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Books for Adolescents
Reflecting aspects of our everyday lives, books mirror the personal experiences, ideologies, and moral standards of people residing within a particular culture, time period, and social environment. Books written specifically for adolescents afford them an understanding of their changing bodies and social environments and provide characters whose lives parallel their own. Commonly, books for adolescents are referred to as young adult (YA) literature, adolescent literature, or teen literature. This body of literature, generally written for readers between the ages of 12 and 18, has evolved from a smattering of prudent, low-quality, formulaic books to an extensive collection of radical, high-quality, original novels written by established authors from various cultural and generational backgrounds. In addition, YA literature represents an array of genres that changes with respect to the new trends in American publishing and book merchandising. Specialized awards recognizing literary merit and adolescent appeal have been created for YA literature by educational organizations such as the American Library Association and the International Reading Association.
Characteristics of YA Literature
YA books guide adolescents through the process of learning the proper social codes necessary to function within a particular culture. Through the use of adolescent characters, YA books present familiar situations encountered by adolescents in their daily lives while also providing problem-solving strategies that help adolescents deal with their personal difficulties. Likewise, the various genres of YA books assist adolescents in their social and moral development. These genres include nonfiction as well as the following fiction categories: realistic, romance, adventure and survival, mystery and supernatural, historical, fantasy and science fiction, and sports.
High-quality YA literature that successfully attends to the angst experienced by adolescents has several recognizable characteristics. First, authors of YA literature must write from an adolescent viewpoint to ensure that readers will identify with the characters. Second, adolescent characters should be free from parental restrictions, allowing them to take credit for their accomplishments. YA books should also be written about a variety of subjects and have fast-paced narratives that complement adolescents' multimedia and multitask lives. Likewise, YA books need to include stories about characters from diverse ethnic and cultural groups, including characters of varied socioeconomic status, race, ability, gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation. Moreover, books for adolescents must be generally optimistic, with adolescent characters making worthy and believable accomplishments that the readers will respect. Finally, YA books should deal with emotions that are important to adolescents—achieving emotional independence from parents, preparing for sex, accepting physical changes in one's body, and developing personal morals and ideology.
Brief History of YA Literature
Prior to the 1950s, YA literature was characterized by gender-specific series; adventure and Western books were published for adolescent boys, and books with virtuous female characters were created for adolescent girls. From the 1950s to the mid-1960s, series books were replaced by sanitized, formulaic books about teen romance and school life. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, YA literature experienced a radical transformation with the publication of S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders (1967), Paul Zindel's The Pigman (1968), Judy Blume's Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret (1970) and Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War (1974). While describing in detail the emotions and angst of their characters, all four of these ground-breaking novels related the real problems and experiences that adolescents face daily. As a result, subsequent realistic YA novels were published, leading to the era of the problem novel from the 1970s to the early 1990s. The prominent theme of these novels centered on the coming-of-age experience of the adolescent characters, a process that requires characters to accept or reject the responsibilities and social codes necessary for functioning within a society. Coming-of-age experiences include such issues as depression, eating disorders, pregnancy, puberty, sexuality, peer pressure, school problems, family relations, drug and alcohol abuse, religion, and ethnic pride. Often, problem novels written between the 1970s and early 1990s addressed a social issue but failed to provide a positive outcome.
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- Email Pen Pals
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- Instant Messaging
- Internet Bulletin Boards
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- Internet Use, Gambling in
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- Ethnicity, Race, and Media
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- Europe, Media Use in
- European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
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- Globalization, Media and
- Immigrants, Media Use by
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- Japan, Media in
- Latin America, Media Use in
- Latina/os, Media Effects on
- Latina/os, Media Images of
- Latina/os, Media Use by
- Manga (Japanese Comic Books)
- Native Americans, Media Use by
- Obscenity
- Television, International Viewing Patterns and
- Tobacco Advertising, International
- UNESCO Violence Study
- Youth Culture
- Developmental Stages
- Adolescents, Developmental Needs of, and Media
- Adolescents, Media Portrayals of
- Adolescents, Movie Portrayals of
- Childhood, Media Portrayals of
- Cognitive Development, Media and
- Developmental Differences, Media and
- Family Communication Patterns Model
- Heroes, Identity, and Parasocial Interaction
- Infants and Toddlers, Developmental Needs of
- Infants and Toddlers, Media Exposure of
- Information Processing, Developmental Differences and
- Parenting Styles
- Preschoolers, Media Impact on Developmental Needs of
- School-Age Children, Impact of the Media on
- Teenager, History of
- Tweens, Media Preferences of
- Gender and Sexuality
- Advertising in Girls' Magazines
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- Body Image in Boys and Young Men
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- Computer Use, Gender and
- Contraceptive Advertising
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- Electronic Games, Gender and
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- Food Advertising, Gender, Ethnicity, and Age
- Gender Identity Development
- Gender Roles in Magazines
- Gender Roles in Music
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- Gender, Media Use and
- Hip Hop, Female Performers of
- Hip Hop, Masculinity in
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- HIV/AIDS, Media Prevention Programs and
- Internet Use, Gender and
- Magazines, Adolescent Boys'
- Magazines, Adolescent Girls'
- Mothers, Media Portrayals of
- Music Listening, Gender Effects on
- Natural Experiments, Impact on Gender Roles
- Schemas/Scripts, Gender
- Schemas/Scripts, Sexual
- Sex in Television, Content Analysis of
- Sex in Television, Incidence and Themes
- Sex in Television, Perceived Realism of
- Sex, Internet Solicitation of
- Sex, Media Impact on
- Sexual Content, Age and Comprehension of
- Sexual Information, Internet and
- Sexual Information, Teen Magazines and
- Sexual Minorities, Portrayals of
- Sexual Risk and Responsibility, Portrayals of
- Sexualization of Children
- Sexualized Violence
- Soap Operas, Sexuality in
- Media Education
- Adult Mediation Strategies
- Cartoons, Educational
- Commercial Television and Radio in Schools
- Digital Literacy
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- Educational Television, History of
- Educational Television, Programming in
- Electronic Games, Positive Uses of
- Entertainment-Education in the United States
- Entertainment-Education, International
- Language Learning, Television and
- Media Education Foundation
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- Media Education, Political Socialization and
- Media Education, Schools and
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- Television, Moral Messages on
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- Media Effects
- Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Body Image in Boys and Young Men
- Body Image in Children
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- Body Image, Ethnicity/Race and
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- Childhood, Media Portrayals of
- Cognitive Development, Media and
- Developmental Differences, Media and
- Divided Attention, Parallel Processing and
- Drug Use, Depictions of
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- Eating Disorders
- Eating Habits, Media Influence on
- Family Environment, Media Effects on
- Fantasy, Media Effects on
- Fear Reactions
- Globalization, Media and
- Imagination, Effects of Television on
- Interactive Media
- Loneliness
- Mean World Syndrome
- Media Celebrities
- Media Education, Political Socialization and
- Media Effects
- Media Effects, Family Interactions and
- Media Effects, History of Research on
- Media Effects, Maltreated Children and
- Media Effects, Models of
- Media, Meanings of
- Natural Experiments, Impact on Community Activities
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- Obesity
- Obscenity
- Parasocial Interaction
- Peer Groups, Impact of Media on
- Physiological Arousal
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- Media Use
- African Americans, Media Use by
- Asia, Media Use in
- Bedrooms, Media Use in
- Child-Centered vs. Media-Centered Perspectives
- China, Media Use in
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- Depression, Media Use and
- Developmental Differences, Media and
- Divided Attention, Parallel Processing and
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- Gender, Media Use and
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- Mood Management Theory
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- Native Americans, Media Use by
- Parasocial Interaction
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- Physiological Arousal
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- Aggression, Movies and
- Cigarette Use in Television and Movies
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- Sports Television
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- Television, Prosocial Content and
- Television, Viewer Age and
- TV-Turnoff Week
- V-Chip (Violence Chip)
- World Summits on Children and Television
- Theories
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- Agenda Setting
- Appreciation Index
- Arousal Theories
- Catharsis Theory
- Child-Centered vs. Media-Centered Perspectives
- Cognitive Script Theory
- Cuing and Priming
- Cultivation Theory
- Desensitization Effects
- Displacement Effect
- Excitation-Transfer Theory
- Externalizing Behavior
- Forbidden Fruit Hypothesis
- Formal Features
- General Aggression Model (GAM)
- Information Processing, Active vs. Passive Models of
- Interactivity
- Intertextuality
- Mean World Syndrome
- Media Practice Model
- Message Interpretation Process Model
- Physiological Arousal
- Priming Theory
- Schema Theory
- Schemas/Scripts, Aggressive
- Schemas/Scripts, Gender
- Schemas/Scripts, Sexual
- Selective Exposure
- Selectivity
- Social Class
- Social Learning Theory/Social Cognitive Theory
- Socialization and Media
- Super-Peer Theory
- Third-Person Effect
- Uses and Gratifications Theory
- Violence and Aggression
- Adult Mediation of Violence Effects
- Aggression, Advertising and
- Aggression, Electronic Games and
- Aggression, Movies and
- Aggression, Music and
- Aggression, Music Videos and
- Aggression, Television and
- Cartoons, Violence in
- Desensitization Effects
- Electronic Games, Violence in
- Fear Reactions
- General Aggression Model (GAM)
- Hip Hop, Violence in
- Movies, Violence in
- Music, Impact of Violence in
- Schemas/Scripts, Aggressive
- Sexualized Violence
- Television Violence
- Television Violence, Susceptibility to
- UNESCO Violence Study
- V-Chip (Violence Chip)
- Violence, Desensitization Toward
- Violence, Effects of
- Violence, Experimental Studies of
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- Violence, Industry Stance on
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- Violence, Meta-Analyses of
- Violence, Natural Experiments and
- World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
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