Literature in the Young Adult World.

I imagine myself in my future classroom, meeting with a student who is reading the latest popular teen drama, something like Twilight. And I wonder...am I happy with that student's choice? I should be, because reading of any type is good. I should be proud that the student has chosen to read at all, and considering that I am an adult, and not a teen, I really don't know if I should be judging what that student is interested in reading. But...and this is a big but, if we don't judge certain books to be of higher literary quality, that is if a book is considered literature no matter what qualities it possesses then why would an author strive to write a better novel? Why would we read so many novels in search of the one that especially speaks to us?

This has been the hardest blog post so far. Because, as I said before reading for pleasure is great. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a book that is strictly plot driven as Roxburgh says, those are some of his favorite books. But an understanding of the intricacies of a particular plot does not really inform one's own life. Because in reality, one's life will never unfold in the same way that a well crafted thriller or fantasy novel will. So yes, I think that I will have to demand that at some point a student must interact with a novel that does more than tell a story. I think that's what Young Adult Literature is. It is prose or poetry, or even drama or memoir...a text that depicts a character, who grows. A character who can impart some wisdom upon the reader. A character who is relateable and experiences life in much the same way that the reader (my future students does).

But here's where I think the whole idea gets murky, because I think part of the definition of literature is a work that affects the reader. And who am I to judge whether a reader is affected? Unfortunately there has to be a guideline. I think the best way for me to think of it is that a newspaper sports story wouldn't be considered literature, because it only really tells the what when and where. It doesn't tell you why and it doesn't tell you a lot about the who, and I think this is what is required for literature. It must tells us something about human nature, or about who the character is, or why he is what he is. I feel like this is getting complicated, but it's the only way to really express it. Now, if a student surprises me, and shows an unexpectedly deep and meaningful connection to a work, despite what I may have thought of it, well that is a very pleasant surprise. Which I guess brings me to my next and final point.

As far as where literature would fit into my program, I'd have to say I would prefer if all of the school reading that my students do was literature, but I realize that students should also choose the majority of the books they read, so I guess that I would just always want to encourage students to connect with and seek out the literary qualities of any work. Even if it is a purely for pleasure read. It is difficult to really elaborate without having designed a curriculum or without having done any student teaching. I will be really interested to see how in-service teachers deal with this problem, because as I said, reading of anything is an important step in the right direction, but how do you get students to start being more selective in choosing true literature.