez, a Japanese, white, Afro-Caribbean 16-year-old trans boy, loves the idea of falling in love. He writes fictional trans love stories for his blog, “Meet Cute Diary”. Noah is confronted in real life by Drew, a white cisgender boy who Noah has featured on his blog. After Noah explains his actions, Drew agrees to pretend to date him, in order to validate his stories. Their pretending quickly becomes real.</p>
<p>Things become complicated, though, when Noah finds himself attracted to his nonbinary and asexual coworker, Devin. The narrative explores the changing nature of relationships and love.</p>
<p>Lee creates interesting characters and complex relationships that respect gender fluidity and recognise the blurry boundary between the platonic and romantic.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transgender-youth-on-puberty-blockers-and-gender-affirming-hormones-have-lower-rates-of-depression-and-suicidal-thoughts-a-new-study-finds-177812">Transgender youth on puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones have lower rates of depression and suicidal thoughts, a new study finds</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (ages 14+)</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518363/original/file-20230330-15-ydtva1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518363/original/file-20230330-15-ydtva1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518363/original/file-20230330-15-ydtva1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518363/original/file-20230330-15-ydtva1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518363/original/file-20230330-15-ydtva1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518363/original/file-20230330-15-ydtva1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518363/original/file-20230330-15-ydtva1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518363/original/file-20230330-15-ydtva1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">felix ever after.</span>
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<p>Felix, the 17-year-old protagonist of <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/felix-ever-after-kacen-callender?variant=32280909578274">Felix Ever After</a>, is Black, queer and trans. The marginalisation and transphobia he experiences are exacerbated when pre-transition images of him are prominently displayed at his school. Felix’s search for revenge sees him open up more about himself to others. And he forms new relationships, including with his friend, Ezra Patel.</p>
<p>Similar to Lee’s depiction of self-discovery in Meet Cute Diary, Callender suggests that learning about yourself and your identity is an ongoing process. Felix continues to make new discoveries about himself, including the realisation that he is not a boy but a <a href="https://queerintheworld.com/what-does-demiboy-mean/">demiboy</a>.</p>
<p>Callender’s writing is engaging, and the cast of diverse characters that populate the narrative reflects the variation in our communities. This tender trans young adult romance sensitively explores the complexity of friendship, forgiveness and self-discovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Troy Potter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility. These 5 books for young readers raise awareness, understanding and acceptance of gender differences in age-appropriate ways.Troy Potter, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1984142023-01-26T23:05:25Z2023-01-26T23:05:25ZBookseller, black belt, ‘neon-bright’ talent: the unfathomable loss of acclaimed Australian YA author Gabrielle Williams<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506702/original/file-20230126-24-olhdg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=113%2C5%2C3880%2C1958&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>This week, the Australian literary community was devastated to learn of the untimely death of Gabrielle Williams, acclaimed author of books for young adults. </p>
<p>Williams suffered a stroke at Readings bookstore <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/01/25/225701/vale-gabrielle-williams/">where she worked</a> as manager of the Readings Prizes, grants officer for the Readings Foundation, and as a bookseller. She was admitted to the intensive care unit, but the pressure on her heart proved fatal. She died on Saturday January 21, with her family by her side. </p>
<p>She was a friend and writing compatriot, and I can’t fathom the loss of her. </p>
<p>The suddeness of moving from a world with Gab to one without her has made this week drift strangely. I forget and remember and forget and remember. The feeling is tidal. I want to pay tribute to Gab and her young adult novels, produced over the last decade-and-a-half, which are the reason I was ever lucky enough to meet her and even to know her at all.</p>
<h2>Light, shade and equilibrium</h2>
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<p>It’s hard to convey what a neon-bright, super-smart, kind and hilarious gem of a person Gabrielle Williams was. I was fortunate to know her amid a group of Melbourne women writers of young adult and children’s fiction. We attended the same festivals, conferences and events. </p>
<p>After hearing the news, we met up to share stories. Through it all, it seemed inconceivable that Gab was not going to just burl around the corner to join us, looking like Penny, one of four lead characters in her novel <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/24500090">The Guy, The Girl, the Artist and his Ex</a>, “thrown together and gorgeous”, as Gab always was.</p>
<p>In a 2021 <a href="https://paperbarkwords.blog/2021/11/18/its-not-you-its-me-by-gabrielle-williams%EF%BF%BC/">interview</a> with Joy Lawn, Williams spoke to the twin moods of “wistful” and “uplifting” that characterised what has become her last novel, <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Gabrielle-Williams-It's-Not-You,-It's-Me-9781760526078/">It’s Not You, It’s Me</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The wistfulness of a life that hasn’t been lived to its fullest extent […] Regret for things that never were, and for things that are no longer. But also, the power that comes when you recognise that you can still make changes to your life, that you can have agency over your own life, no matter how old you are.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This sentiment is Gab personified. She had, in the words of author Fiona Wood, “an equilibrium and grace” that was guided by her ability to see the bigger picture, and the funny, ironic, sometimes mortifying, mortal side of life. </p>
<p>In the bones of all her books is the philosphy: “So long as you take the opportunities that are presented to you, the universe will take care of you.” As Beatle’s mum counsels her son in Williams’ brilliant young adult debut, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6849661-beatle-meets-destiny">Beatle Meets Destiny</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s all about light and shade. The sad stuff is just as important as the good stuff, because it gives you a chance to examine your life and what you want to change.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A copywriter’s ‘quicksticks’ creative brain</h2>
<p>Before her writing career took off, Gab worked in advertising. She had a copywriter’s quicksticks, smart-fix, creative brain: one that can take an abstract idea and distil it into something workable, relatable. And memorable. </p>
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<p>In Beatle Meets Destiny, superstitious 18-year-old Beatle (whose real name is John Lennon) meets Destiny McCartney on Friday the 13th and falls in like. It’s fate! The only trouble is Beatle already has a girlfriend, who is also his twin sister Winsome’s bestie. </p>
<p>Gab’s narrative voice is like a fabulous friend regaling you over a long boozy lunch: now pinning down details, now swooping out; leaving you dangling, then drawing you back. Gab was a great deployer of the interstitial narrative, of splicing in stories within stories, and playing around with normal genre conventions. Beatle meets Destiny has a thread of “cosmic twin” stories throughout. It was kind of a tease to work out how they would fit together, but you went with it.</p>
<p>Beatle was followed by four more young adult novels: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13055748-the-reluctant-hallelujah">The Reluctant Hallelujah</a>, The Guy, The Girl, the Artist & his Ex, <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Gabrielle-Williams-My-Life-as-a-Hashtag-9781760113681/">My Life as a Hashtag</a> and It’s Not You, It’s Me. </p>
<p>Her books were shortlisted for some of Australia’s most prestigious awards, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, the CBCA Awards, and the Gold Inkys.</p>
<p>Gab’s books were for and about young adults, although “old” adults could, and did, love them too. She showed a great respect for and understanding of teenagers. She didn’t subscribe to the notion that adults should be written out of the story. The fullness of life for her characters is shown through their relationships with friends and family and community. </p>
<p>Her novels were multi-layered, often conceptually complex, dealing with chance, everyday magic, music, art and all kinds of love. Her young characters were flawed, capable of sublime (and sublimely entertaining) fuck-ups, and always forced to reckon with the fallout, to accept or to adapt.</p>
<h2>Love of language</h2>
<p>“She always wrote from her heart,” Anna McFarlane, Gab’s publisher at Allen & Unwin, said by email. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>She wanted her characters to behave in ways that reflected reality. She was really drawn to telling stories in which characters flounder. She didn’t judge them for smoking, or drinking, or getting pregnant, or lying through their teeth. In My Life as Hashtag, Marie Claude, who has been excluded from a social gathering, posts something mean which goes viral. She is a bully. But we get her. And we love her.</p>
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<p>Gab’s love of language is evident in all her books. Her characters frequently have their own idioms and theories, on everything from cannibal killers, (Beatle Meets Destiny), to why a boy might not call you back: “He broke both his hands” (also Beatle Meets Destiny). Sly humour, puns and malapropisms abound. </p>
<p>Beatle’s infidelity is a display of “bad boyfriend-ese”; Marie Claude (MC) throws shade on her ex-friend via a series of faked celebrity quotes: “Fook Anouk. Go have a Sook.” When Guy’s party, in The Guy, the Girl, the Artist & her Ex, spirals out of control, he feels “Cat in the Hat-stressed”. Dodie in The Reluctant Hallelujah introduces herself as “Doe as in doe-a-deer-a-female-deer; Dee as in de-lighted to meet you.”</p>
<h2>Power of place</h2>
<p>Gab set most of her novels in Melbourne because, she once said, she was lazy and it made for easy research. But there is nothing lazy in her descriptions. They show the power of place on a person’s psyche. </p>
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<p>St Kilda’s Esplanade Hotel is “a grand old white building with flaky paint reminiscent of someone’s badly burnt back”. The once-named number 69 tram (now number 16) takes the reader from “far Kew” through “near Kew” and all the way to the “far canal” of Elwood". (“Say it out loud. You should get it.”) The Yarra is a “big, upside down” river that’s “deep as well as ball-tighteningly cold”. </p>
<p>Melbourne’s Birrung (Yarra River) has a significant role in my favourite of Gab’s books, The Guy, The Girl, The Artist & his Ex. When I read <em>that</em> chapter (readers who know the book will know which one I mean), I think I might have stopped breathing. The book is speculative historical fiction, a re-imagining of the story behind the theft of the Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria in 1986. </p>
<p>Mcfarlane says, “Gab loved the aesthetic of the eighties: the music, the fashion, but also, I think, the lack of parental supervision. She loved her characters to get messy.”</p>
<p>The Guy, The Girl, The Artist & his Ex is also a romance and a near-tragedy. In it, Gab mixes the urban legend of the Australian Cultural Terrorists, and the Mexican folk story of La Llorona – the Crying Woman – remixing, re-mything, using the known to ease the reader into new interpretations of the mysteries of life. </p>
<p>In The Reluctant Hallelujah, Dodie and her friends must transport the corpse of Jesus Christ Himself from her family’s basement to his next “checkpoint”. To do this, they must go via the storm drains of Melbourne. Naturally, things go wrong, and they end up far from home, but still in our reality. </p>
<h2>A questing writer</h2>
<p>Although her novels were firmly set in the real, there was still this “otherworldliness” that Gab frequently tuned into. I think of her as a questing kind of writer: everything went in. And so to read her work is to always be discovering. </p>
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<p>For example, did you know that the official term for stealing underwear off a clothesline is “snowdropping”? (Beatle Meets Destiny.) That “glow-in-the-dark green phytoplankton that produce oxygen in marine and freshwater are called "dinoflagellates”? (The Reluctant Hallelujah.) Or that Picasso’s cruel treatment of Dora Marr ignited a curse to last the rest of his days? (The Guy, the Girl, the Artist and his Ex.) Before reading Gab Williams’ work, I did not know these things either.</p>
<p>Gab was a black belt in karate. Just FYI. And she made a mean cocktail. She was a lover of travel and dogs and her family and friends, and big earrings. When she did jigsaw puzzles, she didn’t start at the corners, and I wonder if that was how she wrote her books too. From the middle out. </p>
<p>It makes sense. Her narratives were very much path-less-travelled. If, as a reader, I didn’t know where the story was going, I felt sure that wherever we ended up would be worth it. </p>
<p>If you have not read her books, do so. You won’t be sorry you read them; you will only be sorry there won’t be more.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198414/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simmone Howell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Simmone Howell pays tribute to the life and work of ‘kind and hilarious gem’ Gabrielle Williams, acclaimed Australian author of young adult fiction, who died on Saturday.Simmone Howell, Graduate researcher, English & Creative Writing, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1970062023-01-18T13:47:57Z2023-01-18T13:47:57ZA librarian recommends 5 fun fiction books for kids and teens featuring disabled characters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504976/original/file-20230117-21-ulm0kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C0%2C5708%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's a small but growing number of books for younger readers that feature main characters with disabilities.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smiling-pupil-in-wheelchair-holding-books-royalty-free-image/486073752?adppopup=true">Wavebreakmedia/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Disability representation is slowly increasing in books geared toward children and teens. </p>
<p>In 2019 the <a href="https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/the-numbers-are-in-2019-ccbc-diversity-statistics/">Cooperative Children’s Book Center</a> at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – a library that allows teachers, librarians and researchers to view books before deciding which ones to buy – found that only 3.4% of books it received from publishers included a character with a disability.</p>
<p>The CCBC website recently added a <a href="https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/diversity-statistics-book-search/">diversity statistics book search</a> with categories for physical, cognitive and psychiatric disabilities or conditions. In 2022, the center received 165 books that included a character with a disability, up from 126 in 2019.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://experts.okstate.edu/rebecca.weber">an academic librarian</a> who also has a disability, I’m happy to recommend the following five children’s books that treat disability as a part of life and living.</p>
<h2>1. Maria Gianferrari (author), Patrice Barton (illustrator), “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/953843150">Hello Goodbye Dog</a>” (2017)</h2>
<p>Moose loves her girl Zara – and she hates saying goodbye. When Zara goes to school, Moose wants to go too and keeps showing up, even though dogs aren’t allowed. What will Zara, her parents, the principal, her teacher and the other kids in Zara’s class do? </p>
<p>This fun picture book is perfect for preschoolers and kindergartners. While Zara uses a wheelchair, her disability isn’t the focus of the story. Readers will have fun seeing what Moose is up to this time and learn that sometimes dogs can go to school.</p>
<h2>2. Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Eduardo Trejos, “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/1143634427">We Move Together</a>” (2021)</h2>
<p>All bodies are different – whether disabled or nondisabled – and everyone matters. These are the themes of this easy reader. With its vibrant illustrations, simple text and portrayals of a wide variety of people, “We Move Together” is a great introduction to the concepts of community, disability and accessibility for readers in kindergarten through second grade, while older readers can learn more about accessibility and disability rights in the glossary.</p>
<h2>3. Darren Lebeuf, Ashley Barron, “<a href="https://worldcat.org/en/title/1204288075">My City Speaks</a>” (2021)</h2>
<p>A girl who is blind and her dad explore the city and its sounds. They wait at a crosswalk, play in the park, take a bus, avoid a rainstorm and eat ice cream. Words and pictures help the reader feel the rhythms of the city. Readers in preschool through second grade will enjoy this story because of its colorful illustrations and rhythmic text. </p>
<h2>4. Ali Stroker, Stacy Davidowitz, “<a href="https://worldcat.org/en/title/1192305488">The Chance to Fly</a>” (2021)</h2>
<p>Nat Beacon is the new girl in school with a talent for wheelchair racing, but when the 13-year-old gets the chance to audition for a summer production of the musical “Wicked,” she knows the theater is where she belongs. How does she tell her parents? </p>
<p>This novel for readers in fifth, sixth and seventh grades explores themes of independence, friendship and first love.</p>
<h2>5. Melissa See, “<a href="https://worldcat.org/en/title/1263864983">You, Me, and Our Heartstrings</a>” (2022)</h2>
<p>Daisy and Noah are two of the best musicians in their high school orchestra and dream of attending Juilliard, the prestigious performing arts school in New York City. When their performance of an original piece goes viral, they have to deal with the world’s interpretation of them and their relationship. </p>
<p>This rom-com of a novel combines disability representation with themes of friendship and romance. Great for readers in grades nine to 12. </p>
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<p>For more books featuring characters with disabilities, check out the American Library Association’s <a href="https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/schneider-family-book-award">Schneider Family Book Award</a>. For a wide variety of diverse titles, see <a href="https://diversebooks.org/resources-old/where-to-find-diverse-books/">We Need Diverse Books</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197006/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Weber is a member of the American Library Association and volunteers on the RUSA Accessibility Assembly and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). </span></em></p>Disability representation in books is an important part of diversity and inclusion.Rebecca Weber, Associate Professor Library, Oklahoma State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1906542023-01-16T03:00:41Z2023-01-16T03:00:41ZWhat can the Bildungsroman tell us about the Israel and Palestine conflict?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488659/original/file-20221006-12631-1cp5vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tree of Books, Artwork by Jan Reymond</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/timtom/7474451408">Thomas Guignard/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The reactions to Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-reversal-on-recognising-jerusalem-as-israeli-capital-is-simply-a-return-to-status-quo-192772">decision</a> to reverse the Morrison government’s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital ranged from outrage to endorsement. They confirmed, once again, that the territories involved are intensely contested. They also showed that there is almost no position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that can be understood as genuinely neutral or beneficial for both sides. In the wake of the Second Palestinian Intifada, the conflict seems to have arrived at an impasse. </p>
<p>Might the literary genre of the Bildungsroman shed further light on the conflict? </p>
<p>Bildungsroman is a German word that translates as “novel of education”. The genre emphasises development and progress. It is associated with the maturation of a young or naive protagonist. Such protagonists are formed more by circumstance than academic instruction. They are “schooled by life”.</p>
<p>The focus of the genre, going back to Goethe’s foundational novel <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wilhelm-Meisters-Apprenticeship">Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship</a> (1795), is on protagonists who leave the security and safety of their home. They physically leave, as Wilhelm does when he joins a wandering theatre company, but they also metaphorically leave by questioning the value systems they were brought up in.</p>
<p>In recent decades, however, many Bildungsromane have become interested in their protagonists’ relationship to the past. As the literary scholar Harriet Earle has observed, the genre is often less a tale of upward mobility than a dramatisation of a tension between the “autonomy of the individual and the shaping pressure of history”.</p>
<p>The Bildungsroman has always been a genre written to engage and edify its readers. Hence, the historical turn can help readers understand how narratives about the past inform our attitude towards the present, a tendency that becomes clearer in novels for children and young adults, and in autobiographical graphic novels. These works, in particular, increasingly place their youthful heroes at the centre of complex historical events. Witnessing these events transforms the protagonists’ outlook, challenges their value systems, and assists their moral maturity. </p>
<h2>Israel and Palestine after the Second Palestinian Intifada</h2>
<p>In order to understand this type of political education, we need some historical context. </p>
<p>The Second Palestinian Intifada (2000–2005) represented a significant turning point for both Palestinians and Israelis. For Palestinians, the uprising was an important moment of resistance against Israel. It also resulted in Palestinians being subjected to more intensive military control and surveillance. The number of checkpoints increased, the use of drones intensified, and several military operations took place in the West Bank and Gaza.</p>
<p>For Israeli Jews, the new millennium was marked by a pronounced surge in Palestinian attacks, especially on civilians. This led to an increased sense of vulnerability and an increased desire for security, both during and after the Intifada. </p>
<p>It was also a period of reflection on the trauma undergone by conscripts into the Israeli Defence Forces. This is documented, for example, in the testimonies collected by <a href="https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/">Breaking the Silence</a>, an organisation of soldiers who have served in the Israeli Military since the start of the Second Palestinian Intifada.</p>
<p>Another key aspect of the Second Palestinian Intifada was that, during this time, the Israeli government started building the wall or “separation barrier” between Israel and the West Bank. The wall has drastically changed the ways in which Palestinians experience life under occupation, but it has also influenced the ways in which Israelis engage with a conflict that is becoming more and more abstract to them.</p>
<p>The experiences of both these communities inform literary representations of the conflict. And the Bildungsroman, or coming of age narrative, allows authors to depict characters who bridge entrenched hostilities and who take an independent perspective on the conflict.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-israel-and-palestine-alternative-names-competing-claims-163156">The history of 'Israel' and 'Palestine': Alternative names, competing claims</a>
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<h2>Social responsibility and individual choice</h2>
<p>Canadian writer Deborah Ellis’s young adult novel <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Deborah-Ellis-Cat-at-the-Wall-9781760112448">The Cat at the Wall</a> (2014) tells the story of 13-year-old Clare, who lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After her death, Clare is transformed into a cat and finds herself in Bethlehem in the Palestinian West Bank.</p>
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<p>In a manner typical of the growth trajectory of the Bildungsroman, the feline Clare slowly develops as a character. She is increasingly able to feel empathy. </p>
<p>This change comes about through her encounter with Omar, a Palestinian boy living in Bethlehem. She sneaks into his house when two Israeli soldiers take it over for surveillance purposes. </p>
<p>Clare initially uses being a cat as an excuse for not helping Omar. But towards the end of the novel, she begins to assume social responsibility. This becomes most pronounced when she decides to do something that she would have considered undignified in her former life. In order to diffuse a tense situation between the Israeli army and Palestinians, she tells us,</p>
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<p>I leapt down from the boy’s arms and out into the little space between the enemies. I started to dance. I danced for all of them, up on my hind legs. […] And everybody shut up and stopped to watch.</p>
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<p>Ellis is careful not to suggest that Clare’s small act will change the situation. Dialogue and empathy alone cannot resolve this conflict if they are not accompanied by political concessions. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, Ellis’s novel reimagines the future of the conflict by stressing the importance of assuming social responsibility on an individual level. For young adult readers, this might mean considering the impact of their actions on their immediate environments. For an adult reader, this could be reconsidering the importance of individual choices in relation to wider issues, including the situation in Palestine/Israel.</p>
<h2>Self and society</h2>
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<p>British author Elizabeth Laird wrote <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781743030134/">A Little Piece of Ground</a> (2003) with Palestinian academic and children’s book author Sonia Nimr. The novel is set in 2002 against the backdrop of the events of Operation Defensive Shield, a large scale military operation by the Israeli Defense Force in the West Bank during the Second Palestinian Intifada.</p>
<p>At the start of this young adult novel, the protagonist Karim’s anger at the occupation mainly stems from being prevented from playing football whenever he wants to. But increasingly his anger is aimed at the occupation as a whole.</p>
<p>This development is catalysed through a scene at a flying checkpoint, when all the Palestinian men are told to step out of their cars and are forced to strip down to their underwear. Later, Karim’s family is harassed by Jewish settlers while they pick olives and he exclaims: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Nobody does anything! […] My father – they stripped him! Then they shot at him – us – in our own olive groves! But he doesn’t do anything.”</p>
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<p>The outburst shows Karim’s initial opposition to the older generation and to their non-violent resistance to the occupation. However, Karim’s opinion changes when he hides from Israeli tanks in an abandoned car. Staying put in the car recalls the practice of <em>sumud</em>, or steadfastness, staying put on the land. This makes Karim realise that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>he was resisting too, in a way. Just being here, holding out on his own under their very noses, was an act of resistance. </p>
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<p>The moment marks a turning point in Karim’s development. He becomes part of a community of Palestinians who resist the occupation.</p>
<p>Though the reader knows that Karim still lives under Israeli occupation, he has now found the tools to define his identity in relation to his community and to become a part of Palestinian non-violent resistance. </p>
<p>This is also what the novel suggests its readers should do, asking them to use their sense of empathy and solidarity to revise their preconceived ideas about the situation in the Palestinian Territories. It encourages them to challenge the equation between Palestinian resistance and violence that has gained renewed currency since the Second Palestinian Intifada.</p>
<h2>Us and Them</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/wall-9781408833940/">The Wall</a> (2013), a young adult novel written by British Jewish writer William Sutcliffe, is similarly aimed at revising perceptions of the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The main character, Joshua, lives in Amarias (an anagram of Samaria), a fictional town next to a wall in the “Occupied Zone”.</p>
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<p>Sutcliffe’s use of a young adult narrator allows him to depict many aspects of the wall from a naïve and innocent perspective, but Joshua’s perception of the situation in the Occupied Zone slowly starts to change through his engagement with the people living on the other side of the wall. Using a tunnel, he finds under a demolished house, Joshua meets Leila. After a second visit where he learns more about Leila and her family, and especially the hardships they endure on a daily basis, Joshua feels unable to return to the identity imposed on him in Amarias. That identity was founded upon a clear distinction between us and them, a distinction he no longer believes in.</p>
<p>This becomes clear when his mother asks him to tell her where the tunnel under the wall is to protect “their” people. Joshua asks who “their” people are, to which the mother replies “all of us who live here”. </p>
<p>His mother’s statement exemplifies how walls can create and corroborate a closed collective identity that excludes others. Joshua questions this worldview by asking, “on both sides of the wall?”, emphasising that for him “here” is no longer demarcated by the wall as a boundary.</p>
<p>Sutcliffe’s novel criticises how a delineation between us and them can lead to people no longer considering the concerns of human beings outside of their community as worthy, especially if they live behind a wall, whether literal or figurative. </p>
<p>This criticism can be taken as referring to the Israeli Jewish collective and their relationship with Palestinians. But we can also apply it to the international community and their engagement with Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as well as any national community that builds a wall or barrier to protect its collective identity from outsiders.</p>
<h2>Educational Work</h2>
<p>In her autobiographical graphic novel <a href="http://sarahglidden.com/how-to-understand-israel-in-60-days-or-less/">How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less</a> (2011), Sarah Glidden depicts her more youthful avatar, “Sarah”, a 26-year-old Jewish American woman, who is uncertain of her calling in life. </p>
<p>Sarah is suspicious of Israel’s actions towards the Palestinians. However, she is uncertain of what to make of the seeming quagmire of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her cynicism is partly due to her college education, as there is often considerable pro-Palestinian activism on American college campuses.</p>
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<p>To confirm her bias and to have a travel experience, Sarah leaves the US to undertake a Taglit-Birthright tour. This is an educational trip to Israel for young Jewish adults who may not feel closely connected to Jewish religious and institutional frameworks.</p>
<p>Understanding Israel emphasises Sarah’s education through life experience, as she gradually overcomes her suspicion towards Israel. Sarah is intrigued to learn that young Jewish Americans like herself immigrate to Israel and that this is not done out of ideological fanaticism. Rather, they do this out of a willingness to make a contribution to a country that is itself still in formation.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, this is not a graphic novel that simply whitewashes Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Sarah focuses on the treatment of Bedouins who are left homeless by the state of Israel. She discusses the consequences of home demolitions and experiences the omnipresent reality of the “separation barrier” between Israel and the West Bank.</p>
<p>Understanding Israel is carefully poised between disenchantment and enchantment, which is not unusual for Bildungsromane. Sarah is disenchanted with her previous ideological conditioning, which predisposed her to be hypercritical towards Israel. But she is also enchanted with many Jewish-Israelis and some Palestinian-Israelis that she encounters. These people are working towards a better future and a peaceful resolution to the conflict. </p>
<p>Educated by this graphic novel, readers may be, like Sarah, more willing to venture outside their comfort zone. And they might also make more independent judgements about geopolitical conflicts in the future.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/graphic-novels-help-teens-learn-about-racism-climate-change-and-social-justice-heres-a-reading-list-131442">Graphic novels help teens learn about racism, climate change and social justice – here's a reading list</a>
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<h2>Productive disenchantment</h2>
<p>Published by the author of the American Splendor graphic novel series, Harvey Pekar’s graphic novel <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780809074044/nottheisraelmyparentspromisedme">Not the Israel my Parents Promised Me</a> is different in several respects. It is something of a twist on the genre invented by Goethe, in that it is more an intellectual and ethical journey than a geographical one.</p>
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<p>Its protagonist is Pekar’s comic avatar “Harvey”. Harvey is based in Cleveland. He has never actually visited Israel. However, over the course of his life, he becomes disenchanted with the idea of Israel. This ideal of Israel was promised to him by his ardently pro-Zionist parents, who were Polish-Jewish immigrants to the US. </p>
<p>While getting to know the countercultural New Left in the 1960s, Harvey changes his mind. He no longer identifies with Israel as an ethical state and a sanctuary for the Jews after the Holocaust. Instead, he comes to view it as a nationalist and colonial project intent on military conquest and the dispossession of the Palestinians.</p>
<p>Harvey does not experience excessive shame over Israel’s actions, nor does he hold it to unreasonable standards. Rather, he comes to believe that addressing Israeli colonialism is necessary, given that “nationalism and ethnic pride, in the long run, delay human development, and the misery they cause must be recognized”.</p>
<p>While focused on a mature and cynical character, this graphic novel is faithful to the tenets of the Bildungsroman. We see “a loss of faith in the value of the hero’s home and family”, which “leads inevitably to the assertion of the youth’s independence”.</p>
<p>As in Glidden’s graphic novel, Harvey’s disenchantment with the idea of Israel is balanced by his understanding that the Jewish diaspora has interacted with a range of non-Jewish civilisations. These include interactions during the Babylonian exile, in Andalusian Spain in the early modern period, and during the era of emancipation in 18th century Germany, which led to a revival of Hebrew. </p>
<p>Harvey’s point is that Israel and Zionism cannot control the meaning of Judaism as Judaism continues to be formed and reformed together with the non-Jewish world.</p>
<h2>Empathy and witnessing</h2>
<p>Graphic narratives and young adult novels use the Bildungsroman to depict a historical and geopolitical context that is often seen as too complex to understand for both adult and young adult readers from outside the region. Drawing on the conventions of the Bildungsroman, especially someone coming of age in an important historical moment, allows them to make life in Palestine and Israel accessible to a wider audience. </p>
<p>Through their focus on educational journeys, these works interrogate deeply rooted ideas about conflicting religious or ethnic identities. They ask readers to revise their perceptions alongside their protagonists. </p>
<p>As these works suggest, the genre of the Bildungsroman is particularly useful in this context. As an empathetic art form, it combines autobiographical reflection, political witnessing, and attentiveness to the potential for change in the midst of war and suffering.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190654/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coming of age stories in young adult and graphic novels can provide ways of thinking about a seemingly intractable conflict.Isabelle Hesse, Senior lecturer, University of SydneyNed Curthoys, Senior Lecturer in English and Literary Studies, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1944352022-12-20T13:37:48Z2022-12-20T13:37:48ZDisney’s Black mermaid is no breakthrough – just look at the literary subgenre of Black mermaid fiction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500853/original/file-20221213-27076-rbisur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C31%2C5256%2C3388&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A coffin made to resemble a mermaid at a Ga funeral. The Ga people live along the southeast coast of Ghana.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ghana-teshie-coffin-made-and-painted-to-resemble-a-mermaid-news-photo/481610203?phrase=african mermaid&adppopup=true">Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mermaids have become a cultural phenomenon, and clashes about mermaids and race have spilled out into the open. This is most pointedly apparent in the backlash over Disney’s much-anticipated “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5971474/">The Little Mermaid</a>.”</p>
<p>After Disney unveiled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-wPm99PF9U">its trailer for the film</a>, which will be released in May 2023, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2022/09/13/little-mermaid-trailer-reactions-halle-bailey-orig-jc.cnn">social media captured the faces</a> of gleeful young Black girls seeing Black mermaids onscreen for the first time. Less inspiring was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2022/09/14/disneys-little-mermaid-backlash-has-reached-insane-heights/?sh=1318a9845592">the racism</a> that simultaneously occurred, with hashtags like #NotMyMermaid and #MakeMermaidsWhiteAgain circulating on Twitter.</p>
<p>The fact that Disney’s portrayal of a nonwhite mermaid is controversial is due to 150 years of whitewashing. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/opinion/black-little-mermaid.html">In a 2019 op-ed for The New York Times</a>, writer Tracey Baptiste – whose children’s novel “<a href="https://traceybaptiste.com/the-jumbies-series">Rise of the Jumbies</a>” features a Black mermaid as the protagonist – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/opinion/black-little-mermaid.html">points out how</a> “Eurocentric stories have obscured the African origins of mermaids.” </p>
<p>“Mermaid stories,” she writes, “have been told throughout the African continent for millenniums. Mermaids are not just part of the imagination, either, but a part of the living culture.”</p>
<p>Nonetheless, contemporary culture is pushing back. Mermaids have, in recent years, become a popular subject in literature, film and fashion. In many cases, their depictions reflect contemporary culture: They appear as Black and brown, as sexually fluid and as harbingers of the climate crisis. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.jessicapressman.com/">As a scholar of contemporary literature and media</a> – and as a lifelong lover of mermaids – I am fascinated by the recent surge of mermaid literature that remixes African folklore and connects the transatlantic slave trade to mermaid tales.</p>
<p>By briefly charting this new literary movement, I hope to show how these stories are part of a larger current with a much longer historical tail. I also hope to put to rest the idea that Disney’s decision to feature a Black mermaid represents some sort of modern breakthrough.</p>
<p>Here are three very different works of Black mermaid fiction that, in my view, deserve attention.</p>
<h2>1. Rivers Solomon’s “<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Deep/Rivers-Solomon/9781534439870">The Deep</a>” (2019)</h2>
<p>This novella is marketed as fantasy, but it does the very real and important work of opening up new ways to think about the legacy of slavery. </p>
<p>Specifically, it pushes readers to think about mermaids as products of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Middle-Passage-slave-trade">the Middle Passage</a>, the harrowing stage of the transatlantic slave trade in which enslaved Africans were transported in crowded ships across the Atlantic Ocean. </p>
<p>The novel’s conceit is that pregnant, enslaved Africans who either jumped or were thrown overboard from slave ships gave birth underwater to babies who moved from amniotic fluid to seawater and evolved into a society of merfolk.</p>
<p>The protagonist, Yetu, is a mermaid who serves as a repository of the traumatic stories that would be too troubling for her people to remember on a daily basis. She is the historian, and once a year she delivers “The Remembrance” to her people in a ritual of sharing.</p>
<p>As the narrator explains, “Only the historian was allowed to remember,” because if the regular folk “know the truth of everything, they will not be able to carry on.”</p>
<p>Once a year, the society gathers to hear the history. The memories are not lost or forgotten but submerged and transformed, hosted by the ocean and housed in the body of a mermaid.</p>
<p>This vibrant and readable book can be tied to the work of literary scholar Christina Sharpe, who presents the concept of “the wake” – a means of contemplating the continued effects of the Middle Passage. <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/in-the-wake">For Sharpe</a>, “The wake” is “a method of encountering a past that is not past” and of endeavoring to “memorialize an event that is still ongoing.” </p>
<p>“The Deep” also offers an allegory for the challenges of working in archives of African American experience – the main mermaid is, of course, the historian – and evokes the work of another important scholar in contemporary Black studies, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374531157/loseyourmother">Saidiya Hartman</a>, who has written about the erasure of Black women from archives largely compiled by white men.</p>
<h2>2. Monique Roffey’s “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/703096/the-mermaid-of-black-conch-by-monique-roffey/">The Mermaid of Black Conch</a>” (2020)</h2>
<p>This gorgeous and complex work of Caribbean literature dips into magical realism but is deeply grounded in the reality of today – specifically, <a href="https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/what-is-postcolonial-literature/">the effects of colonialism</a> and exploitative tourism.</p>
<p>Like “The Deep,” “The Mermaid of Black Conch” explores lost ancestries and imagines alternative futures. The novel highlights the continued impact of white settlement on a fictional Caribbean island called Black Conch.</p>
<p>One day, a mermaid named Aycayia is caught in the net of a fisherman. She is ancient and Indigenous – “red-skinned, not black, not African” – and carries the weight of history. David, the fisherman who finds her and falls in love with her, recalls his first sighting of her: “She looking like a woman from long ago, like old-time Taino people I saw in a history book at school.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman wearing pink scarf holds book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500857/original/file-20221213-26186-zd3iu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500857/original/file-20221213-26186-zd3iu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500857/original/file-20221213-26186-zd3iu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500857/original/file-20221213-26186-zd3iu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500857/original/file-20221213-26186-zd3iu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500857/original/file-20221213-26186-zd3iu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500857/original/file-20221213-26186-zd3iu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Author Monique Roffey employs magical realism in her book ‘The Mermaid of Black Conch.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/monique-roffey-who-was-announced-this-evening-as-the-winner-news-photo/1230803463?phrase=monique%20roffey&adppopup=true">Ian Gavan/Getty Image</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similar to Solomon’s historian in “The Deep,” this mermaid is depicted as an embodied archive; her hair is a home for sea creatures, and her face is a history book. </p>
<p>However, Roffey’s mermaid is an anomaly, singular and isolated, not a member of a tribe. The ocean keeps this ancient beast safe, hiding her from the destructive forces of Western capitalism, embodied in the father-son duo of American tourists who seek to capture and capitalize on what they see as an aquatic trophy.</p>
<h2>3. Nnedi Okorafor’s “<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Lagoon/Nnedi-Okorafor/9781481440882">Lagoon</a>” (2014)</h2>
<p>“A star falls from the sky. A woman rises from the sea. The world will never be the same.” The publisher’s summary describes a science fiction novel that combines the alien-encounter genre with African mythology to create a vast narrative network of characters, human and nonhuman, that stretches across Nigeria. </p>
<p>The arrival of aliens off the coast of Lagos transforms the area and the people, miraculously remedying centuries of oceanic destruction caused by industrial and colonial exploitation. It also turns Adaora, a female marine biologist caught in a bad marriage, into a mermaid. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Woman with glasses smiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500859/original/file-20221213-22736-avllq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500859/original/file-20221213-22736-avllq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500859/original/file-20221213-22736-avllq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500859/original/file-20221213-22736-avllq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500859/original/file-20221213-22736-avllq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500859/original/file-20221213-22736-avllq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500859/original/file-20221213-22736-avllq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nnedi-okorafor-attends-the-70th-emmy-awards-at-microsoft-news-photo/1035243148?phrase=Nnedi%20Okorafor&adppopup=true">Neilson Barnard/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>“Lagoon” is far more than an allegory of ecological repair. But I want to point out how literature explores the global ecological crisis and, specifically, how <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780190221911/obo-9780190221911-0014.xml">ecocriticism</a> plays a key role in the emergent genre of Black mermaid literature. </p>
<p>As ecocritic and Caribbean literature scholar Elizabeth DeLoughrey <a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/routes-and-roots-navigating-caribbean-and-pacific-island-literatures/">writes</a>, rising sea levels caused by global warming are spurring a planetary future that is “more oceanic.” </p>
<p>Many contemporary mermaid tales share an acute sense of environmental concern.</p>
<p>Mermaids serve as signals, in both senses of the word – as an emergency alert and as a medium for transmitting a message about humanity’s increasingly oceanic planetary future. </p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.akpress.org/undrowned.html">Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals</a>” (2020), Black feminist theorist Alexis Pauline Gumbs points to “several practices of marine mammals that resonate with Black freedom movement strategies and tendencies.” Racial justice and environmental activism are aligned – and, as many Black mermaid novels teach readers, inseparable.</p>
<p>There are many more works I could have included in this roundup – Natasha Bowen’s “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609878/skin-of-the-sea-by-natasha-bowen/">Skin of the Sea</a>” (2021), which grounds its narrative in the West African myths of Mami Wata and the goddess Yemoja, or Bethany C. Morrow’s “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250315328/asongbelowwater">A Song Below Water</a>” (2020), a young adult novel that tells the coming-of-age story of a Black girl who becomes a mermaid.</p>
<p>None of these texts are outliers because they feature Black mermaids. </p>
<p>Instead, they are part of a broader cultural movement – a contemporary mermaid craze deserving of critical attention and appreciation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194435/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Pressman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These literary works ask readers to rethink the histories of these half-human sea creatures and their role in society today.Jessica Pressman, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, San Diego State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852092022-08-15T20:03:15Z2022-08-15T20:03:15ZThe book that changed me: Hilda Lewis’ The Gentle Falcon, a vivid, touching tale of the court of a medieval child queen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478445/original/file-20220810-19-tcc5op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C1%2C1254%2C895&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An anonymous 15th century painting of Isabella and Richard II.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fiction has a way of planting seeds in the mind that can germinate for a long time before they spread into root systems or blossom into conscious ideas. A book can change you dramatically overnight, but it can also take its own sweet time. </p>
<p>When I was about 11 or 12, I was given Hilda Lewis’s medieval novel The Gentle Falcon (1952) as a school prize. We would now describe this as Young Adult fiction. It is also an excellent example of the kind of historical fiction that offers the reader an immersive experience in another world.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478443/original/file-20220810-602-oao8ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478443/original/file-20220810-602-oao8ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478443/original/file-20220810-602-oao8ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478443/original/file-20220810-602-oao8ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478443/original/file-20220810-602-oao8ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478443/original/file-20220810-602-oao8ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478443/original/file-20220810-602-oao8ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478443/original/file-20220810-602-oao8ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail of a miniature of Richard II, king of England, receiving his bride, the Princess Isabel, from her father, Charles VI, king of France, in Jean Froissart, Chroniques, Bruges, c. 1480–1494:</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal MS 14 D VI, f. 268v</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Gentle Falcon opens in 1396 when Richard II of England, then aged 29, is about to marry his second wife, the six-year-old princess Isabella of France. These historical events are shown to us through the eyes of Lewis’s fictional heroine, an English girl, Isabella Clinton, who at the age of 15 is given the job of being companion to the new queen. </p>
<p>Lewis’ medieval world is brilliantly illuminated. In contrast to some historical fiction, where authors fill their pages with the results of their painstaking research, Lewis shows this world indirectly, rather than explaining every detail.
As Sybille (as she is renamed by the queen) moves from her country life of genteel poverty into the richly decadent royal court, she starts to take in and make sense of the medieval world around her, in memorable details of fabrics, textiles and food; the vanities and vagaries of social rituals and adult politics; and most importantly, the emotional landscape of leaving home and growing up. </p>
<p>Sybille must learn the ways of the court and its great lords and ladies. At the same time, she wants the grave young queen to remember she is a child; it is her great aim to make her laugh. </p>
<p>But young Isabella yearns to be a proper, grown wife to the much older King Richard: mercurial, charismatic and deeply unpopular. The emotional networks are compelling, as these two young girls negotiate their different pathways through the vexed adult worlds of international and local politics. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477110/original/file-20220802-15-trplv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477110/original/file-20220802-15-trplv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477110/original/file-20220802-15-trplv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477110/original/file-20220802-15-trplv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477110/original/file-20220802-15-trplv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477110/original/file-20220802-15-trplv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477110/original/file-20220802-15-trplv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477110/original/file-20220802-15-trplv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An anonymous portrait of Richard II King of England, painted in the 1390s, found in Westminister Abbey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Richard’s reign is problematic from the beginning and the novel circles around his last difficult years, as he progressively alienates most of his supporters. Eventually, in 1399, Richard is deposed by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who takes the throne as Henry IV, the first king of the Lancastrian dynasty.</p>
<p>Richard is then murdered. These events are disastrous for the queen, who at ten years of age finds herself widowed and isolated in England. Sybille’s life is also in danger and she takes refuge in France. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476845/original/file-20220801-43929-b661yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476845/original/file-20220801-43929-b661yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476845/original/file-20220801-43929-b661yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476845/original/file-20220801-43929-b661yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476845/original/file-20220801-43929-b661yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476845/original/file-20220801-43929-b661yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476845/original/file-20220801-43929-b661yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476845/original/file-20220801-43929-b661yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I remember feeling torn between wanting to identify with this proud English girl, while also blushing for her slowness in understanding the complexities of the court, and what it might mean to fall in love (both for herself and the queen). </p>
<p>We also observe her jealousy of the beautiful cross-dressing French spy, Jehanne, sent to investigate Sybille’s suitability as a companion for the queen.</p>
<p>Sybille was irresistible as a narrative point of focus for a young reader: someone learning about a glamorous, difficult and fashionable world, but someone who was equally and passionately interested in politics. And in the long-honoured tradition of young adult fiction, Sybille was also someone maturing through adolescence into young womanhood.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chaucers-great-poem-troilus-and-criseyde-perfect-reading-while-under-siege-from-a-virus-142662">Chaucer’s great poem Troilus and Criseyde: perfect reading while under siege from a virus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A tantalising medieval world</h2>
<p>Medieval scholars are often asked what book first turned them in the direction of medieval studies. The Gentle Falcon didn’t make me think I wanted to become a medievalist. And yet the imaginative pathways it offered into the medieval world stuck with me for a long time. Here is a good example, a brief and tantalising glimpse of Chaucer that anchors the novel in the historical world:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The King knew a fine painting when he saw one; and many a time Gilles had seen little Master Chaucer, a manuscript almost as big as himself under his arm, waiting to see the King and sure of his welcome.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even though most medieval critics would now think this scene was unlikely — since most of the poetry read at the English court would have been written in French — this sighting of the poet has nevertheless resonated with me in my many years of reading and writing about Chaucer.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477581/original/file-20220804-11251-hk6ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477581/original/file-20220804-11251-hk6ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477581/original/file-20220804-11251-hk6ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477581/original/file-20220804-11251-hk6ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477581/original/file-20220804-11251-hk6ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477581/original/file-20220804-11251-hk6ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477581/original/file-20220804-11251-hk6ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477581/original/file-20220804-11251-hk6ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of Chaucer (16th century).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s something about that clever pairing of adjectives too — Chaucer is a master and yet approachably “little” — that accords with this book’s aesthetic of making what is unfamiliar come to seem familiar and known. </p>
<p>Many years later, I realised this strategy accords with Chaucer’s own representations of himself in The Canterbury Tales as unthreatening and cuddly, “a popet (a little doll) in an arm t’enbrace/ For any woman, small and fair of face.” </p>
<p>On a larger scale, too, The Gentle Falcon often plays out striking and dramatic scenes of ritual encounters: the 800 knights, half from England and half from France, who stand motionless in full armour — “an avenue of stone knights!” — then in an instant fall to their knees as Richard of England and Charles VI of France meet to formalise the wedding agreement. </p>
<p>Or, when the widowed queen is eventually returned to France, she courteously gives jewels and money to the English court ladies who have been her guards.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-literature-takes-you-by-surprise-or-the-case-against-trigger-warnings-101251">When literature takes you by surprise: or, the case against trigger warnings</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When I was doing <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Literature-Emotions-Pre-Modern-War-Conflict/dp/1641893087">some work on Queen Isabella several years ago with another medieval scholar, Stephanie Downes</a>, I realised how closely Lewis draws on medieval chronicles for these and many other scenes. </p>
<p>The most famous is that of Jean Froissart, from Valenciennes in Flanders, who spent many years at the English court, but there are others too, which Lewis carefully mentions in her suggestions for further reading at the end of the novel.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477590/original/file-20220804-21966-45o0e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477590/original/file-20220804-21966-45o0e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477590/original/file-20220804-21966-45o0e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477590/original/file-20220804-21966-45o0e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477590/original/file-20220804-21966-45o0e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477590/original/file-20220804-21966-45o0e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477590/original/file-20220804-21966-45o0e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477590/original/file-20220804-21966-45o0e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Richard II meeting with the rebels of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 from the Chronicles of Jean Froissart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Gentle Falcon, then, weaves a compelling, woman-centred emotional narrative around the raw materials of historical chronicles. In the best traditions of the <em>bildungsroman</em> — the novel about the coming-of-age of the protagonist — it also dramatises the process of being an outsider and learning about the world.</p>
<p>Its emotional complexity, and the beauty and danger of the medieval world, have stayed with me long past my first encounter.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-book-that-changed-me-how-priya-satias-times-monster-landed-like-a-bomb-in-my-historians-brain-176023">The book that changed me: how Priya Satia's Time’s Monster landed like a bomb in my historian's brain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185209/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Trigg receives funding from The Australian Research Council</span></em></p>When Stephanie Trigg was a young reader, The Gentle Falcon, set in 1396, introduced her to the beauty and danger of the medieval world.Stephanie Trigg, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of English Literature, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1819962022-05-16T19:34:28Z2022-05-16T19:34:28ZYouth-oriented comics with LGBTQ+ positive characters are busting binaries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463144/original/file-20220515-23-80f00p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C991%2C637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Lumberjanes,' launched in 2014, traces the adventures of campers at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(BOOM! Studios)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a polarized cultural milieu, the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in popular media for youth and children is sometimes contentious. </p>
<p>In March, for example, the Disney corporation was criticized for covertly supporting Florida legislation that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/21/disney-faces-backlash-lgbtq-controversy-dont-say-gay-bill-florida">bars instruction about “sexual orientation or gender identity”</a> for young schoolchildren.
This comes on the heels of controversy about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/luca-disney-and-queerbaiting-in-animation-164349">treatment of queer characters in Disney films</a>.</p>
<p>But some comics artists writing for younger audiences <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23020252/nimona-movie-netflix-blue-sky-nd-stevenson-disney">have found critical and</a> <a href="https://comicbook.com/news/lumberjanes-1-sells-out-headed-for-second-printing">financial success telling stories</a> about LGTBQ+ characters. </p>
<h2>Important role for fiction</h2>
<p>Fiction has historically been a pivotal site of resisting demands that young people who exist outside of perceived sex and gender binaries must assimilate, argues professor of English and queer theorist Kathryn Bond Stockton in her book <em><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-queer-child-or-growing-sideways-in-the-twentieth-century">The Queer Child</a></em>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The back of a person's half-shaved head is seen and a t-shirt reading 'no homophobia, no violence, no racism, yes kindness yes love and this person is lifting up another person who is laughing joyously" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Positive role models and experiences of belonging in community matter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ece Ak/Pexels)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Media professor Tony Kelso describes how scholars studying portrayals of queer youth in media “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2015.1021634">have convincingly argued that representations in the media have a socializing influence</a> on young people’s development of their notions of self, whether in regard to race, gender, class, sexual orientation or other identity categories.” </p>
<p>He notes that particularly for emerging queer youth growing up who may have few role models, “LGBTQ+ images in the media take on especially heightened importance.” </p>
<p>Strong queer representation in youth-oriented comics has the potential to play a significant positive impact on the health and well-being of queer-identified or sex and gender-questioning youth. </p>
<h2>Role models, community</h2>
<p>The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/explore/">for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning young people</a>, notes that <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/fostering-the-mental-health-of-lgbtq-youth/">having positive role models and a sense of community</a> serve as protective factors that enhance positive development or resiliency for LGBTQ youth. </p>
<p>Fiction can offer role models, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119237211.ch1">fandom forged around comics can also foster community</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pride-month-and-queer-students-why-creatively-drawing-on-virtual-community-during-covid-19-matters-158374">Pride Month and queer students: Why creatively drawing on virtual community during COVID-19 matters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many creators of comics with young queer characters say that their creative motivation includes speaking to the well-being of queer children and youth in ways that they themselves may not have experienced. </p>
<p>Here are four comics works that foreground the representation of queer youth experiences: </p>
<h2>1. <em>Backstagers</em></h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four cartoon characters seen on scaffolding in front of a fuscia background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Backstagers’ Volume 1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(BOOM! Studios)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The comic book series <em><a href="https://www.boom-studios.com/series/backstagers/">Backstagers</a></em> follows the stage crew at an all-male high school. The series includes <a href="https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2016/8/17/comic-book-all-queer-theater-geeks">gay, bi and trans characters</a> who <a href="https://queerbooksforteens.com/2018/04/18/the-backstagers-volume-1-rebels-without-applause/">are white, Black and racialized</a>.</p>
<p>It’s penned by James Tynion IV, who is well-known for his <a href="https://www.comicbooktreasury.com/batman-by-james-tynion-reading-order/">work on DC’s <em>Batman</em></a> and who won <a href="https://comicbook.com/comics/news/2021-eisner-award-winners-black-widow-jimmy-olsen-usagi-yojimbo-comic-con/#:%7E:text=">the Eisner Award</a> in comics in 2021. </p>
<p>In an interview with <em>School Library Journal</em> in 2017, Tynion said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://goodcomicsforkids.slj.com/2017/07/10/interview-james-tynion-iv-on-backstagers">I wanted to write the book that I needed the most, particularly in middle school</a> and when I first started reading comics … I always wanted the book to be about misfits, misfits are great, but I wanted to have different forms of queer masculinity.… Growing up, not being able to see yourself in the media you consume, you feel like there’s something wrong. Seeing yourself in these worlds is so empowering.”</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-eisner-and-the-evolution-of-the-graphic-novel-73892">Will Eisner and the evolution of the graphic novel</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. <em>The Prince and the Dressmaker</em></h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic novel cover showing a seamstress in a long dress standing closely to a prince with a measuring tape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Prince and the Dressmaker’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Macmillan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The graphic novel <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723634/theprinceandthedressmaker"><em>The Prince and the Dressmaker</em></a> by <a href="https://www.jenwang.net/about">author and illustrator Jen Wang</a> tells the story of a powerful friendship between a humble dressmaker and an esteemed young prince. The prince lives a secret double-life as “Lady Crystallia,” Paris’s latest (and most mysterious) high-fashion icon. </p>
<p><em>The Prince and the Dressmaker</em> earned a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-10-best-graphic-novels-of-2018/2018/11/13/a192b760-e2d7-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html">place on many best books</a> lists <a href="https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2018/">of 2018</a>. </p>
<p>Like Tynion IV, <a href="https://nerdist.com/article/prince-and-dressmaker-jen-wang-interview/">Wang desribed her inspiration</a> in a 2018 interview with <em>Nerdist</em> as a sort of retroactive intervention in her own life: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“"I wrote this book for my teenage self so I’m really excited for young people to read this! … I hope readers who connect with it are able to indulge in the fairy tale fantasy but also feel known.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>3. <em>Nimona</em></h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic novel cover of three characters, one kneeling in the middle in a short tunic dress, against a teal green background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Nimona’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(HarperCollins)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780062278227/nimona/">ND Stevenson’s graphic novel <em>Nimona</em></a>, developed from their earlier web comic, uses the concept of a shape-shifter in a medieval universe. </p>
<p>The story explores the damaging potentials of perceiving humanity and human relationships in terms of pre-established categories, including <a href="https://mashable.com/article/nimona-netflix-disney-queer-representation">categories of sexuality and gender</a>. Stevenson currently <a href="https://twitter.com/Gingerhazing/status/1377305526908841990">identifies as transmasculine and bigender</a>.</p>
<p><em>Nimona</em> is a <em>New York Times</em> bestseller, won <a href="https://comicbook.com/news/2016-eisner-award-winners-announced/">an Eisner Award</a> and is slated for <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23020252/nimona-movie-netflix-blue-sky-nd-stevenson-disney">a Netflix film adaptation</a>.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/07/noelle-stevenson-nimona-lumberjanes-comic-con-eisner-awards">Stevenson</a> told <em>Vanity Fair</em> in 2015, the shape-shifter represents a key way to threaten and destabilize such norms through the body: “Nimona is about identity and if who you are is defined by what you look like.” </p>
<h2>4. <em>Lumberjanes</em></h2>
<p>The comics series, <a href="https://www.boom-studios.com/series/lumberjanes/"><em>Lumberjanes</em></a>, <a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/lumberjanes-hbo-max/">launched in 2014</a>, traces the adventures of campers at <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/Lumberjanes-Vol-20/Shannon-Watters/Lumberjanes/9781684157433">Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types</a>. </p>
<p>The series <a href="https://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/2017/12/drawing-queerness-evaluating-notable-lgbtq-graphic-novels-for-teens/">focusses not on one particular character</a> but on a circle of five friends <a href="https://queerbooksforteens.com/2017/12/07/lumberjanes-unicorn-power/">from diverse backgrounds of class, race and structures of family</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.themarysue.com/lumberjanes-17-awesomeness/">In Issue 17</a>, the character Jo counsels a “Scouting Lad” from across the lake named Barney who is struggling to identify with their fellow all-male campers. </p>
<p>Jo reveals that she herself transitioned from male to female. Jo used to be a Scouting Lad as well before finding peace and acceptance among the Lumberjanes. Barney requests to join the Lumberjanes and finds similar peace and acceptance, while also adopting the pronouns they/them. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1207756764151721986"}"></div></p>
<p>The group of friends also includes <a href="https://lesbrary.com/danika-reviews-lumberjanes-series-vol-1-6-by-noelle-stevenson-grace-ellis-shannon-watters-and-brooke-a-allen/">two girls who develop a romance</a>. Literature scholar Aaron Kashtan notes the series assumes a <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/contributor/aaron-kashtan/">feminist and anti-racist way of seeing while deflating feminist killjoy stereotypes</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.autostraddle.com/lumberjanes-issue-17-continues-positive-representation-as-jo-talks-about-being-trans-303008/">Shannon Watters</a>, <a href="https://catalog.simonandschuster.com/TitleDetails/TitleDetails.aspx?cid=6957&isbn=9781608868605&FilterByName=&FilterBy=&FilterVal=&ob=0&pn=1&ed=&showcart=N&camefrom=&find=&a=">Lumberjanes co-creator</a> and one of several writers on the series, said in a 2015 interview for the feminist, queer and trans folks-run media site <em>Autostraddle</em>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We write Lumberjanes like it’s somewhere we wish existed, all while hoping that maybe the mere <a href="https://www.autostraddle.com/lumberjanes-issue-17-continues-positive-representation-as-jo-talks-about-being-trans-303008/">fact of its existence in fiction might make it easier and better for some humans</a> who live in the real world.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A host of creative talent worked on this series: <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-noelle-stevenson-talks-lumberjanes-nimona-20150520-story.html">Stevenson is another co-creator</a> and writer of the series, and Wang wrote for <a href="https://comicsalliance.com/jen-wang-lumberjanes-makin-the-ghost-of-it-interview">a 2016 Lumberjanes special, <em>Lumberjanes: Makin: the Ghost of It</em></a>.</p>
<p><em>Lumberjanes</em> had a <a href="https://comicbook.com/news/lumberjanes-1-sells-out-headed-for-second-printing/">a sold-out first printing</a>, won multiple Eisner Awards and has earned <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/10/lumberjanes-animated-tv-series-based-on-boom-comics-hbo-max-noelle-stevenson-1234592758/">an HBO Max animated series adaptation</a>. <a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/press-releases/lumberjanes/">In 2017, a <em>Lumberjanes</em> novel series</a> was launched, <a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/?s=lumberjanes">written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Brooklyn Allen</a>. </p>
<p>In all of these comics, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250171122/snapdragon">and many more</a>, we see <a href="https://www.scholastic.ca/books/view/the-girl-from-the-sea">the potential for</a> contemporary media portrayals to provide important mental and physical well-being interventions in the lives of LGBTQ+ youth — and thus another reminder of why representation and relatable stories matter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181996/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Andrew Deman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Strong queer representation in young adult comics can have a significant positive impact on the well-being of queer-identified or questioning youth.J. Andrew Deman, Professor of English, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822902022-05-09T19:59:39Z2022-05-09T19:59:39ZWhat is BookTok, and how is it influencing what Australian teenagers read?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461876/original/file-20220509-16-etes5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C11%2C3988%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">@hibas.library, @luzlovesbooks, @kelibrary, @londonapples/TikTok</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Video-sharing app TikTok has been credited with <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/subbed-but-holding-for-next-sunday-the-reading-renaissance-could-the-booktok-bump-save-publishing-20220302-p5a109.html">making reading</a> “cool again” among teenagers, through the hashtag #BookTok. </p>
<p>Most BookTok posts are playful short videos, no longer than a minute, that match book images to popular soundtracks. </p>
<p>For example, in the ten-second video <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@londonapples/video/7078638410717465858?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&q=ya%20whoops&t=1651468259854">“YA whoops”</a>, prolific Australian BookTokker <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@londonapples">@londonapples</a>, wearing her trademark teddy-bear beanie, appears guiltily surprised when interrupted from her reading.</p>
<h2>What are TikTok and BookTok?</h2>
<p>TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform <a href="https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-tiktok/">in history</a>. It’s most popular among young people. </p>
<p>In 2020, <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-02/The%20digital%20lives%20of%20Aussie%20teens.pdf">38% of Australian teens</a> aged 12 to 17 reported spending time on TikTok. Last year, the hours spent by Australian users <a href="https://wearesocial.com/au/blog/2022/02/digital-2022-australia-online-like-never-before/">increased by 40%</a> to 23.4 hours per month. </p>
<p>BookTok is a community of TikTok creators who post videos celebrating their love of books and reading. The hashtag <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=booktok&t=1651476500840">#BookTok</a> now has more than 46 billion views worldwide.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-689" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/689/315fb8340a99ae588ac96ae1e198197688863c46/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Who watches and creates BookTok videos?</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://teenreading.net/research/">Teen Reading survey</a> investigates how Australian teenagers use book-related social media, and who they are. </p>
<p>Preliminary results reveal that while more than half of Australian teenagers use TikTok (56%), a much smaller number engage with “book talk” on social media, including BookTok (16%). </p>
<p>This supports <a href="https://wordpress-ms.deakin.edu.au/teenreading/wp-content/uploads/sites/175/2017/04/teen-reading-folio-report_email.pdf">our earlier research</a>, which found that regular book talk on social media is the domain of a small yet passionate group of readers. Despite being a small proportion of teenagers, BookTokkers are building sizable social media followings, encouraging other teenagers to read and influencing what they read.</p>
<p>Anecdotal reports by <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/subbed-but-holding-for-next-sunday-the-reading-renaissance-could-the-booktok-bump-save-publishing-20220302-p5a109.html">booksellers</a> credit BookTok with sparking a resurgence in reading among young people. </p>
<p>Avid BookTokker Mireille Lee (<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@alifeofliterature">@alifeofliterature</a>) describes how “I started reading again after six years when I came across BookTok for the first time”. </p>
<p>Until the pandemic, reading rates among teenagers were falling, but the pandemic and the rising popularity of BookTok meant that by 2021, <a href="https://literacytrust.org.uk/news/our-new-research-shows-over-half-of-children-and-young-people-enjoy-reading/#:%7E:text=We%20were%20pleased%20to%20see,30.8%25%2C%20from%20early%202020">among UK teenagers</a>, a third reported reading more often. </p>
<p>Many booksellers now feature a #BookTok table, or publish “trending on #booktok” <a href="https://www.dymocks.com.au/featured/booktok">lists</a> and boxed #booktok <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/booktok-bestsellers-boxed-set-erin-a-craig/book/9780593568781.html?source=pla&gclid=CjwKCAjwrfCRBhAXEiwAnkmKmZ8vecG3p2-0PLJ-uJBPUaQ6FqAh5z0DcqYLm48crxsOWvDQYLepWhoC4_cQAvD_BwE">sets</a>.</p>
<h2>The magic of BookTok, in 5 parts</h2>
<p>So, how does BookTok work? We’ve identified five key elements.</p>
<p><strong>1. Playful and creative</strong></p>
<p>First, TikTok is a very playful medium. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439884.2022.2068575">Users can</a> embed, re-use, replicate and imitate other posts in creative ways. </p>
<p>A “stitch” post, for example, allows a user to embed another post within their own, to mimic, critique or add humour. In one example, @penguin_teen uses her <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@penguin_teen/video/6941502599384288517">“stitch” post</a> to co-opt another user’s advice on not blaming yourself, playfully blaming author Krystal Sutherland for her sleepless night reading her book.</p>
<p>A “duet” similarly embeds another post, but plays it in parallel to their own. For instance, in one post, @hellohardbacks <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hellohardbacks/video/6981615954824318214?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&q=booktok%20duet&t=1652068733042">compares</a> @kaitlin.tracy’s pace in reading Samantha Shannon’s doorstopper The Priory of the Orange Tree to her own, in disbelief.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-688" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/688/fd3f6fce360043de42415757fe413ffe8d7c07fd/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>2. Algorithm creates unexpected recommendations</strong></p>
<p>Second, while other platforms recommend content to viewers from the creators they follow, TikTok privileges recommendations based on <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-finally-explains-for-you-algorithm-works/">its algorithm</a>, which draws on posts users have viewed, liked and reposted. This can provide unexpected recommendations tailored to a viewer’s individual tastes. </p>
<p><strong>3. Popularity of posts, not creators</strong></p>
<p>Third, TikTok fame is based on the popularity of individual posts, not of creators. Australian BookTokker <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hibas.library">@hibas.library</a> generally receives views in the low thousands, but one post on <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hibas.library/video/6998138869770112258?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&q=biggest%20book%20related%20peeves&t=1651465836180">“Biggest book related pet peeves”</a> reached over 150k. BookTokker <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kelibrary">@kelibrary</a>’s account was less than two weeks old when <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kelibrary/video/7061487284062850305?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">their book bargain post</a> received 393k views. </p>
<p><strong>4. Connects book lovers</strong></p>
<p>Fourth, BookTok creators connect with other book lovers – the platform’s key attraction. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@luzlovesbooks">@luzlovesbooks</a> explains: “I created my book account because I was longing to find a connection with people about something I am super passionate about.”</p>
<p>This provides a rare opportunity outside school to learn from each other about books, reading and book culture. We explore this sharing as “peer pedagogy”: a process in which young people teach their peers about something that they are passionate about. </p>
<p><strong>5. Emotion is currency</strong></p>
<p>Finally, TikTok’s currency is emotion and it is video-heavy, which together make it a much loved, performative medium among young readers. </p>
<p>This is why books like They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (2017) have experienced a <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/p/booktok101">spike in sales</a> – because they lend themselves to emotional expression and hyper-visceral performances. It’s common for BookTok videos to feature <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tessmaylo/video/6936868960495226117?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&q=crying%20they%20both%20die%20at%20the%20end&t=1651466754454">readers crying</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-690" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/690/d4f0399a6d67e0a420199a9265e27045985bf9e3/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>But how is BookTok influencing what young people are reading?</h2>
<p>Surprisingly, BookTokkers have been profiling many books that were published several years ago. Publishers are used to most books having a short shelf life, but BookTok is driving unexpected new demand among young readers for older books. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461893/original/file-20220509-13-6c98d8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461893/original/file-20220509-13-6c98d8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461893/original/file-20220509-13-6c98d8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461893/original/file-20220509-13-6c98d8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461893/original/file-20220509-13-6c98d8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461893/original/file-20220509-13-6c98d8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461893/original/file-20220509-13-6c98d8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461893/original/file-20220509-13-6c98d8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>These books include <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27362503-it-ends-with-us">It Ends With Us</a> by Colleen Hoover, published in 2016, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32620332-the-seven-husbands-of-evelyn-hugo">The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo</a> by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017), and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33385229-they-both-die-at-the-end">They Both Die at the End</a> by Adam Silvera (2017). Dan Ruffino is managing director for Simon & Schuster, distributor of these titles in Australia. He says that in the midst of Covid-19 and paper shortages, “we’ve had to put in massive orders for reprints of books that were published years ago”. </p>
<p>BookTok is sometimes criticised for featuring only <a href="https://bookriot.com/most-popular-books-on-tiktok/">a small number of titles</a> by white authors: mostly young adult, romance or fantasy titles. But books trending on BookTok often show teenagers looking for <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09548963.2022.2045864">real-world diversity</a> and complex themes. </p>
<p>For example, Booktok sensation <a href="http://madelinemiller.com/the-song-of-achilles/">The Song of Achilles</a> by Madeleine Miller is a Greek myth retelling featuring a queer romantic relationship. Another BookTok favourite – Helen Hoang’s own-voices romance <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/popular-fiction/The-Kiss-Quotient-Helen-Hoang-9781760876005">The Kiss Quotient</a> – is about an autistic woman who hires a male escort to teach her how to date. Olivie Blake’s dark academic fantasy novel, <a href="https://www.olivieblake.com/the-atlas-six">The Atlas Six</a>, explores philosophical and moral questions through a dystopian lens. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461894/original/file-20220509-12-bv5j45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461894/original/file-20220509-12-bv5j45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461894/original/file-20220509-12-bv5j45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=948&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461894/original/file-20220509-12-bv5j45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=948&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461894/original/file-20220509-12-bv5j45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=948&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461894/original/file-20220509-12-bv5j45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1191&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461894/original/file-20220509-12-bv5j45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1191&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461894/original/file-20220509-12-bv5j45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1191&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>As an international community of book lovers, BookTok does not do much to encourage teenagers to read Australian books. However, a few Australian books, such as Canberra author Sally Thorne’s <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/sally-thorne/the-hating-game-tiktok-made-me-buy-it-the-perfect-enemies-to-lovers-romcom">The Hating Game?</a>, do have a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@katsxlibrary/video/6986400315264224518?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&q=the%20hating%20game%20book&t=1651629021005">BookTok following</a>. </p>
<p>Libraries and booksellers are becoming adept at using BookTok as a conversation starter and will recommend Australian books to teenage readers based on titles they liked from the BookTok stable. </p>
<p>BookTok’s popularity reflects the zeitgeist of the pandemic. It offers a digital space for teenagers to connect with their peers and share <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/cyber.2022.29240.editorial">authentic</a> responses to books in a <a href="https://www.charleston-hub.com/2022/04/booktok-part-3-covid-reading-and-the-future-of-apps/">“youth friendly”</a> way. </p>
<p>By showcasing teenagers who love books and are proud of their reading habits, BookTok inspires other young people to enjoy reading. And it creates trends that influence the types of books they read, sometimes in unexpected ways.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katya Johanson receives funding receives funding the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Australian Research Council (Project LP180100258).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Schoonens receives funding from the Australian Research Council (Project LP 180100258).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Reddan receives funding the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Australian Research Council (Project LP180100258). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonie Rutherford receives funding from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Australian Research Council (Project LP180100258). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Dezuanni receives receives funding from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Australian Research Council (Project LP180100258).</span></em></p>Pre-pandemic, reading rates among teenagers were falling. But BookTok, a subculture of social media platform TikTok, has made teens read more often – and influences what they read. Here’s how it works.Katya Johanson, Professor of Audience Research, Deakin UniversityAmy Schoonens, Phd Candidate, Research Assistant, Queensland University of TechnologyBronwyn Reddan, Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityLeonie Rutherford, Associate professor, Deakin UniversityMichael Dezuanni, Professor, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1569612021-03-15T18:56:10Z2021-03-15T18:56:10Z‘I couldn’t escape. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to’: confusing messages about consent in young adult fantasy fiction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389213/original/file-20210312-17-l34wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C31%2C5152%2C3414&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1511405889574-b01de1da5441?ixid=MXwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHw%3D&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2850&q=80">Unsplash/Travis Grossen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sexual consent and young people have been in the news lately, from <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/i-think-i-have-been-raped-several-times-victorian-schools-mentioned-on-online-sexual-consent-petition-balloon-20210310-p579m9.html">an online petition</a> detailing thousands of high schoolers’ recollections of sexual assault and rape to <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/schools-in-australia-will-soon-be-provided-with-sexual-consent-education-materials">calls for better school-based education</a>. </p>
<p>What young people read is another <a href="https://www.hypable.com/sex-in-ya-novels-is-important/">important form of sexual education</a>. Young adult (YA) fiction has a unique role to play in representing sexual relationships, but a number of popular YA fantasy novels send confusing and potentially harmful messages about sex and consent. Often, these are not addressed, such as when Shalia in the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/25566671-reign-the-earth">Reign the Earth</a> series (2018-2020) is forced to consummate her marriage.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>‘I didn’t feel love, or lust, or heat. I felt frightened … panicked beneath him.’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Rather than echo the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/bodice-rippers-and-bad-education-do-romance-novels-lead-to-sexual-mistakes-2283">bodice ripper</a>” content of some adult fantasy novels (where sex <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/03/beyond-bodice-rippers-how-romance-novels-came-to-embrace-feminism/274094/">usually begins with domination</a>), books for young readers can be an opportunity to unpack what consent is and isn’t.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389226/original/file-20210312-13-16qun2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389226/original/file-20210312-13-16qun2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389226/original/file-20210312-13-16qun2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389226/original/file-20210312-13-16qun2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389226/original/file-20210312-13-16qun2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389226/original/file-20210312-13-16qun2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389226/original/file-20210312-13-16qun2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389226/original/file-20210312-13-16qun2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some books in the young adult fantasy genre echo the ‘bodice rippers’ of yesteryear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/xU34s6wuxyU">Unsplash/Hanna Postova</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teen-summer-reads-how-to-escape-to-another-world-after-a-year-stuck-in-this-one-150646">Teen summer reads: how to escape to another world after a year stuck in this one</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Characters young people relate to</h2>
<p>Research shows young people <a href="https://theconversation.com/honest-and-subtle-writing-about-sex-in-young-adult-literature-48002">use YA fiction as a source of sex education</a>. Teens turn to novels to learn through the actions of characters they relate to. They identify with what is happening on the page and learn without having to seek advice or information from adults or peers. </p>
<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-07532-002">Studies</a> have also shown representations of sexual intimacy provide a behavioural script for young readers. These scripts are then put to use during their own sexual encounters. In one study, researchers heard from girls who used episodes of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</a> to learn new “date moves”.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389217/original/file-20210312-21-1pt13tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Book cover: Twilight" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389217/original/file-20210312-21-1pt13tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389217/original/file-20210312-21-1pt13tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389217/original/file-20210312-21-1pt13tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389217/original/file-20210312-21-1pt13tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389217/original/file-20210312-21-1pt13tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389217/original/file-20210312-21-1pt13tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389217/original/file-20210312-21-1pt13tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1361039443l/41865.jpg">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because sex is a natural area of interest for readers, realist YA fiction engages with questions of sexual consent in clear ways. YA fantasy — the genre that includes the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41865.Twilight?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=lj3dqXfG4q&rank=1">Twilight</a> series and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767052-the-hunger-games?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=YFY9IDgzyJ&rank=1">The Hunger Games</a> — can omit some important aspects of this. </p>
<p>Psychologists have <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/psychologist-the-movies/201111/relationship-violence-in-twilight">characterised</a> schoolgirl Bella’s relationship with vampire Edward in Twilight as a template for violence and abuse, concerned fans may model real-life relationships on the narrative. Jealous Edward isolates Bella from her friends, family and potential love rivals, even sabotaging her car to prevent her escape from him. </p>
<p>Fantasy fiction is often set in a different time or place, but it still reflects contemporary concerns. </p>
<p>In many of these novels, the female character’s ability to say “yes” is denied to her. In Shelby Mahurin’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40024139-serpent-dove?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=MPUAkzNnl8&rank=1">Serpent and Dove</a> (2019), the female protagonist is forced into marriage. Brigid Kemmerer’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43204703-a-curse-so-dark-and-lonely?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=YyxsAWWU8s&rank=1">A Curse So Dark and Lonely</a> (2019) gains inspiration from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5784403-beauty-and-the-beast?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=4LJMsboGig&rank=4">Beauty and the Beast</a>, with the female protagonist captured and unable to consent to her relationship. Neither novel discusses how consent is compromised.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-ya-gothic-fiction-is-booming-and-girl-monsters-are-on-the-rise-95921">Friday essay: why YA gothic fiction is booming - and girl monsters are on the rise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘Too shy to say the words’</h2>
<p>In Holly Black’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26032825-the-cruel-prince?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Q1woSqhdSW&rank=1">The Cruel Prince</a> series (2018-2019), Prince Cardan physically and emotionally abuses orphan girl Jude during their relationship. Her consent to intimacy is mired in domestic violence. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389216/original/file-20210312-19-mb0arz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover: The Cruel Prince" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389216/original/file-20210312-19-mb0arz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389216/original/file-20210312-19-mb0arz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389216/original/file-20210312-19-mb0arz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389216/original/file-20210312-19-mb0arz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389216/original/file-20210312-19-mb0arz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389216/original/file-20210312-19-mb0arz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389216/original/file-20210312-19-mb0arz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574535986l/26032825._SY475_.jpg">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When they do have sex, she does not verbally consent. Jude is “too shy to say the words” and just “kisses him instead”. This example of sexual consent contradicts models of positive consent as an “enthusiastic yes” or the viral video many young people are shown depicting consent as similar to offering someone a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbei5JGiT8">cup of tea</a>.</p>
<p>Sarah J. Maas’ popular series, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16096824-a-court-of-thorns-and-roses?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=q0sFbownpo&rank=1">A Court Of Thorns and Roses</a> (2015-2021) begins with a romantic relationship between Feyre and Tamlin in a magical kingdom. The series has sold over <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/maas-turns-ya-author-bloomsbury-787586#:%7E:text=Maas'%20epic%20fantasy%20series%20Throne,36%20languages%2C%20said%20the%20publisher.">six million copies</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, in the first book, a serious violation of consent occurs. When Tamlin attempts to kiss Feyre, she tells him to “let go”, but instead he embeds his claws in a wall behind her head. When she pushes him away, he “grabs [her] hands and bites [her] neck”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389211/original/file-20210312-19-k0wasb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389211/original/file-20210312-19-k0wasb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389211/original/file-20210312-19-k0wasb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389211/original/file-20210312-19-k0wasb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389211/original/file-20210312-19-k0wasb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389211/original/file-20210312-19-k0wasb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389211/original/file-20210312-19-k0wasb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389211/original/file-20210312-19-k0wasb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16096824-a-court-of-thorns-and-roses?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=q0sFbownpo&rank=1">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Feyre’s reaction to Tamlin is confusing as well. While she tells him to stop, she also describes her feelings of sexual arousal. She “couldn’t escape” from Tamlin but “wasn’t entirely sure [she] wanted to”. To Feyre’s fury, the next morning Tamlin says he “can’t be held accountable” for her bruises. But by the next paragraph all is forgiven. </p>
<p>The descriptions of physical pleasure also suggest verbal consent in not the only thing in play. Is she saying no, when she really means yes? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/relationships-and-sex-education-is-now-mandatory-in-english-schools-australia-should-do-the-same-144348">Relationships and sex education is now mandatory in English schools – Australia should do the same</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Explicit consent</h2>
<p>Of course, some YA fantasy texts address consent explicitly. Tracy Deonn’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50892338-legendborn?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=LAqavceQfB&rank=1">Legendborn</a> (2020) features clear conversations of consent. When Nick asks if he can kiss Bree, she responds “Oh”. He then clarifies “Oh, ‘no’, or oh, ‘yes’?”.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389209/original/file-20210312-16-zsyahq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389209/original/file-20210312-16-zsyahq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389209/original/file-20210312-16-zsyahq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389209/original/file-20210312-16-zsyahq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389209/original/file-20210312-16-zsyahq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389209/original/file-20210312-16-zsyahq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389209/original/file-20210312-16-zsyahq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389209/original/file-20210312-16-zsyahq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32334268-valentine?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=6LB0cbLQU8&rank=1">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some books have questionable consent but call it out on the page. In Jodi McAlister’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32334268-valentine?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=6LB0cbLQU8&rank=1">Valentine</a> series, male faerie Finn uses his powers to enter Pearl’s dreams and lead her into sexual fantasies. When she realises what he’s done, she orders him “out of [her] head”, and they discuss his inappropriate behaviour.</p>
<p>Ambiguous scenes in YA fantasy can provide an opportunity for parents, teachers and young people to discuss consent and sexual intimacy. How are the characters consenting to intimacy? Is there an aspect of consent missing? What would be a better way for these characters to gain consent from each other? Care should be taken not to glorify taking advantage of these ambiguities in an intimate setting.</p>
<p>Classrooms can also be a place to confront the taboos of sexuality by analysing sexual interactions and unpacking how consent is given. <a href="https://theconversation.com/young-people-are-hungry-for-good-sex-education-i-found-a-program-in-mexico-that-gets-it-right-156742">Equipping teachers to facilitate conversations around trust, sex and consent</a> could further the conversation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-make-it-mandatory-to-teach-respectful-relationships-in-every-australian-school-117659">Let's make it mandatory to teach respectful relationships in every Australian school</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156961/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Little receives funding from Deakin University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristine Moruzi has received funding from the Australia Research Council. </span></em></p>Millions of people are reading young adult fantasy novels like Twilight or A Court of Thorns and Roses. But the way sexual consent is depicted in these can be confusing or even harmful.Elizabeth Little, PhD Candidate, Deakin UniversityKristine Moruzi, Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication & Creative Arts, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1496242020-11-23T02:24:08Z2020-11-23T02:24:08ZMy favourite detective: Trixie Belden, the uncool girl sleuth with a sensitive moral compass<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369032/original/file-20201112-23-jv855r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C2%2C1394%2C1045&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ebay.com.au/i/153451143588?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-139619-5960-0&mkcid=2&itemid=153451143588&targetid=920120014009&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9071352&poi=&campaignid=10101784946&mkgroupid=102311921940&rlsatarget=pla-920120014009&abcId=9300367&merchantid=7364522&gclid=CjwKCAiAtK79BRAIEiwA4OskBtvMMkbpkI-lmWXS7bh_wK1EzhbYDcV6u3IS62euQG7JUYZs17YhnhoCWWMQAvD_BwE">Ebay</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/my-favourite-detective-95869">new series</a>, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on page and on screen.</em> </p>
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<p>Trixie Belden, girl detective, does not rank in the world’s pantheon of cool sleuths. She’s unlikely to appear in a Coen brothers’ film (à la Marge Gunderson in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116282/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Fargo</a> (1996)), for example. Nor did she issue from the pen of hardboiled, mid-century crime writer <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4392029.Chester_Himes">Chester Himes</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, she was the creation of Western Publishing — the American maker of <a href="https://littlegoldenbooks.fandom.com/wiki/Western_Publishing">Little Golden Books</a> who wanted to market low-cost mysteries and adventures to children after the second world war — and Julie Campbell, a writer and literary agent who responded to their call.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/my-favourite-detective-kurt-wallander-too-grumpy-to-like-relatable-enough-to-get-under-your-skin-149277">My favourite detective: Kurt Wallander — too grumpy to like, relatable enough to get under your skin</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Campbell wrote the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=trixie+belden">first six books in the series</a> from 1948 to 1958. The rest, some 30 or so, were composed by ghostwriters between 1961 and 1986 and published under the pseudonym, Kathryn Kenny. </p>
<p>As a child, I had no inkling of this origin story. So far as I knew, Trixie Belden was from Crabapple Farm, Sleepyside, in the Hudson River Valley. She had three brothers (two older, one younger) and her best friend was Honey Wheeler, met in the original book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/183116.The_Secret_of_the_Mansion?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=n18TTzNIF9&rank=1">The Secret of the Mansion</a> (1948), which I read more than 30 years after it was first published. </p>
<h2>Friends like these</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369031/original/file-20201112-17-1gr8914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Trixie Belden book cover. Two girls peek through curtain." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369031/original/file-20201112-17-1gr8914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369031/original/file-20201112-17-1gr8914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369031/original/file-20201112-17-1gr8914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369031/original/file-20201112-17-1gr8914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369031/original/file-20201112-17-1gr8914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369031/original/file-20201112-17-1gr8914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369031/original/file-20201112-17-1gr8914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388204528l/183116.jpg">Goodreads</a></span>
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<p>Honey was rich and beautiful. So was Diana, who turned up a bit later in the series and was memorably said to have violet eyes. Trixie was neither of these things. </p>
<p>In the first book, at the age of 13, she found her detective vocation by uncovering the fortune of a deceased recluse. She also met its beneficiary. Jim Frayne, a runaway with a brutal stepfather, would become Honey’s adopted brother, Trixie’s blossoming love interest, and a member of the <a href="http://www.trixie-belden.com/chars/bobwhites.htm">Bob-Whites</a>, Trixie’s club of friends who formed the support cast for the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency. </p>
<p>Whether searching for a lost weather vane or tracking down an arsonist, Trixie was at the centre of all the mysteries, which I avidly read and reread. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-alice-pung-how-reading-changed-my-life-147442">Friday essay: Alice Pung — how reading changed my life</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>My attraction to Trixie was not a matter of projection or identification; my world was clearly unlike hers. </p>
<p>I did not anticipate that I would come across a rabid dog; rescue a pilot from a burning aeroplane; or have to suck blood from my brother’s toe to prevent his poisoning by a copperhead. (And that was all in only the first book of the series). </p>
<p>Trixie was obsessed with horses, I was more interested in her setter dog, Reddy. Trixie was terrible at maths, which had yet to cause me trouble. </p>
<p>The differences between us didn’t matter so much as our shared interest in “running all the information through [our] mental computer” (from 1977’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/129479.The_Mystery_of_the_Uninvited_Guest?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=8SIt4WJFbi&rank=1">The Mystery of the Uninvited Guest</a>). I wanted to figure things out, just like Trixie. She nonetheless had many amateur sleuth competitors on my primary school reading list. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-kids-are-alright-young-adult-post-disaster-novels-can-teach-us-about-trauma-and-survival-140849">The kids are alright: young adult post-disaster novels can teach us about trauma and survival</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Tips for young detectives</h2>
<p>I had the non-fiction <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6120695-detective-s-handbook?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=hf5p6mjdUc&rank=3">Detective’s Handbook</a> out on constant library loan. It was instructive in disguise-wearing and decoding. Then there was Enid Blyton’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28193266-enid-blyton-famous-five-series-21-books-box-collection-pack-set?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=fYcOZpekKa&rank=1">The Famous Five</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27773939-secret-7-series-15-book-collection-set-by-enid-blyton?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=XXjirQF250&rank=1">The Secret Seven</a>, and also <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48811.Nancy_Drew?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ICScSrHTPV&rank=4">Nancy Drew</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369030/original/file-20201112-23-1b93q5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Children's book about detective work" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369030/original/file-20201112-23-1b93q5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369030/original/file-20201112-23-1b93q5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369030/original/file-20201112-23-1b93q5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369030/original/file-20201112-23-1b93q5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369030/original/file-20201112-23-1b93q5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369030/original/file-20201112-23-1b93q5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369030/original/file-20201112-23-1b93q5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61uFC1eSrTL._SX325_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg">Amazon</a></span>
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<p>The child-groups constituting the two former titles were like the Bob-Whites insofar as they also formed detective communities. Although to my mind they put inordinate value on passwords, badges and boarding school holidays. </p>
<p>Nancy Drew was undeniably admirable in her older sophistication but a little too polished for my still-developing taste. She was confident and self-contained, which is surely why Hollywood created movie versions of her and why the intrusion of the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/146656.Hardy_Boys_Complete_Series_Set_Books_1_66?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=YtLbjV35Fu&rank=5">Hardy Boys</a> franchise into her narrative made no sense to me. It wasn’t like she needed any help.</p>
<p>By contrast, Trixie Belden was more accommodating and needing of others. She sometimes said mean things, and would then regret them and apologise. </p>
<p>She knew she wasn’t as pretty as Honey or Diana and, while that worried her a little, she shrugged it off and had far more interesting existential doubts. In the 17th book, The Mystery of the Uninvited Guest, she speaks of feeling as if she were inside a glass box: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>All the people of the world march past me … I know that when I can tell just one person who I am, the glass will melt and I can join the parade. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>I’m sure at the age of eight or nine I had only a vague idea of what she meant, but it sounded a lot like what growing up was all about. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-ya-gothic-fiction-is-booming-and-girl-monsters-are-on-the-rise-95921">Friday essay: why YA gothic fiction is booming - and girl monsters are on the rise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Smart and sensitive</h2>
<p>Sticky situations, mistaken identities and stolen jewels were always worked out, revealed or returned to their rightful owners in the end. And the motives behind these events weren’t always nefarious. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369208/original/file-20201113-15-t40s4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Book cover: Trixie Belden girl detective mystery" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369208/original/file-20201113-15-t40s4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369208/original/file-20201113-15-t40s4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369208/original/file-20201113-15-t40s4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369208/original/file-20201113-15-t40s4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369208/original/file-20201113-15-t40s4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1093&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369208/original/file-20201113-15-t40s4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1093&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369208/original/file-20201113-15-t40s4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1093&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Goodreads</span></span>
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<p>Reassurance was offered in the sympathetic knowledge that circumstances, rather than moral flaws, can bring about bad deeds, and that detection itself trod a fine ethical line. </p>
<p>Trixie’s conscience was pricked by her practices of eavesdropping, surveillance and occasional breaking-and-entering. At times she determined that the status quo, which her detective work ostensibly upheld, was not right. </p>
<p>Maths might have stumped her, but as Honey appreciatively recognised of her friend:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Trixie was a down-to-earth person, keenly aware of information gathered by all of her five senses — plus that extra sense called horse sense. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She might not be cool, today or then, but — well-surpassing her intended pulp-fiction status — Trixie Belden was smart and sensitive in the ways that mattered.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Dalziell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trixie Belden wasn’t as pretty as her best friend, or a cool as Nancy Drew. But she had a ‘mental computer’ for solving mysteries and a non-judgmental moral core.Tanya Dalziell, Associate Professor, English and Literary Studies, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1411252020-07-19T19:51:49Z2020-07-19T19:51:49ZQueer young adult fiction isn’t all gloomy realism. Here are 5 uplifting books to get you started<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343357/original/file-20200623-188900-1o8dlx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C3936%2C2339&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Anasch/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Representing_the_Rainbow_in_Young_Adult.html?id=Q8dODwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">Early ventures</a> in queer young adult (YA) fiction followed certain conventions: they tended to be set in the contemporary world and their narratives focused on coming out, bullying, heartbreak or fighting for acceptance. Most unfortunately, these stories also have a long history of <a href="https://arminda.whitman.edu/theses/333">ending in tragedy</a>.</p>
<p>There is absolutely a place for stories that address the often harsh reality of being queer in a heteronormative world. However, <a href="https://medium.com/the-establishment/the-critical-evolution-of-lgbtq-young-adult-literature-ce40cd4905c6">this history</a> has left many adolescents (and adults!) under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/06/25/queer-young-adult-fiction-grows-beyond-the-coming-out-story/">calling out for stories</a> that break this mould. </p>
<p>Over the last decade, there has not only been <a href="https://www.malindalo.com/blog/2019/3/18/a-decade-of-lgbtq-ya-since-ash">an increase</a> in the number of queer YA books being published (including by major publishing houses), but also a welcome and notable shift in the kinds of stories these books tell. Now, we have not just contemporary realism, but sci-fi and fantasy. Not just tales of unrequited love, but sappy romantic comedies. </p>
<p>Not just narratives about hardship — but narratives about <em>hope</em>. </p>
<p>Queer representation in fiction can provide education, validation and affirmation to young people and help normalise queerness — for teenagers exploring their identities, but also for readers of all ages and orientations who want to experience different perspectives or learn to be better allies.</p>
<p>But these hopeful queer stories are also important precisely because they are <em>fun</em>. Sometimes you want the catharsis of reading about a gay teenager coming out. Sometimes you want the escapism of reading about a gay teenager saving the universe, going through a magic portal or having a big mushy rom-com moment. </p>
<p>As well as providing entertainment, these books are giving queer teenagers stories that promise a life outside of sadness and hardship. </p>
<p>Want to know more? Here are five recent queer YA novels to get you started.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52857576-euphoria-kids">Euphoria Kids</a> by Alison Evans</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343352/original/file-20200623-188936-1kq6jt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343352/original/file-20200623-188936-1kq6jt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343352/original/file-20200623-188936-1kq6jt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343352/original/file-20200623-188936-1kq6jt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343352/original/file-20200623-188936-1kq6jt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343352/original/file-20200623-188936-1kq6jt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343352/original/file-20200623-188936-1kq6jt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Babs is invisible most of the time, so she’s thrilled her classmate Iris can see her. Iris grew from a seed in their parents’ back garden and routinely hangs out with fairies and dryads, so magic is part of ordinary life as far as they’re concerned. </p>
<p>This is a witchy and whimsical story about the power of friendship and self-love. The novel’s magical setting provides a safe, hopeful and happy world for its trans characters, as well as a deeply dreamy reading experience.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32469736-the-disasters">The Disasters</a> by M.K. England</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343353/original/file-20200623-188926-ejwg56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343353/original/file-20200623-188926-ejwg56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343353/original/file-20200623-188926-ejwg56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343353/original/file-20200623-188926-ejwg56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343353/original/file-20200623-188926-ejwg56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343353/original/file-20200623-188926-ejwg56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343353/original/file-20200623-188926-ejwg56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Nasir “Nax” Hall is going to be a hot-shot space pilot … at least, that was the plan, but he’s just failed his entrance exam. When a mysterious faction attacks the academy, Nax and a group of other intergalactic wash-ups become the only ones who can save the known universe.</p>
<p>The Disasters is pure fun, throwing you into a high-stakes outer-space adventure at warp speed. </p>
<p>The rag-tag crew of diverse teenagers have a rocky beginning but develop a fire-forged bond across the novel. It’s a delightful read.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31246717-the-summer-of-jordi-p-rez">The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burgers in Los Angeles)</a> by Amy Spalding</h2>
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<p>Plus-sized, pink-haired and gay, Abby figures she’s “the funny friend” in someone else’s love story and will never be the star of her own. That is, until she starts her summer internship at a vintage fashion store and meets the artsy and enigmatic Jordi Perez.</p>
<p>This has everything you could want from a summer romance: it’s sweet as ice cream, with equal scoops of bright and breezy comedy and heartfelt drama. </p>
<p>Though there are ups and downs, Abby gets her happily ever after.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29904219-not-your-sidekick">Not Your Sidekick</a> by C.B. Lee</h2>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343355/original/file-20200623-188921-iu7kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343355/original/file-20200623-188921-iu7kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343355/original/file-20200623-188921-iu7kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343355/original/file-20200623-188921-iu7kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343355/original/file-20200623-188921-iu7kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343355/original/file-20200623-188921-iu7kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343355/original/file-20200623-188921-iu7kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Jess is the daughter of superheroes. Naturally, the best way she could rebel is to take a part-time job with the local supervillains. </p>
<p>Lee embraces all the secret identity shenanigans and zap-pow action scenes you could want from a superhero story, but starring a cast of queer teenagers. </p>
<p>This book plays with the tropes lovingly and cleverly, and is the first in a very fun series.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45359713-felix-ever-after">Felix Ever After</a> by Kacen Callender</h2>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343356/original/file-20200623-188886-1ur24k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343356/original/file-20200623-188886-1ur24k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343356/original/file-20200623-188886-1ur24k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343356/original/file-20200623-188886-1ur24k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343356/original/file-20200623-188886-1ur24k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343356/original/file-20200623-188886-1ur24k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343356/original/file-20200623-188886-1ur24k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Felix arrives at school one day to find the lobby full of photographs of him before he transitioned. </p>
<p>Determined to get revenge on the anonymous “artist”, he creates a fake online personality to get dirty secrets out of his classmates … and soon finds himself embroiled in Instagram subterfuge and in the middle of a strange digital love triangle.</p>
<p>Callender explores some harrowing issues but I include their book on this list because it addresses harsh realities and still comes out the other side as a story about hope. </p>
<p>Felix Ever After speaks to the past and future of queer YA: it doesn’t shy away from the struggles queer teens can face while also offering a picture-perfect happy ending.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141125/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Henderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sci-fi, fantasy and rom-coms: books with LGBTQIA+ characters are as diverse as their readers.Alex Henderson, PhD Candidate in Literary Studies and Creative Writing, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1397672020-07-02T20:09:04Z2020-07-02T20:09:04ZFriday essay: need a sitter? Revisiting girlhood, feminism and diversity in The Baby-Sitters Club<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343418/original/file-20200623-188900-1ted451.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3589%2C2392&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kailey Schwerman/Netflix</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://shop.scholastic.com.au/Product/8568346/The-Baby-Sitters-Club-Book-Collection">The Baby-Sitters Club</a>, the popular series by Ann M. Martin, defined my childhood. I collected the books until I was 11. I played it in the school yard (I was Dawn because I had long hair, not because I was at all “chill”). I watched the 1990 <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125602/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3">TV series</a> (terrible) and the 1995 <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112435/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">movie</a> (great). I own (present tense) the board game. </p>
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<p>I’m not alone. Kristy’s Great Idea was first published by Scholastic in 1986 and the series has since sold more than <a href="http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/babysittersclub">180 million books</a>. The winning formula was a 15-chapter novel written from the perspective of one of the four/five/six/seven/nine club members (there were a lot of changes in line-up over the 15-or-so years of production) with the occasional interjection from another club member in the form of a baby-sitting journal entry, complete with distinctive handwriting. </p>
<p>Each character is distinct, almost archetypal; they’re flawed yet loveable. And the target audience of seven year olds probably didn’t realise 13 is entirely too young to care for a family of children. </p>
<p>Like many book franchises of its era, Martin started the series, writing the first 35 novels, before it was <a href="http://airshipdaily.com/blog/peter-lerangis-on-ghostwriting-the-baby-sitters-club-and-the-future-of-ya">handed over</a> to ghostwriters – one of the BSC writers, Peter Lerangis, also wrote for Sweet Valley High. </p>
<p>The franchise has continued to expand since 1986, including the recent <a href="https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/books/the-baby-sitters-club-graphix-1-7-box-set-a-graphix-collection-9781338603637.html">graphic novel</a> versions of the first seven books, drawn by Raina Telgemeier and <a href="https://ew.com/books/2017/01/13/gale-galligan-baby-sitters-club-graphic-novel/">Gale Galligan</a>.</p>
<p>A new Netflix series brings the BSC into 2020 in a way that ensures these essentials are still part of the narrative. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343050/original/file-20200621-43196-a0dgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343050/original/file-20200621-43196-a0dgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343050/original/file-20200621-43196-a0dgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343050/original/file-20200621-43196-a0dgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343050/original/file-20200621-43196-a0dgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343050/original/file-20200621-43196-a0dgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343050/original/file-20200621-43196-a0dgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>The set-up is the same: Kristy (Sophie Grace) has a brilliant idea while her mum, Elizabeth (Alicia Silverstone – I laughed out loud when Kristy realises her mum isn’t “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS0KyTZ3Ie4">clueless</a>”), is scrambling to find a baby-sitter to look after her younger brother. Elizabeth is frustrated because no one answers their mobile phone, and she would have to pay $80 to join a website listing sitters. And as Kristy’s friend Claudia (Momona Tamada) observes, they “will then sell her personal information to, like, the Russians.” </p>
<p>In Kristy’s club, the sitters will be in the same place at the same time and reachable on one phone number. They can’t pass out their own mobile numbers because, you know, they’re kids, so they decide to use an “olden times phone”. Luckily, Claudia has a private landline that came with her family’s high-speed internet package. </p>
<p>Flyers are essential because Facebook targeted advertising is far too expensive. Kristy and her best friend Mary Anne (Malia Baker) still need to communicate by flashing torches into each other’s windows when Mary Anne’s dad blocks outgoing calls from her mobile phone. Each episode’s title is even written in the distinctive typeface associated with each character. </p>
<p>For the seasoned fan/nostalgic millennial, it ticks a lot of boxes.</p>
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<h2>Girls to the front</h2>
<p>Both the novels and the new series incorporate preoccupations stereotypically significant for pubescent girls: clothes and crushes and pizza, sure, but also interpersonal relationships, what it’s like to exist in the world in a female body, and balancing what others think of you with what you want to think of yourself. </p>
<p>What’s valuable about both series is these issues of girlhood aren’t relegated as insignificant but rather are validated by their inclusion. </p>
<p>The targeted marketing towards girls also brings up an important ambivalence in children’s literature, where books featuring boys are perceived as being for everyone but books featuring girls <a href="https://www.wheelercentre.com/notes/9bc2a67a2183">are for girls</a>. Books like The Baby-Sitters Club are more likely to be considered light and insubstantial and less likely to be explored for their valuable contributions than books featuring tween boys. </p>
<p>It is important series featuring girls offer readers opportunities to see themselves reflected beyond restrictive stereotypes of femininity. By reflecting a range of characterisations and scenarios, assumptions girlhood is any less dynamic or complex than boyhood are undermined, showing readers female protagonists can be just as powerful as the boys. (Harriet Potter could have been great, just saying.)</p>
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<span class="caption">The Baby-Sitters Club offers readers (and viewers) an expansive understanding of what it means to be a girl .</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kailey Schwerman/Netflix</span></span>
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<p>The Netflix series captures Martin’s characterisation while incorporating contemporary concerns. </p>
<p>Kristy knows how to lean in. She is full of brilliant ideas. The kid is smart and knows how to get what she wants. Her 1980s characterisation as a bossy, loudmouth tomboy is, however, a bit jarring in light of contemporary expectations of gender performance. “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/01/feisty-flounce-bossy-words-put-women-down">Bossy</a>” is a gendered pejorative thrown at assertive girls. Likewise, “tomboy” suggests a deviation from more stereotypical feminine traits – those associated with quiet and emotional Mary Anne, “boy crazy” Stacey, or fashionista Claudia. </p>
<p>Kristy likes sports and she wears a lot of turtlenecks (which faithfully appear in the Netflix series – “normcore”, as Mary Anne describes), but the characteristic that truly defines her is simply that she talks. She speaks up and she’s unwilling to accept the disempowerment that tends to come along with her youth and gender. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/normcore-when-being-ordinary-becomes-a-fashion-statement-31608">Normcore: when being ordinary becomes a fashion statement</a>
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<p>In the first episode, Kristy is assigned an essay on “decorum” for speaking up in class, saying Thomas Jefferson should have said all people were created equal (instead of “<a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/interactives/declaration-of-independence/equal/index.html">all men</a>”). She knows she’s expected to stay polite and quiet, but she’s unable to do so when she feels speaking out is necessary. Kristy’s agenda is explicitly feminist.</p>
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<p>Kristy is, of course, white and middle class: these factors of identity were a given in the novels but are more politicised in the new series. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-neoliberalism-colonised-feminism-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-94856">neoliberal feminism</a> here is pretty patent. The series’ feminist concerns are about creating a kind of “empowered” girl with the right to do whatever she chooses, with a focus on economic equity. Think breaking glass ceilings, rather than overthrowing the patriarchy.</p>
<p>Socioeconomic status is an interesting element in both the books and television show, simultaneously important and disregarded. One reason Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey join the club is to make money, but their need for money is relative. The club members are firmly positioned in a middle-class community. While there is the occasional mention of the Thomases finding things difficult because Elizabeth is a single mum with four kids, her marriage to the very wealthy Watson Brewer sorts things out. </p>
<p>The Netflix series does discuss the jarring nature of moving between tax brackets in such a sudden manoeuvre, but there’s little consequence – just the acknowledgement it will take some getting used to. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343407/original/file-20200623-188896-1su180w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343407/original/file-20200623-188896-1su180w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343407/original/file-20200623-188896-1su180w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343407/original/file-20200623-188896-1su180w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343407/original/file-20200623-188896-1su180w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343407/original/file-20200623-188896-1su180w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343407/original/file-20200623-188896-1su180w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343407/original/file-20200623-188896-1su180w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>In the books, Kristy doesn’t “change” despite moving to the wealthy side of town – but continuing to wear a baseball cap doesn’t exactly mean having a millionaire as a parent has no effect. In <a href="https://kids.scholastic.com/kids/book/kristy-and-the-snobs-by-ann-m-martin/">Kristy and the Snobs</a>, Kristy’s wealthy neighbours are initially portrayed as judgemental and nasty, suggesting whether or not you have money is linked to niceness, rather than privilege. </p>
<p>While Shannon ends up being a friend of Kristy (and a member of the BSC), her wealth is part of her characterisation – it contributes to how she sees the world. At first, she and her sisters suggest Kristy lives at “Mr Brewer’s house”, rather than acknowledging it is Kristy’s home. Shannon’s worst offence is being mean about Louie, Kristy’s elderly dog, because he looks a bit rough compared to her purebred Bernese mountain dog. </p>
<p>In the novels, when the characters who live in Kristy’s neighbourhood are described, their wealth is generally acknowledged, but some families are framed as “normal” and friendly (the Papadakises), while others are spoilt, rude and ostentatious (the Delaneys with their $400 cat and $2000 fountain in the front entrance). </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344440/original/file-20200629-155334-16v68k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344440/original/file-20200629-155334-16v68k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344440/original/file-20200629-155334-16v68k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344440/original/file-20200629-155334-16v68k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344440/original/file-20200629-155334-16v68k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344440/original/file-20200629-155334-16v68k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344440/original/file-20200629-155334-16v68k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kristy’s new step-dad might be a millionaire, but that doesn’t mean she will change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Liane Hentscher/Netflix</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those who draw attention to their own wealth rather than downplaying it are presented in a mocking fashion. Ignoring your wealth is the expectation. The fact Kristy doesn’t change in response to her circumstances suggests class is static, and shows a lack of awareness of the effects of <a href="https://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/CPI_October_2013.pdf">additional wealth</a> on children’s experiences. </p>
<p>While novels for children don’t need to be explicitly political, the depoliticisation of factors like wealth (and race, as we’ll discuss) contributes to a kind of naïve and idealistic apathy.</p>
<h2>We need diverse books</h2>
<p>As children’s literature expert Rudine Sims Bishop <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AAu58SNSyc">says</a>, representation of diverse characters in children’s literature is important to allow children to see themselves reflected in texts, as well as offer insights into points of similarity and difference between characters and themselves. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_AAu58SNSyc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The books incorporate race in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/bias-starts-early-most-books-in-childcare-centres-have-white-middle-class-heroes-130208">culturally generic</a> rather than specific way: characters aren’t necessarily white and different ethnicities are represented, but there’s no real consideration about what that might mean. Representation is superficial, or possibly tokenistic. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bias-starts-early-most-books-in-childcare-centres-have-white-middle-class-heroes-130208">Bias starts early – most books in childcare centres have white, middle-class heroes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the novels, Claudia is of Japanese descent and Jessi is Black, but their race is mostly a small detail of their characterisation, like how Dawn has two earrings in each ear or how Mallory hates boys (and gym). But as Jessi acknowledges in <a href="https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/bsc-16-jessi-rsquo-s-secret-language-by-ann-m-martin/">Jessi’s Secret Language</a>, after describing herself as Black to the reader: “If we were white, I wouldn’t have to, because you would probably assume we were white. But when you’re a minority, things are different.”</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343425/original/file-20200623-188921-psrens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343425/original/file-20200623-188921-psrens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343425/original/file-20200623-188921-psrens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343425/original/file-20200623-188921-psrens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343425/original/file-20200623-188921-psrens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343425/original/file-20200623-188921-psrens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343425/original/file-20200623-188921-psrens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343425/original/file-20200623-188921-psrens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>There is an occasional focus on racism (in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48915.Hello_Mallory">Hello, Mallory</a>, Jessi moves to Stoneybrook and encounters explicitly racist reactions and comments from schoolmates and neighbours; in <a href="https://kids.scholastic.com/kids/book/keep-out-claudia-by-ann-m-martin/">Keep Out, Claudia</a> a family specifically requests the blonde, blue-eyed baby-sitters to care for the children) and it is clearly denounced, so the ethical stance of the novels is unambiguous. But apart from a handful of the novels, there is little acknowledgement of the ways being a person of colour in a small town in the <a href="https://datausa.io/profile/geo/connecticut#:%7E:text=The%20ethnic%20composition%20of%20the,k%20Some%20Other%20Race%20Alone">pretty white</a> state of Connecticut might be difficult. </p>
<p>Acknowledgement of experiences outside the default position of middle-class whiteness is beyond the scope of the books. Margaret Mackey, an expert on young readers, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41961764?seq=1">has written</a> “shading, nuance, and ambiguity are not on the menu” in the series, and, despite ostensibly offering multiple narrative perspectives, each character’s voice is identical. </p>
<p>As such, while the inclusion of people of colour offers important representation, there’s a lack of discussion of the experience and complexities of being a person of colour. It’s the narrative equivalent of the comment “I don’t see race.” </p>
<h2>A new complexity</h2>
<p>Under showrunner Rachel Shukert (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5770786/">Glow</a>) and executive producer and director Lucia Aniello (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2578560/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Broad City</a>), the new TV series expands representation beyond the novels. Mary Anne <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/30/netflix-revived-babysitters-club-series-star-malia-baker-living-diversity-12475888/">is black</a> and Dawn (Xochitl Gomez) <a href="https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a28714415/netflix-the-baby-sitters-club-reboot-premiere-date-cast/">is Latina</a>. Dawn’s dad is gay. Mary Anne learns about gender identity and advocates for a young transgender girl she is baby-sitting.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344441/original/file-20200629-155345-z1oabx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344441/original/file-20200629-155345-z1oabx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344441/original/file-20200629-155345-z1oabx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344441/original/file-20200629-155345-z1oabx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344441/original/file-20200629-155345-z1oabx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344441/original/file-20200629-155345-z1oabx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344441/original/file-20200629-155345-z1oabx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 2020 characters show a new complexity their 1986 counterparts did not.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Liane Hentscher/Netflix</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination">Intersectionality</a> of girlhood and race is a more obvious concern of the new series, although only Claudia’s experience of her heritage is discussed in any detail in the first series. </p>
<p>Episode six, Claudia and Mean Janine, offers an exploration of her liminal experience of her Japanese-ness and American-ness, and her subsequent sense of belonging in both her family and culture. She learns of her grandmother Mimi being forced to live in an <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/injustice-japanese-americans-internment-camps-resonates-strongly-180961422/">internment camp</a> during the second world war, despite being an American citizen – a historical event Claudia was aware of, but not one she felt was related to her. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1265700066695630849"}"></div></p>
<p>The novel of the same title focuses more on Claudia’s feelings of insecurity, but the episode touches on the complex experiences of children who feel part of the dominant culture but whose family background carries the trauma of racism, marginalisation and injustice. </p>
<p>Watching now, as an adult and parent, I see how these intergenerational relationships show up in other ways. Mary Anne’s dad (Marc Evan Jackson) is overprotective and anxious, stemming from Mary Anne’s mother’s death – he wants to be the perfect parent and he’s also afraid of losing her. Mary Anne’s insecurity, sensitivity and shyness seem to mirror Richard; she tries to regulate her own behaviours so she doesn’t trigger his fear. </p>
<p>Stacey (Shay Rudolph) misleads her new friends because her mother (Shauna Johannesen) makes her feel she should be hiding her diabetes. Stacey feels her parents are ashamed of her, but her mother only wants to protect her. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"773696162209501184"}"></div></p>
<p>The series demonstrates well the way parents’ “good intentions” can be completely misunderstood by their kids, and clear communication is necessary for the results of the misunderstanding not to be damaging. </p>
<p>As Dawn says, “Parents are just older weirdos doing the best they can.”</p>
<p>Now, these girls show engagement with major political concerns in a way that reflects the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-15/students-walk-out-of-class-to-protest-climate-change/10901978">increasing politics</a> of young people today.</p>
<p>In the two-part finale, Dawn, an unabashed social justice warrior, seeks to change the mindsets of her fellow campers with her unique perspective during the morning announcements. </p>
<p>She encourages the campers to try out for the musical Paris Magic (about “a young woman time-travelling her way through the French Revolution” – the knowing cheesiness is charming) to “save the arts – and the world, which is due for a dose of radical empathy that only the arts can provide”. </p>
<p>She ultimately organises a protest to try to make things more financially equitable for all the campers (considered a mild inconvenience by her friends because of the scheduled performance of the aforementioned play). </p>
<p>And, look, she’s also a hippie and her mum has witch friends and they participate in women’s circles and there’s a lot of finger-snapping as kudos, so there’s a kind of ironic stereotype happening here. But Dawn’s social awareness and empathy offer a contrast to some of the more individualistic storylines. With her focus on the relationship between her external and internal world, her character is the most happy in who she is.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-art-and-literature-cultivate-empathy-68478">Do art and literature cultivate empathy?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A story for the ages</h2>
<p>The Baby-Sitters Club books are simultaneously wonderful and problematic. It was a group of girls helping women look after children. It shows girls they can <a href="https://www.business.gov.au/Planning/New-businesses/Start-a-business-as-a-young-person">run a successful business</a>. The baby-sitters know they can charge less than their adult competitors – in a female-dominated and thus <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/04/female-childcare-workers-paid-32-less-than-male-workers-new-data-shows">significantly underpaid industry</a> – so why not undercut the competition and secure the market?! </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344442/original/file-20200629-155322-5g4azd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344442/original/file-20200629-155322-5g4azd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344442/original/file-20200629-155322-5g4azd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344442/original/file-20200629-155322-5g4azd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344442/original/file-20200629-155322-5g4azd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344442/original/file-20200629-155322-5g4azd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344442/original/file-20200629-155322-5g4azd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maybe 13-year-olds shouldn’t run a business – but that doesn’t mean they can’t dream.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kailey Schwerman/Netflix</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“You wouldn’t believe what some of these adult sitters charge. We could ask for half, and we’d be rich,” says Kristy. Let a 13-year-old girl look after your three children, go on! What could go wrong? They’ll all be just fine!</p>
<p>And they were fine. They always worked it out. They were creative and industrious and great sitters. These books, while encompassing a particular flawed brand of white feminism, offer significant representations of strong girls both speaking up and achieving.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"690527959497711616"}"></div></p>
<p>So maybe my condescending tone here stems from the continuing dominant position girls are lacking and inferior, and I should stay focused on those reasons I loved the BSC so much as a kid. </p>
<p>These characters made it seem like you could be shy as hell or really bad at spelling or as whingey as Mallory (sorry, Mallory) and still be completely fine. And, when you’re in primary school, the idea that when you’re 13 you’ll not only have some agency but also be respected and trusted by adults is pretty compelling.</p>
<p>So maybe I’m just resentful because as an adult I have enough trouble looking after my own baby. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m just tired. </p>
<p>Maybe I should call the Baby-Sitters Club.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosslyn Almond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>First published in 1986, and selling 180 million books, how does The Baby-Sitters Club look for a new generation?Rosslyn Almond, Literature Lecturer, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1408492020-07-01T04:29:06Z2020-07-01T04:29:06ZThe kids are alright: young adult post-disaster novels can teach us about trauma and survival<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344941/original/file-20200701-54166-1su54rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C1482%2C985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010). </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos-cdn.aap.com.au/Image/20100809000249805957?path=/aap_dev6/device/imagearc/2010/08-09/df/df/b1/aapimage-5vo5xqcwi3km2m054ph_layout.jpg">AAP/Paramount Pictures</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 is changing the way we live. Panic buying, goods shortages, lockdown – these are new experiences for most of us. But it’s standard fare for the protagonists of young adult (YA) post-disaster novels. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344721/original/file-20200630-103668-zjthvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344721/original/file-20200630-103668-zjthvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344721/original/file-20200630-103668-zjthvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344721/original/file-20200630-103668-zjthvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344721/original/file-20200630-103668-zjthvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344721/original/file-20200630-103668-zjthvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344721/original/file-20200630-103668-zjthvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344721/original/file-20200630-103668-zjthvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/the-end-of-the-world-is-bigger-than-love">Text Publishing</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Davina Bell’s latest book, <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/the-end-of-the-world-is-bigger-than-love">The End of the World Is Bigger than Love</a> (2020), a global pandemic, cyberterrorism and climate change are interrelated disasters that have destroyed the world as we know it. </p>
<p>Like most <a href="https://www.primalsurvivor.net/best-post-apocalyptic-books/">post-disaster novels</a>, the book is more concerned with how we survive rather than understanding the causes of disaster. As such, we can read it to explore our fears, human responses to disaster and our capacity to adapt. </p>
<h2>The day after</h2>
<p>Kelly Devos’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41884983-day-zero">Day Zero</a> (2019), and the soon to be released <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39727067-day-one">Day One</a> (2020), use cyberterrorism as the disaster. Like Bell’s novel, Day Zero focuses more on how the protagonist, Jinx, maintains her humanity when she must harm or kill others in order to keep herself and her siblings alive.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344947/original/file-20200701-54146-12pgs50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344947/original/file-20200701-54146-12pgs50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344947/original/file-20200701-54146-12pgs50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344947/original/file-20200701-54146-12pgs50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344947/original/file-20200701-54146-12pgs50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344947/original/file-20200701-54146-12pgs50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344947/original/file-20200701-54146-12pgs50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344947/original/file-20200701-54146-12pgs50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cause of catastrophe is sometimes obscured in YA post-disaster fiction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/gF8aHM445P4">Natalya Letunova/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A form of <a href="https://bookriot.com/what-is-speculative-fiction/">speculative fiction</a>, YA post-disaster writing imaginatively explores causes and responses to apocalyptic disasters. (Some readers categorise YA juggernaut The Hunger Games – and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/19/books/review/hunger-games-prequel-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes.html">recently released prequel</a> – as dystopian rather than post-disaster – others think it’s both.)</p>
<p>Many YA novels in this genre explore issues of survival and humanity following a catastrophe. In YA post-disaster novels, teenage protagonists must learn to exist in a fractured world with little support from elders. </p>
<p>When they are explained, the fictional causes of catastrophe can illustrate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/07/29/will-fiction-influence-how-we-react-to-climate-change/science-fiction-reflects-our-anxieties">social concerns of times they were written in</a>. Because of this, YA post-disaster books allow us to reflect on our current beliefs, attitudes and fears.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344944/original/file-20200701-54135-1yriyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344944/original/file-20200701-54135-1yriyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344944/original/file-20200701-54135-1yriyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344944/original/file-20200701-54135-1yriyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344944/original/file-20200701-54135-1yriyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344944/original/file-20200701-54135-1yriyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344944/original/file-20200701-54135-1yriyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344944/original/file-20200701-54135-1yriyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41884983-day-zero">Goodreads</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Davos’s Day Zero can be read as commenting on contemporary concerns about cyberterrorism and political corruption. Bell’s The End of the World Is Bigger than Love expresses similar anxieties, but is also prescient given the current pandemic. </p>
<p>War is the cause of disaster in Glenda Millard’s <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/childrens-fiction/A-Small-Free-Kiss-in-the-Dark-Glenda-Millard-9781741756586">A Small Free Kiss in the Dark</a> (2009) and John Marsden’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/40990-tomorrow">Tomorrow</a> series. While Millard’s novel raises questions about homelessness, Marsden’s series expresses an anxiety about <a href="https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/australian-invasion-anxiety-in-adolescent-fantasy">invasion from Asia</a>. The author has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/21/qa-john-marsden-says-he-wouldnt-write-tomorrow-series-now">expressed regret</a> about this aspect of the books since their publication. </p>
<p>A latent xenophobia is also present in Claire Zorn’s, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18169279-the-sky-so-heavy">The Sky So Heavy</a> (2013), in part because the nuclear disasters are attributed to “regions in the north of Asia”. Passive ideologies of racism that pervade some YA post-disaster novels <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/35348">are problematic</a>, as are other underlying ideals that promote any form of discrimination.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-adult-fictions-dark-themes-give-the-hope-to-cope-27335">Young adult fiction's dark themes give the hope to cope</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Us against the world</h2>
<p>Literary texts that reinforce fear about Asia, particularly China, are especially problematic in the context of coronavirus, which <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-05/coronavirus-racist-attacks-asian-australians-missing-data/12211630?nw=0">reportedly saw an increase</a> in racist attacks. </p>
<p>Panic buying and the stockpiling of goods during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak established an “us against them” dichotomy in our “struggle to survive”, reminiscent of YA post-disaster fiction.</p>
<p>Not everyone hoarded food and items for themselves though. Others <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/28/buy-a-nurse-a-coffee-ways-australians-can-help-others-during-the-coronavirus-crisis">showed compassion</a>, donating toilet paper and food to those in need. Because of this, we were confronted with questions about how we want to survive.</p>
<p>YA post-disaster novels allow us to explore similar questions of humanity. In these fictional worlds, teenage characters are faced with <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=lGAxBwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA22&dq=morality%20in%20young%20adult%20disaster%20fiction%20moral&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q=morality%20in%20young%20adult%20disaster%20fiction%20moral&f=false">moral dilemmas</a> about who to help and who to harm. How does someone look out for themselves while still expressing empathy and consideration for others? How can characters maintain their humanity if their survival means another’s suffering or death?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344949/original/file-20200701-54152-ry87he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344949/original/file-20200701-54152-ry87he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344949/original/file-20200701-54152-ry87he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344949/original/file-20200701-54152-ry87he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344949/original/file-20200701-54152-ry87he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344949/original/file-20200701-54152-ry87he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344949/original/file-20200701-54152-ry87he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344949/original/file-20200701-54152-ry87he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Speculative fiction can help us think about our responses to disaster. Will it bring out our best – or our worst?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/4dGRiOoqudg">Andrew Amistad/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who to save</h2>
<p>Tied up with the question about how we survive, then, is who survives. The protagonist, Jinx, in Day Zero is continually faced with this dilemma. As she flees the corrupt government, Jinx must decide who to help, and how. </p>
<p>While Jinx readily uses violence to overcome her aggressors, she eventually must shoot to kill to save her stepsister. Doing so, Jinx loses a part of herself and becomes “something else”; she must now reconcile her actions with her sense of self. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-ya-gothic-fiction-is-booming-and-girl-monsters-are-on-the-rise-95921">Friday essay: why YA gothic fiction is booming - and girl monsters are on the rise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s not so far from the choices medical professionals in Italy, the United States and elsewhere have had to make <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-italy-doctors-tough-calls-survival/">about who to treat</a> due to limited ventilators and a rapid influx of patients. </p>
<p>No matter the cause of catastrophe, the literary exploration of questions of survival provides opportunities for teenagers, parents and teachers to discuss a range of contemporary issues, including humane responses to disaster. </p>
<p>Given the current crisis we are in, perhaps it is time to critically read more YA post-disaster novels. If they hold up a mirror to our current attitudes and behaviours, they can help us reflect on our humanity, and on what and who we think matters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Troy Potter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young adult post-disaster fiction is more concerned with how we survive than understanding the causes of disaster. We can read it to explore our fears, responses and our capacity to adapt.Troy Potter, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1373342020-05-01T15:33:32Z2020-05-01T15:33:32ZFive coming-of-age novels where class and love collide<p>Young Adult Fiction (YA) picks apart first experiences, good and bad. They are often stories about the psychological and moral growth of a protagonist, which balance romance with social issues such as gender, race and class. Although marketed to an older audience, Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel Normal People shares many of the tropes of great YA fiction. A coming-of-age story, its lead characters, Marianne and Connell, navigate love and class while developing a better understanding of who they are and want to be.</p>
<p>The fact that such a popular book targeted at an adult audience shares many similarities with YA is not surprising. For over a decade now, YA fiction has enjoyed a growing readership. Although it is aimed at teens, the books have proven popular with adults too. According to a survey by <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/53937-new-study-55-of-ya-books-bought-by-adults.html">Bowker Market Research</a> in 2012, 55% of YA book purchases were made by adults, and 78% of those adults said the books were for themselves.</p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p089g8rs">Normal People</a> having just been adapted for television, people have once again been won over by Rooney’s quiet but powerful story of love and pain. Search for the book and you are sure to be presented with the question “What should I read after Normal People?”. So for those lusting for more, here are five YA books to fill the hole left by Connell and Marianne. </p>
<h2>The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas</h2>
<p>One of the most famous books on this list, The Hate U Give was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/08/the-hate-u-give-angie-thomas-review-alex-wheatle">lauded</a> for its no-holds-barred approach to some of America’s most contentious issues, including the weaponising of racial stereotypes and the killing of unarmed Black people by police. The book’s protagonist Starr is from the poor black neighbourhood of Garden Heights. She’s forced to witness the police shooting of her childhood friend, Khalil. While demanding justice, Starr attends a mainly white private school where to fit in and avoid stereotypes, she changes almost everything about herself – her style of clothing, her language, and her connection to Khalil. She also dates a white boy who doesn’t understand why Starr feels alienated at the school. Thomas explores their relationship with an expert touch, examining the nature of poverty and class privilege that is often intertwined with race.</p>
<h2>American Royals by Katharine McGee</h2>
<p>A funny “what if” novel where George Washington became the first King of America after the Revolution. It follows three royal children: Bea, Jefferson, and Samantha, as they navigate romance in the public eye and their feelings for partners who are considered unworthy because of their working-class backgrounds. <a href="https://royalcentral.co.uk/features/an-interview-with-american-royals-author-katharine-mcgee-139448/">McGee states</a> that her fiction is heavily inspired by British royalty. The book does an excellent job of analysing the pressures of fame and the responsibility of monarchy through the lenses of class and gender. American Royals examines the detrimental effect of social scrutiny of the rich and famous and in many ways echoes the <a href="https://time.com/4914324/princess-diana-anniversary-paparazzi-tabloid-media/">criticism levelled at the British paparazzi</a> in the wake of Princess Diana’s death.</p>
<h2>Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen</h2>
<p>It may seem odd to refer to Pride and Prejudice as YA but, like Normal People, it does share many of the same tropes of the coming-of-age story. It is about a young woman navigating the path between girlhood in the family home to adulthood through marriage. </p>
<p>Austen’s prose is witty and tongue in cheek, offering glimpses into the aristocratic society of Regency England. A book ahead of its time, Pride and Prejudice is outrageously funny in its critique of gender and class. Elizabeth breaks the mould of feminine conformity as an intelligent woman who is unafraid to speak her mind. Austen is careful and meticulous in her attempts to distinguish the term “gentleman” from the term “aristocrat”. In doing so she reveals that the two are not indistinguishable – the men in her fiction are often aristocratic, but their class status does not excuse their problematic actions.</p>
<h2>The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera</h2>
<p>Like The Hate U Give, Rivera’s coming-of-age novel puts the relationship between race and class under a microscope. Margot struggles with reconciling her conservative Puerto Rican upbringing with the lives of excess and indulgence of her friends from her mostly white prep school. After she’s caught stealing her father’s credit card to impress her friends, Margot is forced to serve time in the family’s grocery store in the Bronx. There, she meets Moises, an ex-drug dealer fighting against gentrification and the eviction of local Latinx citizens to make way for luxury apartment blocks. It’s an engaging story that does not hold back on its criticisms of stereotypes and depictions of poverty caused by societal racism.</p>
<h2>The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater</h2>
<p>For something different but in the same spirit, this is a fantasy tale of unlikely lovers – sensible Blue who comes from relative poverty and Gansey, the king of the local elite boy’s school, Aglionby Academy. While Blue holds down an after-school job and makes her own clothes, Gansey is rich and well connected. </p>
<p>Gansey blunders his way through talks about money and privilege, and regularly upsets his friends with his ignorance and his belief he can buy his way through life. He throws money at situations and people expecting it to solve problems, including bribing the school to not expel a troubled friend. Through Blue and Gansey, Stiefvater utilises the popular <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/shelfinvolved/e/60114369?autoplay=true">YA trope of star-crossed love</a>. A trope that is based on class divides and magic that can be traced back to canonical texts such as Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Beestone receives funding from The University of Nottingham CLAS school. </span></em></p>Books where loving someone from the other side of the tracks is about better understanding ourselves and the world we live in.Kelly Beestone, Assistant Researcher, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1269282020-01-01T21:02:56Z2020-01-01T21:02:56ZLove, laughter, adventure and fantasy: a reading list for teens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306539/original/file-20191212-85404-1xcruv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Summer is a great time to catch up on some reading.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>An Australian summer can be a holiday by the beach, recovering from exams, or anticipating the next stage of schooling. The summer break can also offer a wonderful opportunity to catch up on some reading.</p>
<p>Award-winning author and illustrator Shaun Tan <a href="http://www.shauntan.net/essay1.html">wrote</a> the </p>
<blockquote>
<p>lessons we learn from […] stories are best applied to a similar study of life in general […] At its most successful, fiction offers us devices for interpreting reality.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(If you aren’t familiar with Tan’s work, look out for The Arrival, Cicada and Tales from the Inner City, among others). </p>
<p>Research from New Zealand suggests <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/strategies-to-engage-students-as-readers/engaging-teens-with-reading">young adults like</a> to read books which make them laugh, “let them use their imagination, have a mystery or problem to solve, have characters they wish they could be like”.</p>
<p>Based on this, here are some recommendations your teen could read this summer. </p>
<h2>For teens in years 10-12</h2>
<p><strong>Living on Hope Street (2017)</strong></p>
<p>Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/71989528/into-the-river-eleanor-catton-john-boyne-john-marsden-and-more-speak-out">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I was a young adult I cherished those books that took me seriously, that acknowledged the world was a complicated and often troubled place.</p>
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306532/original/file-20191212-85422-1lle8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306532/original/file-20191212-85422-1lle8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306532/original/file-20191212-85422-1lle8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306532/original/file-20191212-85422-1lle8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306532/original/file-20191212-85422-1lle8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306532/original/file-20191212-85422-1lle8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306532/original/file-20191212-85422-1lle8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306532/original/file-20191212-85422-1lle8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/young-adult-fiction/Living-on-Hope-Street-Demet-Divaroren-9781760292096">Allen & Unwin</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Living on Hope Street by Demet Divaroren does just that. Hope Street is a fictional Australian street with a diverse population. </p>
<p>This diversity is replicated in the book’s multiple-voice narrative structure. </p>
<p>The voices are initially separate but come together in a way that reflects the development of the community. </p>
<p>The characters range in age from school children to a Vietnam war veteran and include a refugee family. Hope Street has messages of tolerance, love, courage, friendship and the importance of family.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-i-always-get-children-picture-books-for-christmas-127801">5 reasons I always get children picture books for Christmas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>The Things That Will Not Stand (2018)</strong></p>
<p>Novels <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271625478_Ethics_literature_and_education">invite the reader</a> to imagine themselves as the characters and understand other people’s situations.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306535/original/file-20191212-85376-1xso7g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306535/original/file-20191212-85376-1xso7g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306535/original/file-20191212-85376-1xso7g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306535/original/file-20191212-85376-1xso7g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306535/original/file-20191212-85376-1xso7g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306535/original/file-20191212-85376-1xso7g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306535/original/file-20191212-85376-1xso7g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306535/original/file-20191212-85376-1xso7g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.readings.com.au/products/25778485/the-things-that-will-not-stand">Readings</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In The Things That Will Not Stand, by Michael Gerard Bauer, two teenagers, Sebastian and Tolly, attend a university open day together. </p>
<p>They meet a girl who is not quite what she seems but who so intrigues Sebastian, he stays on long after Tolly has gone home and the open day activities have finished, just so he can see her again.</p>
<p>There are some very funny scenes throughout the book, usually involving Tolly. </p>
<p>The action takes place on just one day, a day which both boys will remember for ever. </p>
<p>This book will particularly appeal to readers at the upper levels of secondary school, inviting them to imagine themselves in the place of the characters.</p>
<p><strong>All the Crooked Saints (2017)</strong></p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306536/original/file-20191212-85371-1h1kz0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306536/original/file-20191212-85371-1h1kz0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306536/original/file-20191212-85371-1h1kz0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306536/original/file-20191212-85371-1h1kz0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306536/original/file-20191212-85371-1h1kz0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306536/original/file-20191212-85371-1h1kz0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306536/original/file-20191212-85371-1h1kz0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306536/original/file-20191212-85371-1h1kz0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://kids.scholastic.com/kids/book/all-the-crooked-saints-by-maggie-stiefvater/">Scholastic</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Maggie Stiefvater sets this book in a remote Colorado town, Bicho Raro, where a most unusual family lives – a family that appears to perform miracles. Into this tiny town comes Pete, whose application to join the army has been rejected and he is seeking to come to terms with that disappointment by hitchhiking. </p>
<p>He has been picked up by Tony, a DJ trying to escape fame and heading to Bicho Raro because he has heard about the family that can perform miracles. </p>
<p>Their visit changes both of them for the better. There is a lot here for older teenage readers as the book involves romance and humour, and has touches of magic and fantasy. </p>
<p>Stiefvaster also explores concepts of good and bad and the importance of knowing ourselves.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-adult-fictions-dark-themes-give-the-hope-to-cope-27335">Young adult fiction's dark themes give the hope to cope</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307312/original/file-20191217-124041-rk4a9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307312/original/file-20191217-124041-rk4a9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307312/original/file-20191217-124041-rk4a9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307312/original/file-20191217-124041-rk4a9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307312/original/file-20191217-124041-rk4a9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307312/original/file-20191217-124041-rk4a9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307312/original/file-20191217-124041-rk4a9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307312/original/file-20191217-124041-rk4a9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781742612386/">Pan Macmillan</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Words in Deep Blue (2016)</strong></p>
<p>This novel by Cath Crowley is largely set in the delightfully-named secondhand bookshop, Howling Books.</p>
<p>It is a paean of praise to books, the important part they can play in our lives and helping us come to terms with grief. </p>
<p>This is also a celebration of words and friendship, with characters older readers will relate to. </p>
<hr>
<h2>For teens in years 7-9</h2>
<p><strong>Dragonfly Song (2016)</strong></p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307315/original/file-20191217-124041-d0egzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307315/original/file-20191217-124041-d0egzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307315/original/file-20191217-124041-d0egzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307315/original/file-20191217-124041-d0egzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307315/original/file-20191217-124041-d0egzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307315/original/file-20191217-124041-d0egzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307315/original/file-20191217-124041-d0egzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307315/original/file-20191217-124041-d0egzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/childrens-fiction/Dragonfly-Song-Wendy-Orr-9781760290023">Allen & Unwin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ancient Crete is the setting for Wendy Orr’s Dragonfly Song. The book tells of those chosen to be the tribute to the Bull King (he chooses a tribute every year). </p>
<p>The outcast girl, called No-Name by everyone, seizes the opportunity to become one of the tributes, a task she knows to be demanding and often dangerous. She will have to brave the bloody bull dances in his royal court.</p>
<p>Will she actually survive the test? </p>
<p>The book is inspired by the legend of the Minotaur. It is thoroughly researched, lyrically written and invites readers to imagine themselves in No-name’s place.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307316/original/file-20191217-124031-1947vd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307316/original/file-20191217-124031-1947vd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307316/original/file-20191217-124031-1947vd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307316/original/file-20191217-124031-1947vd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307316/original/file-20191217-124031-1947vd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307316/original/file-20191217-124031-1947vd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307316/original/file-20191217-124031-1947vd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307316/original/file-20191217-124031-1947vd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460756188/his-name-was-walter/">Harper Collins</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>His Name was Walter (2018)</strong></p>
<p>A group of students and their teacher, separated from the others on a school excursion, find an odd-looking book in a deserted house. Emily Rodda beautifully uses the device of a story within a story in His Name Was Walter.</p>
<p>What happens next is mysterious and intriguing as past and present combine. The ending is both poignant and satisfying.</p>
<p><strong>Hatchet (1986)</strong></p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306730/original/file-20191212-85367-s4tum1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306730/original/file-20191212-85367-s4tum1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306730/original/file-20191212-85367-s4tum1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306730/original/file-20191212-85367-s4tum1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306730/original/file-20191212-85367-s4tum1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306730/original/file-20191212-85367-s4tum1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1123&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306730/original/file-20191212-85367-s4tum1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1123&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306730/original/file-20191212-85367-s4tum1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1123&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/hatchet-by-gary-paulsen/">Scholastic</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Imagine finding yourself stranded in an unknown wilderness without a mobile phone. This is exactly what happens to Brian in Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet. </p>
<p>It’s a kind of modern Robinson Crusoe story, first published in 1986 before the proliferation of mobile phones. </p>
<p>In this adventure, Brian has to be inventive and resilient to survive. The book is the first in a series of five. One <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/hatche">review suggested</a>, for many readers, Hatchet was “the first school-assigned book they fell in love with”. </p>
<p><strong>How to Bee (2017)</strong> </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307317/original/file-20191217-124009-xu8jvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307317/original/file-20191217-124009-xu8jvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307317/original/file-20191217-124009-xu8jvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307317/original/file-20191217-124009-xu8jvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307317/original/file-20191217-124009-xu8jvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307317/original/file-20191217-124009-xu8jvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307317/original/file-20191217-124009-xu8jvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307317/original/file-20191217-124009-xu8jvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/childrens-fiction/How-to-Bee-Bren-MacDibble-9781760294335">Allen & Unwin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How would life be without bees? How would the pollination of plants, so essential to life on earth, happen? </p>
<p>This intriguing story, by Bren MacDibble, explores that idea and sets up a scenario where children do the pollinating – but only the bravest and quickest. </p>
<p>Penny longs to be one of these, but can she, especially when it looks as though she might be taken away from the life she has known?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/honest-and-subtle-writing-about-sex-in-young-adult-literature-48002">Honest and subtle: writing about sex in young adult literature</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margot Hillel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A children’s literature professor recommends some of her favourite books for high school kids.Margot Hillel, Professor, Children's Literature, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1089332018-12-21T11:00:50Z2018-12-21T11:00:50ZTen novels to help young people understand the world and its complexities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251007/original/file-20181217-185237-jfzyov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nataliia Budianska via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In this confusing and often conflicted world, children’s author Gillian Cross has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/sep/08/fiction-refugee-crisis-gillian-cross">summed up</a> what it is about reading fiction that is so important: “Good stories help us make sense of the world. They invite us to discover what it’s like being someone completely different.”</p>
<p>As the author of a children’s novel myself, I’m going to double down on this and say that if this is important for adults, it’s 100 times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1354716276-vBCJNxgtIuIFGnU+PmkBpA&_r=0">more important for children</a>.</p>
<p>Children passionately want to understand what’s going on – and fiction is a potent way for them to do this. A study by education professor <a href="http://www.academia.edu/4402324/_Did_you_feel_as_if_you_hated_people_Emotional_literacy_through_fiction">Maria Nikolajeva</a> found that “reading fiction provides an excellent training for young people in developing and practising empathy and theory of mind, that is, understanding of how other people feel and think”. </p>
<p>In the wealth of recent fiction for children and young adults, here are ten powerful stories for young people, addressing some of the most important, and troubling, questions we face today.</p>
<p><strong>1. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/a-lone-voice-of-hope-in-the-horror-of-a-refugee-camp-a7160261.html">The Bone Sparrow</a> by Zana Fraillon (Orion)</strong></p>
<p>Imagine being imprisoned for your whole life. Imagine growing up like Subhi.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250942/original/file-20181217-185258-4bxgry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250942/original/file-20181217-185258-4bxgry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250942/original/file-20181217-185258-4bxgry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250942/original/file-20181217-185258-4bxgry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250942/original/file-20181217-185258-4bxgry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250942/original/file-20181217-185258-4bxgry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250942/original/file-20181217-185258-4bxgry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Life in a refugee camp. Source=Orion.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The nine-year-old’s world ends at the diamond-shaped fence – the outer edge of the detention centre he is detained in with his Rohingya family in Australia. </p>
<p>Fraillon draws a vivid picture of life inside the fence – vulnerable people fleeing persecution, only to find – instead of the peace and sanctuary they so desperately need – indifference and hostility. </p>
<p>But Subhi finds hope in his friendship with an Australian girl from outside the fence. (Age: 11+)</p>
<p><strong>2. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/feb/03/the-big-lie-julie-mayhew-review">The Big Lie</a> by Julie Mayhew (Red Ink)</strong></p>
<p>What if Germany had won World War II and the UK was now part of a Third German Reich? This is a coming-of-age story with a difference – 16-year-old Jessika is a talented ice-skater in a high-ranking <strong>REICH?</strong>family. </p>
<p>But her friendship with subversive, courageous and desirable Clem threatens everything: her family, her future, and her very life. This is a story that paints the dangers of totalitarianism in vivid language. (Age: 12+)</p>
<p><strong>3. <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/childrens-book-of-the-week-boy-87-by-ele-fountain-hxrwjqp9v">Boy 87 by Ele Fountain</a> (Pushkin Press)</strong></p>
<p>Fourteen-year-old Shif lives in a country that conscripts its children into the army. The country isn’t named, but may be in Africa. He wants to play chess with his best friend Bini and race him home from school. But the army comes calling and the two must flee. </p>
<p>Shif experiences at first hand the brutality of a totalitarian government, then the trauma of migration and trafficking. Despite this, the story manages to be hopeful. (Age: 12 +)</p>
<p><strong>4. <a href="https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/pooja-puri-the-jungle/">The Jungle</a> by Pooja Puri (Ink Road)</strong></p>
<p>Sixteen-year-old Mico is surviving his life in the Jungle refugee camp in Calais. Without anyone to look out for him, he must look out for himself, living on his wits and his luck. Using careful research, Puri shows us what life is like as a refugee, owning nothing, not even the clothes on your back or the blanket you sleep beneath. </p>
<p>She shows us the desperation and terrible lengths refugees will go to, to try to find a home. But when Mico meets Leila, we see, too, the hope – and the risk – that friendship brings. (Age: 12+)</p>
<p><strong>5. <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/will-hill/after-the-fire-hill/">After the Fire</a> by Will Hill (Usborne)</strong> </p>
<p>Moonbeam has lost her mother and she only knows life inside The Fence – it’s a life controlled by cult leader Father John. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250934/original/file-20181217-185268-1f1wm1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250934/original/file-20181217-185268-1f1wm1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250934/original/file-20181217-185268-1f1wm1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250934/original/file-20181217-185268-1f1wm1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250934/original/file-20181217-185268-1f1wm1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250934/original/file-20181217-185268-1f1wm1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250934/original/file-20181217-185268-1f1wm1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250934/original/file-20181217-185268-1f1wm1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Life in a cult.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Usborne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But one night a devastating fire burns that life to the ground – the buildings, the people, the leader are all gone and only Moonbeam and a handful of children survive. Moonbeam and the others must now discover the world beyond the fence.</p>
<p>Can she do this when Father John has told her to trust no one outside? Using the WACO siege as his source material, Hill explores the power of brainwashing and cult identity. </p>
<p>Moonbeam’s search is for a truth she can stand by now, and for the mother she thinks must be dead. (Age: 12+)</p>
<p><strong>6. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/01/i-am-thunder-muhammad-khan-childrens-book-of-the-week-review">I Am Thunder</a> by Muhammad Khan (Macmillan)</strong></p>
<p>Written in the voice of its smart and self-deprecating heroine, British Muslim Pakistani teenager Muzna, this is both a coming-of-age novel and a thriller. Muzna navigates her life at home and at school, working out how to have her own identity and her own ambitions, not those imposed by her parents, religion, school or friends. </p>
<p>And, as her relationship with Arif develops, the story becomes a thriller, and the stakes become very high. (Age: 13+)</p>
<p><strong>7. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/jul/04/the-territory-sarah-govett-review">The Territory trilogy</a> by Sarah Govett (Firefly Press)</strong> </p>
<p>What happens when the sea levels rise? Govett imagines a flooded world with dwindling resources and not enough dry land for everyone. Choices have to be made, about who stays on the dry territory, and who is banished beyond the fence, to the dreaded Wetlands. But when 15-year-old Noa finds herself beyond the fence, she discovers that not everything the adults have been telling her is true. (Age: 13+)</p>
<p><strong>8. <a href="https://www.rte.ie/culture/books/2018/0528/966556-reviewed-the-night-of-the-party-by-rachael-english/">Night of the Party</a> by Tracey Mathias (Scholastic)</strong> </p>
<p>Following Britain’s withdrawal from Europe, a far-right Nationalist party has come to power. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250936/original/file-20181217-185240-114xzfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250936/original/file-20181217-185240-114xzfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250936/original/file-20181217-185240-114xzfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250936/original/file-20181217-185240-114xzfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250936/original/file-20181217-185240-114xzfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250936/original/file-20181217-185240-114xzfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250936/original/file-20181217-185240-114xzfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250936/original/file-20181217-185240-114xzfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Living in a far-right Britain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scholastic</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Only those born in Britain (or BB as they are known) are allowed to live legally – everyone born outside the country is subject to immediate arrest and deportation and failing to report illegals is a crime. </p>
<p>Mathias has set her thriller in a British dystopia that is more scarily plausible than ever. </p>
<p>The young protagonist Zara is an illegal living in this scary new Britain – and falling in love with Ash might be the most dangerous thing she could do. (Age: 13+)</p>
<p><strong>9. <a href="http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Moonrise_by_Sarah_Crossan">Moonrise</a> by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)</strong> </p>
<p>It’s ten years since Joe saw his brother Ed – and now Ed is on death row, facing execution for the murder of a police officer. What do they know of each other now? Ed says he’s innocent of the murder, but everyone else believes he’s guilty. </p>
<p>Crossan’s verse novel explores a single summer, perhaps Ed’s last, as 17-year-old Joe struggles to understand what has been done to his brother – and to himself. (Age: 13+)</p>
<p><strong>10. <a href="https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/15172/The-New-Neighbours-by-Sarah-McIntyre.html">The New Neighbours</a> by Sarah McIntyre (David Fickling Books)</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250940/original/file-20181217-185234-ips923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250940/original/file-20181217-185234-ips923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250940/original/file-20181217-185234-ips923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250940/original/file-20181217-185234-ips923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250940/original/file-20181217-185234-ips923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250940/original/file-20181217-185234-ips923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250940/original/file-20181217-185234-ips923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What will the neighbours think?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fickling Books</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The only picture book in the list, McIntyre’s delightfully illustrated story explores how intolerance and scaremongering can run like a mad fever through a community. When new neighbours move in to the tower block, hysteria builds quickly, until finally the other animals discover the truth about their newest neighbours. (Age: 2+)</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Shaw is the author of dystopic children's / YA novel, Outwalkers (David Fickling Books, 2018). The novel is set in a future England, with borders closed, a Wall with Scotland and more surveillance. How will Jake, his dog Jet, and the gang of fugitive kids escape to Scotland?</span></em></p>Here’s a bumper crop of thought-provoking and engaging novels for enquiring minds.Fiona Shaw, Senior Lecturer, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1041982018-10-04T10:30:20Z2018-10-04T10:30:20ZControversial young adult novel offers insight into Kavanaugh hearings, sexual assault<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239240/original/file-20181003-52663-1ff6q2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young adult fiction books on display at an independent bookstore.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/exeter-nhusa-march-23-2018-young-1053755426?src=QiiOLYg1dCiAjnNrkZGEng-1-6">Andrew Cline/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh should remind educators of the vital need to talk to young people about sexual assault, consent, underage drinking – and how the choices they make as teenagers can affect the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>One of the best ways to do that is through literature. One novel emerges as particularly adept in this regard.</p>
<p>The novel is “Speak.” Listed as one of the top <a href="http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009">banned or challenged</a> texts, “Speak” centers around a 15-year-old high school freshman named Melinda who becomes withdrawn after being sexually assaulted at a summer party.</p>
<p>When “Speak” appeared in 1999, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312674397">critics praised</a> author Laurie Halse Anderson for her ability to produce a powerful book that could help young people grapple with tough subject matter, including sexual assault.</p>
<p>Anderson got a different reaction from many young men who read the novel.</p>
<p>“These are guys who liked the book, but they are honestly confused,” <a href="http://bucultureshock.com/speak-sexual-assault/">Anderson recounted</a>. “They ask me why Melinda was so upset about being raped.</p>
<p>"The first dozen times I heard this, I was horrified. But I heard it over and over again,” Anderson continued. “I realized that many young men are not being taught the impact that sexual assault has on a woman.”</p>
<p>Nearly two decades after “Speak” first appeared, there are still some who harbor a dismissive attitude toward accusers and sexual assault. For instance, in an interview about the Kavanaugh hearings, one woman asked <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/09/21/gop-women-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-florida-kaye-pkg-ac-vpx.cnn">“What boy hasn’t?”</a> when it comes to sexual assault.</p>
<p>Such attitudes show why it pays to revisit Anderson’s cautionary tale, one that fosters discussion both hard and completely necessary for 21st-century teens.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239224/original/file-20181003-52684-lbkiwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239224/original/file-20181003-52684-lbkiwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239224/original/file-20181003-52684-lbkiwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239224/original/file-20181003-52684-lbkiwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239224/original/file-20181003-52684-lbkiwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239224/original/file-20181003-52684-lbkiwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239224/original/file-20181003-52684-lbkiwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ford testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Supreme-Court-Kavanaugh/3d2533f84a6d4a3f824c2d39b746c032/15/0">Saul Loeb/AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fading and foggy memories of friends</h2>
<p>A first unmistakable parallel between Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony and the novel is the all-important idea of corroboration – something that is often absent in cases that involve rape and sexual assault at parties.</p>
<p>Leyland Keyser, Ford’s lifelong friend, was reported by Ford to be at the party in Maryland. But Keyser wrote that she <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christine-blasey-ford-friend-leland-keyser-clarifies-statement-about-alleged-assault-by-brett-kavanaugh/">doesn’t remember the party</a>, any assault or even Kavanaugh. Ford has a simple explanation: Nothing happened to Leyland, and she was downstairs when the assault took place. </p>
<p>The same lack of awareness proves true in “Speak,” where the main character, Melinda, is lured away from a summer party and assaulted in a field.</p>
<p>Just as Ford describes in her testimony, Melinda’s friends have no idea that Melinda has been assaulted. And just like Ford describes, the fog surrounding it all leaves the main character of the novel alone, struggling in school, and never revealing her trauma until much later.</p>
<p>Freshman year starts for Anderson’s characters, life goes on with the rapist in their midst, and Melinda is left unable to speak.</p>
<p>Her friends don’t know, her parents don’t know, and the fog grows thicker. “Why don’t you just tell someone?” is the logical but hopelessly impossible question here, one that plays out precisely the same way both in the book and in Ford’s testimony.</p>
<h2>Caring and clueless parents</h2>
<p>A second parallel is the disbelief, for some, that this type of assault could happen to a nice girl with nice parents who would simply know their daughter, know about the tragedy and get help.</p>
<p>President Trump said as much in a Sept. 21 tweet: Loving parents don’t let their daughters get hurt. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1043126336473055235"}"></div></p>
<p>Except Ford’s parents did nothing because they <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/california-professor-writer-of-confidential-brett-kavanaugh-letter-speaks-out-about-her-allegation-of-sexual-assault/2018/09/16/46982194-b846-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html?utm_term=.e7738d9b280a">knew nothing</a>. As she tells it, Ford decided at 15 that it was bad for a 15-year-old to be at a party with underage drinking. This kind of thinking is portrayed in “Speak”: Melinda tells her parents that she is staying over with a friend. Knowing she doesn’t have permission to be around boys or booze, Melinda sneaks back home after the assault and loses her will to speak – about anything.</p>
<p>Melinda’s parents see her failing grades and her sullenness as the onset of adolescence. Simply put, Melinda doesn’t tell them differently, and her parents do not know about the rape. As thousands of survivors have attested in the #WhyIDidntReport hashtag that followed Trump’s tweet, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/dear-dads-your-daughters-told-me-about-their-assaults-this-is-why-they-never-told-you/2018/10/01/0f69be46-c587-11e8-b2b5-79270f9cce17_story.html?/">many caring adults don’t either</a>. </p>
<p>Embedded in the parallel is the reality that, to a developing young adult, confessing about your underage drinking is somehow harder than living with a sexual assault. The trauma goes deep, and educators should use this opportunity to talk to teens about how vital open communication on extremely common teenage problems can be. </p>
<h2>The coincidence of doors</h2>
<p>Finally, one of the most interesting parallels between Ford’s testimony and “Speak” is the role of doors.</p>
<p>Ford recounts first opening up to her husband about the details of her assault when the couple renovated their home and she insisted on two front doors – an odd request that speaks to her alleged trauma. “Speak” also hinges on a door, a bathroom stall where Melinda finally gets the courage to scrawl a warning with her accuser’s name. In one of the most powerful scenes of the book, Melinda returns to the stall to discover more scrawlings: “Different pens, different handwriting, conversations between some writers. … It’s better than taking out a billboard. I feel like I can fly.”</p>
<p>That powerful scene is a beautiful metaphor for the #MeToo movement that would come decades after “Speak” was published.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Roberts works for Meredith College in Raleigh Durham, NC</span></em></p>An English professor says educators should use “Speak” – an often banned novel about sexual assault – to engage young people about the topic.Kelly Roberts, Associate Professor of English; Program Coordinator, 6-9 and 9-12 licensure programs in English, Meredith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.