Teen Fiction

Hello.

As you can see, it has been a long time since my last post...significantly longer than I had intended.  School, especially during finals, has a way of sucking all the time out of everything.  I haven't made much of a dent in Les Miserables, but I'm here today to talk about something that I was not anticipating to be addressing so soon:  "Teen Fiction".  Very specifically, whether or not it deserves any attention from self-respecting readers of any age.

The short answer:  Yes.

And here's why:

It is important to acknowledge, first and foremost, the people read for many reasons.  People read to escape their problems for some period of time.  People read to find the strength or guidance that they need to carry on.  People read for entertainment.  Teenagers are no different.

It is also important to accept that teenagers who want to read can often feel alienated from reading that is required for school.  School Reading forces us to analyze symbols and foreshadowing.  Some people enjoy this, for some it varies by book, and some people cannot stand it.  This does not mean that they hate reading, they just don't like the concept of reading as School has defined it. 

And this is why "Teen Fiction" will always be important.  It gives (at the very least) students a place where they can learn to appreciate reading as it truly is:  a story being told to an audience.  They don't have to dissect it if they don't want to, and they don't even have to really know that they are looking to these characters for guidance.  These stories present readers with things they can relate to, things they can't relate to, depictions of reality, situations far removed from reality, and any mix in between.

Additionally, it is a very dangerous thing to shame an entire genre based on something as stupid as a "Teen" label.  Saying that something is for teenagers, or about teenagers or their interests, does not make it less important, good, or necessary.  Sure, there are "Teen Fiction" novels that are sub-par; there are "Teen" books that I've read that I wouldn't give a re-read.  But then again, there are books generally regarded as Classics that I did not enjoy and would not read again.

Telling teens that the books they read are "less than" other books, just because they are marketed towards teens, does society on the whole a great disservice.  If we tell young people that what they read isn't worth the paper (or, I guess, the pixels) that it is written on, why would they want to continue reading?  And if the next generation stops reading, who is it that really suffers?  I don't know about you, but I would much prefer that coming generations keep reading "Teen Fiction" if the alternative is that they don't read at all.

Until next time.

**Note:  This is a topic that I feel very strongly about, and I don't think that one post will do it justice.  It is very possible that I will attack it again in the future.  Leave a comment with your ideas and I will probably respond in future posts on the subject.