You know what really grinds my gears? Have you ever taken a look at the young adult section in borders? And did you notice that more than half the books there are about teens who end up in mental hospitals? No joke. I was there the other day, browsing around, and I read the back of, oh, maybe 20 books, and all of them were like:
Hi. I’m a depressed teenage girl. I’m in a mental hospital. Yay me!!
Or
Hi. I have a huge crush on this guy. But he’s kind of weird. He likes to suck people’s blood. Yay me!!
Or
Hi. I have a huge crush on this guy. But he’s kind of weird. He turns into a giant dog at night. Yay me!!
WTF
What is this world coming to? I’m seriously concerned about teenage literature. All anyone seems to read about are:
a. Vampires
b. Werewolves
c. Creepy relationships between normal people and not normal people (vampires and werewolves)
d. Depressed teens
What is this world coming to?
Our summer reading books aren’t much better.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles?
If you haven’t read it **SPOILER ALERT**(kind of, I'm just repeating what Wikipedia told me)
He kills Phineas by pushing him off a tree. AND HE’S NOT EVEN THAT SAD ABOUT IT. WTF.
Not to mention Lord of the Flies or as I prefer to call it The Pig Book. **SPOILER ALERT** (once again this is just what Wikipedia has told me)
The boys eat each other. CANABALISM MUCH???
Ugh. Writers nowadays sicken me.
ttfn
Aliki: I love this and "feel your pain", to revive a formerly popular expression that simply became a comedy punch line. We should talk. They have been assigning A Separate Peace since I attended secondary school. I think they do so because: a) they think you'll be able to "relate" to it as a private school student (I think it's probably easier for boys in boarding school than girls in private day school to do this; however, A Separate Peace is no A Catcher In The Rye); and b) it's an easily "diagrammable" and "testable" book. Don't worry, though. Just read it and consider it a quick rite of passage. The Golding books are probably much better and you never fail to profit through the things you read and the knowledge you acquire. On your Independent Reading List options, you really might wish to try The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. There are also many other good choices. I think your conclusions about current "young adult" literature are sound. It's great that you've published them here. Curtis
ReplyDeleteHi Mr. Roberts,
ReplyDeleteI hope Jane is having fun at camp.
I think I will read The Picture of Dorian Gray. It sounds good.
I will try to get through A Seperate Peace, I just wish the book content they gave us was less dark
You should read his plays. They are great. I recommend the importance of being earnest. I hope you are having a good summer.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Grinds my gears... hehe. But yeah, I agree, and another thing that really annoys me about YA fiction is that most of the writers didn't actually know what they were doing. As a result, the end product has no story line, a bunch of fakey unrealistic characters, and a lot of awkward phrasing. In short, there are too many YA "writers" who don't actually know how to write.
ReplyDelete@Elizabeth: Okay cool sounds good
ReplyDelete@Rachel: EXACTLY
HOWEVER, if we could write the ULTIMATE YA book........$$$$$$$$$. I'm thinking about it.
ReplyDelete