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| Editors: | |
| James Blasingame | James.Blasingame@asu.edu |
| Lori A. Goodson | lagoodson@cox.net |
For years, young adult literature existed as a bodyof books. Today, however, it can be considered a discipline, a subjectwith criticism, history, and substance. Nowhere is this status more pronouncedthan in the current crop of professional readings that examines the roots ofyoung adult literature as a discipline. These roots lead back to such leadersin the field as G. Robert Carlsen and Margaret Edwards, and go back to suchgenre studies as Michael Cart's discourse on humor and David Hartwell's andKathryn Cramer's examination of hard science fiction. The blend of historicalattitudes and present issues covered in Sam Sebesta's and Ken Donelson'sInspiring Literacy, the state of writing and adolescent concerns addressedby Richard Peck, and the responsibility of literacy education presented byDaniel Pennac further define this discipline as one deserving criticaldiscussion. Yet, current titles must not be ignored, as Sally Estes and PamSpencer remind us with two powerful reading aids. Take time to examine thefollowing professional readings and enjoy the rebirth that fine authors providethose of us working in the field. The Library Connection
Betty Carter, Editor
Texas Woman's University, Denton, Texas
-- BC* Cart, Michael. What's So Funny? Wit and Humor in AmericanChildren's Literature. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. ISBN:0-06-024453-4. $25.00.
Cart confines his examination of wit and humor to American children'sliterature since world War I -- American because humor doesn't travel well, andsince World War I because Cart views the 1920s as the dawn of children'sliterature in America. In his insightful opening chapters, which arepleasantly informal and chatty, he defines humor semantically, physiologically,and intellectually, and discusses the theories behind it: (1) superiority anddegradation, (2) incongruity, and (3) release of tension.
Dividing humor into three basic types, Cart begins with talking-animal humor inLofting's Dr. Dolittle books and the Freddy the Pig stories of Walter Brooks towhose memory the book is dedicated. Cart traces the evolution of the secondtype, exaggerated tall tales, the "rockbed of American humor," from earlyfolklore based on real and fictional larger-than-life characters to EstherShephard's Paul Bunyan, Glen Rounds' Old Paul, Robert McCloskey'sLentil and Homer Price, and Sid Fleischman's witty fiction.Domestic and family comedy include discussions of Estes' Moffats, Cleary'sHenry Huggins, and Lois Lowery's Anastasia, as well as the debt these writersowe to the authors of Tom Sawyer, Little Women, and The FiveLittle Peppers.
Cart quotes extensively from critiques of humor and humorous writing, showingvarious kinds of humor, ranging from bathroom humor (He quotes Byars as sayingthat to a second grader, "underwear" is the funniest word in the Englishlanguage) to word play to satire and irony. He also cites works by otherauthors to illustrate his points.
In the foreword Cart tells us that this study is not a definitive one and thatthe selections are personal. He admits he has left out the favorites of manyof his friends, and readers are sure to feel he has omitted some they wish hehad included. The book, however, is as he claims, very much a celebration ofthe humor in American children's literature, one that should inspire readers toread or reread some of his choices and some of their own.
In his final "confabulation," Cart reminds us life is not easy for kids,laughter is a "powerful agent for redemption," and that, therefore, humorshould be taken seriously. He has done so, and for that, we are indebted tohim. And if indeed, a good laugh-out-loud is good for the body and the soul,readers of What's so Funny? should find themselves healthier andhappier.
-- Reviewed by Lee Kobayashi,
University of Houston.* Edwards, Margaret A. The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts: TheLibrary and the Young Adult. Chicago: American Library Association, 1994.Reprint edition. ISBN: 08389-0635-4. $20.00.
Simply speaking the name Margaret Edwards can cause librarians who work withyoung adults to grab a book and begin reading or to have an overwhelming desireto recommend a book to a teenager. Growing up in West Texas and latersearching for a job during the 1930s, Edwards became a champion of young adultswhen there were few advocates for them. In The Fair Garden and the Swarm ofBeasts, readers learn who Margaret Edwards was, why she chose librarianshipas a career, why she worked with young adults, and how she viewed young adultliterature.
This 1994 reprint edition includes a foreword by Patty Campbell, who providesreaders with a brief biography of Edwards and background for the chapters tofollow. These consist of essays written by Edwards and published primarily inlibrary literature from 1944 to 1971, including two new chapters added to the1974 edition. The title of the work comes from The Old Librarian'sAlmanac, published in 1773, in which Jared Bean advises fellow librariansthat the library "is no more to be thrown open to the ravages of theunreasoning Mob [the general public, especially young people], than is a FairGarden to be laid unprotected at the Mercy of a Swarm of Beasts." For thirtyyears as a librarian at Enoch Pratt in Baltimore, Edwards threw open her gardento the beasts.
Considered a library maverick, Edwards developed a clear vision of libraryservice to young adults. When training librarians to work with young adults,the librarians "usually agreed that our ultimate objective was to interest ourreaders in books that would help them become citizens of the world." Herphilosophy is an inspiration to teachers and librarians who value teenagers andthe literature they enjoy reading. Through Edwards' writing, educators learnmethods for helping to develop readers and why developing literacy is vital toteenagers' growth and to that of a nation.
In addition to being inspirational reading, The Fair Garden and the Swarm ofBeasts includes black-and-white photos, detailed notes and references, anindex, and appendices to help with booktalking, book discussions, displays,book lists, and a myriad of other library services. Everything in Edwards'garden invited young adults to choose from the delicacies growing there, and inthis book she shows teachers and librarians how to be effective gardeners intheir own backyards.
-- Reviewed by Rosemary Chance,
Sam Houston State University.* Estes, Sally, editor. Growing Up Is Hard To Do: A Collection ofBooklist Columns. Chicago: Booklist Publications/American LibraryAssociation, 1994. ISBN: 0-8389-7726-X. $7.95.
The growth process necessarily involves establishing a balance between conflictand compromise, coping and confusion. As illustrated by the selections inGrowing Up Is Hard To Do, young people today must negotiate anincreasingly rocky path to maturity. Editor Sally Estes has compiled twelveretrospective, annotated bibliographies that provide the reader with thespectrum of topical issues and traditional concerns of growing up.
Intended for readers from preadolescence through high school, the lists ofbooks explore universal themes: questions of emerging sexual identity andawareness, issues involving diverse religious and moral dilemmas, andexpectations inherent to complex parental and peer relationships. Historicaland geographical selections add a unique perspective adaptable to content-areareading activities. The inclusion of a column featuring audiobooks provides avaluable resource in targeting the needs of the reluctant reader.
Author and title indexes are included along with information about distributorsof audio material. This guide complements the ethnic perspectives in Rochman'sAgainst Borders: Promoting Books for a Multicultural World (reviewed inthe Winter 1994 issue of The ALAN Review). Both publications portraythe contemporary and classic concerns of youth striving for identity,independence, and involvement in an increasingly complex and diverseenvironment.
-- Reviewed by Mary Snyder,
Texas Woman's University.* Hartwell, David, and Kathryn Cramer, editors. The Ascent ofWonder: The Evolution of Hard SF. New York: TOR Books, 1994. ISBN:0-312-85062-X. $35.00.
Whether action is set in the future ("The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov), inthe past ("Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne), in imaginary worlds("Wern Search" by Anne McCaffrey), or at the local library ("Mammy MorganPlayed the Organ; Her Daddy Beat the Drum" by Michael Flynn), The Ascent ofWonder shows how much diversity exists for fans of science fiction.This impressive book, weighing over three pounds and running approximately 1000pages can be used for browsing or reference.
Browsing exposes readers of all ages to the depth and breadth of hard sciencefiction. Browsers can choose what they want to read from among almost seventystories by over fifty authors. If adult as well as young adult readers useThe Ascent of Wonder as a reference, there is much to learn in theintroductory essays by Gregory Benford, David Hartwell, and Kathryn Cramer:they define the genre, trace its historical development, and discuss majorwriters and their works. Science fiction aficionados will appreciate theamount of information included in the separate introductions to each selectionand referrals to other full length works. Connections made between importantauthors and titles give readers what feels like an "insider" view of the field.
For teens who believe science fiction begins with Star Trek and endswith the popular works of Orson Scott Card, The Ascent ofWonder may contribute to their gaining perspective, and, perhaps, willlead to a desire to immerse themselves in reading the stories selected for thisanthology. Adults who want an historical overview to one of the most populargenres in young adult literature will appreciate the scholarly background andexhaustive research.
-- Reviewed by Karen Morgan,
Texas Woman's University.* Peck, Richard. Love and Death at the Mall: Teaching and Writingfor the Literate Young. New York: Delacorte, 1994. ISBN: 0-385-31173-7.$16.95.
Richard Peck is widely appreciated for his outstanding contributions to thefield of young adult literature. His latest work, aimed at adults, is, in hiswords, "about reading and writing and young people, and about writing for youngpeople who read." As both an experienced teacher and a writer, Peck'sperspective on the topics he has chosen is broad, incisive, and experiential.Writing in a witty, self-effacing style, Peck organizes his thoughts around twocentral themes: why he decided to write for young adults, and how he developsideas for his fiction.
Peck explains that he changed careers in the late 1960s, after a decade ofteaching adolescents in both suburban and urban settings, because he foundhimself searching for literature that his students deemed relevant to theirlives. Young adult literature was in its infancy, and Peck became part of itsearliest history and purpose, which evolved in part from dramatic changes andissues arising in the 60s. Writing about the changes, Peck observes that the"whole process of growing up, going to school, coming of age had changed beyondall recognition." The changes Peck writes about, societal in scope andinfluence, include the role of school, the divorce rate, and diminished adultauthority. He addresses issues such as the effects of television on thinkingand the unrealistic expectations for suburban life. Adults dealing with youngadults in the 1990s will benefit from an understanding of how these issues andchanges have prompted a new reality for adolescence.
Here the reader has the opportunity to share Peck's perspective and purpose,examining both his works and those of many other young adult authors.Together, we view the role of the protagonist, learn what readers look for infiction, see how readers (mis)interpret writing, and connect to the underlyingtheme in all Peck's novels. Thanks to Love and Death at the Mall, wehave a clear understanding of the history, purpose, method, and audience forthe young adult novel, with the added bonus of a personal visit with RichardPeck.
-- Reviewed by Sally Regenbogen,
St. Mark's School of Texas.* Pennac, Daniel. Better Than Life. Toronto: Coach HousePress, 1994. ISBN: 0-88910-484-0. $16.95.
In Better Than Life, French schoolteacher and author Daniel Pennacexplores the issues that inhibit and encourage adolescents to read. Literaturecan be magical, but, as teachers and parents, we often turn a pleasurableexperience into drudgery. We adamantly insist that young people read, butfrequently our most visible concern appears to be the mastery of reading skillsand the correct interpretation of literary works. All too often, adultsdiscourage spontaneous reading for pleasure.
Stylistically, this extended essay resembles the popular books of RobertFulghum, but don't be fooled by appearances. Pennac's loose story line is bestcomprehended by reading the chapters in consecutive order. While he focuses onthe adolescent reader, Pennac uses flashbacks to illuminate childhood readingexperiences. His imagery is vivid. A thick, dense book becomes a "bluntinstrument." Adults "hammer away" at students to read. Pennac even mentionsthe "smeary film" that appears between the reader's eyes and the page whenconfronted with tedious material. Pennac's love of literature and respect forthe adolescent reader pervade the text.
Pennac transports the mature, adult reader back to the time of assigned textsand book reports. He elicits the same sinking sense of desperation that isfelt by a student who has read only 48 pages of a 450-page book with a reportdue tomorrow. Pennac also conveys the wonder of a child who suddenly connectsthe written, oral, and mental images of "Mom-my," that click of comprehensionthat turns arbitrary letters into a living breathing person. As Pennac notes,this child has turned "lead into gold." With a few deft strokes, Pennaccreates a portrait of a reading-improvement class filled with reluctant and/orhostile teenage readers who are benumbed by the twin fears of not comprehendingand text length.
In the final section of this provocative essay, Pennac creates a Reader's Billof Rights. He summons teachers and parents to examine the rights that adultreaders grant easily to themselves but deny to adolescents. The first of theserights is the "right to not read." For reading to qualify as a right, we mustalso provide the option to not exercise what is being offered. Pennac arguesthat the duty of education is to teach children to read, to introduce them toliterature, and to equip them with the ability to judge for themselves whetheror not to be readers. Readers may argue with Pennac's conclusions or fault hisreasoning, but he conveys clearly that angst of the adolescent reader andfervently urges teachers and parents to scrutinize the messages they send aboutreading.
-- Reviewed by Ann Bullion-Mears,
Texas Woman's University.* Sebesta, Sam, and Ken Donelson, editors. Inspiring Literacy:Literature for Children and Young Adults. New Brunswick, New Jersey:Transaction Publishers, 1994. ISBN: 1-56000-688-4. $19.95.
Sebesta and Donelson have assembled an excellent array of articles concerningliteracy as well as children's and young adults' reading preferences and theresearch that has been conducted to address these issues. These essays arewritten by a broad range of authorities in children's and young adultliterature, ranging from Bernice E. Cullinan, professor of early childhood andelementary education and author of Literature and Children, to Robert E.Probst, author of Response and Analysis: Teaching Literature in Junior andSenior High School. This well-rounded compilation will be of interest toprofessionals working with young adults, as well as to teachers of children'sand young adult literature who may choose to use it as a text for theircourses.
The first section, "Children's Books: The State of the Art," includes tenarticles on subjects such as children's book publishing, multiethnicliterature, the use of trade books in the social studies curriculum, and thepotential of picture books.
The second section, "Young Adult Literature," reads like a litany ofauthorities in the field, starting with Ken Donelson and his article oncriticism and the role young adult literature plays in the classroom. Hereminds the reader that "when students read adolescent books, they are theexperts, and they may need to translate to the teachers."
Ted Hipple, executive secretary of ALAN, redefines "generation" in relation toyoung adult novels. The age range for adolescence encompasses approximatelyfive years; therefore, this time span should also be considered a generationwhen determining if a YA novel deserves to be called a classic.
Dorothy M. Broderick, editor of Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA), speaksout on the joys and frustrations of working with over two hundred reviewers.She strongly asserts that the reviewer should not use phrases to discouragesubscribers from purchasing a book because of potential controversy. Shesuccinctly describes her view of the role of a reviewer for VOYA: "Thereviewer's job is to adequately describe the content of the book in such detailas necessary for a reader of the review to be able to make a decision as towhether the book will fit into the collection that reader is building."
Abrahamson and Carter, professors of children's and young adult literature,describe nonfiction for children and young adults in the 1990s as an elegantswan in the "once exclusive flock of stories, poems, and plays" and highlightthe importance of nonfiction in readers' lives.
Also included in the young adult literature section are articles by Tuccillo,head of the Young Adult Services Department of the Mesa, Arizona PublicLibrary, on the librarian's role in assisting young adults in their quest tobecome life-long readers; award-winning poet Janeczko sharing his encounterswith young adults and poetry and his process of searching for poems to includein his anthologies; and Probst discussing reader response theory.
Sebesta, in the first essay in this volume, discusses Rosenblat's responsetheory. He reminds us that "reading literature is a `performing art,' notnecessarily in the sense of the oral interpretation or staged drama but in thesense that readers of any age must bring it to life." The contributors to thisoutstanding collection of essays on literacy and reading have broughtliterature for children and young adults to life through their exuberance,expertise, and caring, for both young people and their literature. Thestrength of Inspiring Literacy lies in its broad range of authoritativevoices from the fields of reading and children's and young adult literature.
-- Reviewed by Ruth Dishnow,
Texas Woman's University.* Sherrill, Anne, and Terry C. Ley, editors. Literature Is...Collected Essays by G. Robert Carlsen, 1994. Copies from Terry C. Ley,Department of Curriculum and Teaching, 5040 Haley Center, Auburn University, AL36849-5212. Make $10.00 check payable to Auburn University.
"For everything there is a season, surely, there is a season, and a time foreverything under heaven," concludes Bob Carlsen in his classic articlecomparing young adult reading with the stages of his own adolescent daughter'slife. The time has, indeed, come to celebrate his legacy -- fifty years ofscholarly contributions in the fields of English education and adolescentliterature. Carlsen's legacy includes his influence on a generation ofteachers through his benchmark work, Books and the Teenage Reader; hisinsight into the development of readers from his collaboration with Sherrill inVoices of Readers; over seventy scholarly articles and essays; hismentorship of numerous distinguished teachers and scholars at the University ofColorado, the University of Texas, and the University of Iowa; his manycontributions to NCTE, including the presidency; but, most important, hisuntimely wisdom on topics that seem as current today as they did when he firstaddressed them.
Editors Sherrill and Ley, former graduate students of Carlsen, provide readersopportunities to celebrate through this collection of Carlsen's best articlesand essays. After selecting and dividing thirty-four articles into threetopics, Sherrill and Ley sent them to three of Carlsen's former students andasked each to author an original essay to introduce one of the sections. Inaddition, they asked Carlsen to write the previously unpublished essay thatappears at the end of this collection.
In his essay entitled "Carlsen Is... and Reading Is...," Ken Donelson aptlyintroduces the first section, "Patterns of Reading and Interests Among TeenageReaders," by reflecting on his notes from Carlsen's adolescent literatureclass. While Donelson effectively summarizes the ideas he thinks Carlsen hopedhis students would share or consider, a telling indication of Carlsen'sinfluence is that Donelson still treasures his class notes some thirty yearslater.
Richard Abrahamson invites readers to explore the section entitled "LiteraturePrograms for Teenage Readers." Responding to Thomas Locker's Where theRiver Begins, Abrahamson acknowledges Carlsen's thoughts on literature andteaching as the source of his river. The strength of Abrahamson's essay liesin his selection of Carlsen's comments on topics such as multiculturalism,integrated curriculum, thematic units, teaching grammar/mechanics as the needarises, and the list goes on -- all topics and information that defy theircopyright dates and attest to Carlsen's vision.
Ben Nelms calls on Hurston's Mayor Joe from Their Eyes Were Watching Godto prepare readers for the section entitled the "English Language ArtsCurriculum." Nelms cautions that Mayor Joe's comment, "They's just some punnyhumans playin' round de foes uh Time" isn't too unlike comments made aboutchildren and classroom discourse today. Nelms reminisces that it was concernfor both these children and what the English curriculum offered them that luredhim to Iowa to study English education. Some thirty years later, Nelms capturesand relates the spirit of Bob Carlsen in a way that is best described byCarlsen himself, as the "deep down beneath where I live" in his classic essayso named.
The final chapter, "Conclusions from Fifty Years of Teaching English," provesto be surprising. Carlsen employs only four pages to summarize his career, anda good portion of these are devoted not to himself, but to his mentor, Dr. DoraV. Smith, or, as Carlsen would have it: that remarkable woman, Dora V! Carlsenthen pleasantly leaves his audience with the sense of humor that sustained himthrough those fifty years of trying to get English teachers to change.
Literature Is... is more than just a book of essays, important thoughthey are. It is a book of how one man's thoughts have influenced all of usewho love both books and teenage readers. It is a book of lineage, ofpedagogical roots for many readers of The ALAN Review. It's about therest of the book, Where the River Begins: "But their grandfather pausedfor a moment and in the fading light he watched the river, which continued onas it always had, flowing gently into the sea."
-- Reviewed by Be Be Hood,
University of Houston.* Spencer, Pam. What Do Young Adults Read Next? A Reader's Guideto Fiction for Young Adults. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Inc., 1994.ISBN: 0-810-38887-1. $39.95.
Pam Spencer's What Do Young Adults Read Next? is a reference guide forlibrarians, teachers, and students. It seeks to answer questions such as,"I've read all of Christopher Pike's books, now what do I read?" or "Do youknow any books set in the Middle Ages?" The introduction includes a literarysummary of each year from 1988 to 1992, while the core of the book containsentries for approximately 1500 books published during that period and aimed atyoung adult readers.
The scope of each entry is comprehensive, giving author, title, publication,age range, subject, up to three themes covered in the story, major character,time period, location, plot summary, review information, other works by theauthor, and brief descriptions of other works on similar themes. The majorentries cover only books published from 1988 to 1992, but the further readingsuggestions cover older works.
In any book of this scope the coverage cannot be exhaustive. The selection ofwhat is included must omit some things, and it is easy to say, "Why didn't sheincluded this book?" but the choices included are solid.
The real strengths of the book are the indexes. There are ten, easy-to-useindexes, covering author, title, major awards, time period, geographic area,subject, character name, character description, and age range. Each indexincludes primary entries and further reading selections; so it is possible toidentify and cross reference a book in a variety of ways. This book is avaluable, worthwhile addition to any young adult library or classroom. It isuseful for recommending works to read, themes for classes, or just plain fun tobrowse through, and librarians should encourage both teachers and students touse this book and others like it.
-- Reviewed by JaNae Mundy,
Texas Woman's University.
