About the Book
We are in the midst of the largest teenage population boom since the nineteen sixties, and all of the media are scrambling to reach this alert, savvy, wealthy, and self-conscious generation. But for authors, editors, parents, teachers, and librarians this large group of readers poses a series of special problems: what is too old, or too young for teenage eyes? Should there even be a literature for teenagers, or wouldn't they be better off skipping ahead to adult books? Do boys read at all? Can books offer moral instruction, role models, or guidance on the path to adulthood? Where do books fit into the ever-growing set of multimedia options that are this generation's birthright? Marc Aronson, Ph.D. has won the LMP, the industry award for editing, and the Boston Globe Horn Book award for writing books for teenagers. Here, in a series of probing, innovative essays he marshals a decade of insights earned in practice as well as his knowledge as a scholar of publishing history, to pose and answer key questions about the true potential of young adult literature. As he revels in the passion of its readers he exposes the real problem with teenagers and reading: adult myths, projections, and blind prejudices. Exploding the Myths is a provocative book that will be necessary reading for everyone who deals with this burgeoning generation of readers.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Foreword by Bruce Brooks Chapter 2 Acknowledgments Chapter 3 Introduction Chapter 4 1 "The YA Novel Is Dead" and Other Fairly Stupid Tales Chapter 5 2 The Three Faces of Multiculturalism Chapter 6 3 The Challenge and the Glory of YA Literature Chapter 7 4 The Journals Judged Chapter 8 5 How Adult Is Young Adult? Chapter 9 6 We Have Nothing to Lose but Our Isolation Chapter 10 7 When Coming of Age Meets the Age That's Coming: One Editor's View of How Young Adult Publishing Developed in America Chapter 11 8 Exploring the Basement: The Artistic Challenge of YA Literature Chapter 12 9 What Is Real about Realism? All the Wrong Questions about YA Literature Chapter 13 10 The Power of Words Chapter 14 11 The Myths of Teenage Chapter 15 12 Calling All Ye Printz and Printzesses Chapter 16 13 Puff the Magic Dragon: How the Newest Young Adult Fiction Grapples with a World in Upheaval Chapter 17 14 What is YA, and What Is Its Future: Voice, Form, and Access— A Dialogue with Jacqueline Woodson Chapter 18 Index Chapter 19 About the Author
About the Author :
Marc Aronson is Editorial Director and Vice-President of Non-Fiction Content Development at Carus Publishing company and has written widely on young adult literature.
Review :
...this provocative collection of speeches and previously published essays challenges those who work with teenagers and their reading to shift paradigms, shatter illusions, and examine the essence of young adult literature...Librarians, teachers, students and professors of adolescent literature, publishers, editors, and authors need to read and contemplate this worthy companion to Michael Cart's excellent From Romance to Realism: 50 Years of Growth and Change in Young Adult Literature (HarperCollins, 1996).
This collection of essays gives the reader a banquet for thought when exploring significant issues about the young adult reader. The author has done his homework and makes a convincing case that challenges librarians, teachers, and parents...interesting suggestions to help us deal with problematic categorizing....Anyone who has been alarmed by the content of YA novels should read this book and be prepared to find some new truths that may somewhat alter existing opinion. A thought-provoking book for professionals. This would be an excellent choice for a book talk among teachers and librarians in middle school and high schools.
...will be of interest to librarians, teachers, writers, and parents...this thought-provoking collection should not be missed.
This book would be valuable as a professional reference and discussion starter for small groups and classes.
...thought provoking and informative... Exploding the Myths is a useful addition to resources on teenagers and their reading.
As a YA publisher, editor, writer, and critic, Aronson is an eloquent, passionate advocate for high-quality YA books. The collection comprises 13 of his speeches and articles from the past six years, including "The Challenge and the Glory of YA Literature," which originally appeared in Booklist. He opens up the intense arguments about censorship, audience (how adult is young adult?), authenticity, popularity versus quality, and more. He talks about demographics (the huge rise in the teenage population, with fastest growth among Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans), YA publishing history (how the YA novel started, where it's going now), the criteria for the Michael L. Printz Award, and how to reach teen readers. His style is clear, chatty, and tough. Whether talking about the graphic novel, poetry, magic realism, or gritty contemporary fiction, he shows that teenagers today are often more open to challenge and diversity in narrative and format than their adult guardians are. What many librarians think is "popular" is often condescending. Whether you agree with Aronson or not, you'll be caught up in issues that matter. A great starting place for YA literature classes.
Erudite and intellectually challenging. Aronson uses anecdote and felt experience to inform highly sustained arguments which are innovative and arresting.
Gives an important orientation to the issues and questions that have concerned those who have been interested in young adult books over the last decade...Aronson makes the case that YA literature is as valuable to young readers as "Literature," with the capital L, is to adults.
