Another CFP for MLA 2015!

Why Dystopia YA Literature? Why Now?

The Hunger Games. Ready Player One. After the Fear. Divergent. “Young Adult Dystopian” is a search category on Amazon. Why is this genre so popular? The books seem to be critiquing consumerism, repressive governments, technology, and science out of control—but is there something more? Something else that is being critiqued that particularly appeals to young adults? Why is YA literature the home for the surge of dystopian fiction? How does writing for a YA audience enhance or restrict the genre? If the literature is written is for teens, does it have to have hope? 

A panel to query the popularity of YA dystopia literature.

Please send 350-word abstracts to June Cummins by March 17: jcummins@mail.sdsu.edu. 

This is a guaranteed panel sponsored by the ChLA.

PAMLA wrap up, MAPACA, and the Dystopian (white) Child

Just some notes to start off the week...

1. PAMLA just flew by this weekend! Held at the Bahia Resort in San Diego, the conference offered a plethora of insightful, fascinating, and fun panels. Because the theme of the conference dealt with Stages of Identity, there were plenty of presentations that focused on children and childhood, making this a particularly fruitful conference for those of us studying children's literature and childhood studies. I'll talk a bit more about the experience and what I ruminated on in a later post. For now, kudos to everyone who participated and many thanks to Dr. Kenneth Kidd on his PAMLA Forum presentation on "beginner" culture. Did you all have a great experience?

2. The Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Pop Culture Association Conference is being held this week in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from November 7-9.  The conference consists of a huge number of subject areas, one of which is the Children and Childhood Studies Area. You can check out the conference schedule here to see all the topics, including "Food in Children's Literature, "Pediatrics and Popular Culture" and "Toys, Clay, and Satan: Animation and Children's Literature." If you happen to attend, share with us your experience!

3. In a recent Salon article, Dr. Anna Mae Duane talks about an emerging truth about childhood that we see from "The Walking Dead"and the rise of dystopias. She largely addresses the American need for "children to remain innocent, no matter what the cost. A quick glance at the stories we’ve told ourselves for centuries reveals a persistent tendency to categorize children as one of two things: innocent victims or bad seeds." Duane then turns that toward the reasons why all these dystopian child heroes and heroines are white -- because reality already consists of a violent world for minorities in America. Her argument pushes us to the starting point, raising important and necessary racial discussions but leaving it there for us to run with. What else can we make of dystopian heroes being white? What would happen with ethnic diversification? And when will we stop thinking of children as innocent vessels, but as human beings?

Brave New Girls: What it means to be a heroine in dystopian YA literature

If I were in New York City, I would definitely be going to this talk on May 10. The editors of the forthcoming book Contemporary Fiction for Young Adults: Brave New Teenagers will discuss the intersections between dystopias and pop culture, examining the hows and whys of the dystopian trend in contemporary young adult literature.

This relates to Alya's post from yesterday, where she mused over the popularity of certain kinds of young adult books. In fact, just the other day, Alya and I were chatting and marveling about how the dystopian trend hasn't yet hit a saturation point in the YA market. Why is this, do you think? Is it because audiences were so captivated by the thrilling Hunger Games that they just want more reading experiences like that? Is it because teenagers now live in a post-9/11 America, where a palpable awareness of terrorism gives rise to fear, and teens need to read comforting tales of heroes trumping totalitarian societies? Or is it simply because this is our culture's version of the mythic hero tale? Instead of knights questing to eradicate a monster and bring back some sort of treasure to the ruling party, we now have teenage protagonists (usually female) questing to overthrow a frightening dictatorship and return life to a semblance of "normal."

So the next question is why the teenage girl protagonist? Obviously there is science fiction and dystopian literature that features adult protagonists, but it is the work that follows the teenager's journey that has so populated the market. I might suggest that the fight against authority and the ultimate triumph of the teenage hero is a [wishful] metaphor for the move from adolescence to adulthood, a fantastical one where the adolescent successfully finds her place after the trials and tribulations of "figuring it all out."

Of course, we know that life is never that easy -- the time period between adolescence and adulthood is increasingly murky, and even if one "grows up" successfully (e.g. has a job they don't hate and enough money to live on their own), the story doesn't end there.

But frequently in dystopian literature, the story does end with the ultimate triumph of the female protagonist. She has suffered loss, yes, and she must cope with the drastic changes that her decisions have led to, but she is also wiser, and she has a place of relative power in this new society. Her journey has led her from being acted upon to being the actor.

So maybe what this boils down to (admittedly simplisticly) is that teenagers (and adults, too) are drawn to dystopian young adult literature for the hope they provide. Ultimately, don't we all want to believe that we would be actors and not acted-upon, come the revolution? Even if we know that the majority of people will let change happen TO them, we can read works that allow us to align with the people who CREATE that change.

We can pretend that we are brave new heroes.

From Sleeping Beauty to Dystopian Heroines: Vulnerable Badasses

The New Yorker recently posted an article by Maria Tatar called "From Sleeping Beauty to Gonzo Girls: A New Generation of Modern Heroines?" In the article, Tatar, chair of Harvard's mythology and folklore program, examines the rise of the female trickster archetype: "women who are quick-witted, fleet-footed, and resolutely brave." Using pop culture examples such as Lisbeth Salander, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Carrie Mathison, Tatar posits that the placid Sleeping Beauty archetype has given way to the spunky, intelligent, and formidable female trickster.

But there's a catch: even in our I-am-woman-hear-me-roar contemporary culture, the problematic aspects of Sleeping Beauty never really disappear. As Tatar writes, these tough-girl characters have moments of "[seeming] utterly lost. There is clearly something compensatory in the psychological fragility of these women warriors: their gains in intellect and muscle are diminished by moments of complete emotional collapse. Vulnerability continues to attract." Tatar proceeds to look closely at Hildy in the movie "Django Unchained" as an example of this Sleeping Beauty stereotype.

Using Tatar's analysis and looking at the Sleeping Beauty archetype as a symbol for vulnerability, I can see numerous other examples in the contemporary young adult books I so love to read. In the plethora of dystopian YA novels that have come out in the last several years, the female trickster is readily apparent. There's Katniss in Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games (which Tatar mentions), whose cleverness and survival skills keep her alive in a competition to the death; there's Tris in Veronica Roth's Divergent, who wills herself to be tough and uses her small stature to her benefit in hand-to-hand combat; and, most recently, there's the titular character in Marissa Meyer's Scarlet, who embodies a version of the Red Riding Hood character with a gun in her waistband and a chip on her shoulder.

But beneath the bravado and the intense desire to fight and win, all three of these characters have moments of extreme vulnerability. Mockingjay, the final book in Collins' trilogy, finds Katniss dealing with post-traumatic stress. Gone is the kick-ass warrior of the first two books. In her place is a new Katniss, one full of doubt and a desire to retreat from the political war for which she has become a symbol. Her emotional breakdown overshadows her previous accomplishments. She is no longer the actor; instead she has to be prodded to action by outside influences. Similarly, in the first two books of the Divergent trilogy (the third will be released in October 2013), Tris grows in strength both physical and mental. But she still relies on her boyfriend, Tobias, to buoy her through her battles. Furthermore, the mere fact that she is physically small gives her a vulnerability that no amount of trickster skills can overcome. Finally, while Scarlet maintains a single-minded focus on her journey in the second book of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, she is accompanied by a strong, brutish street fighter named Wolf, whose hulking strength saves Scarlet's hide on more than one occasion. Additionally, her single-minded focus leads her to be emotionally crushed when her mission does not go as planned.  

Why is it that even when the female trickster character is colored with shades of strength and cleverness, the damsel-in-distress lurks beneath? Maria Tatar's assertion about the Sleeping Beauty archetype is that it "invite[s] riskless voyeurism in both [its] cinematic and [its] fictional incarnations" and that "the upright, brainy female, physically commanding and a bit unhinged, is less of a crowd-pleaser." So even though the spirited heroine in a contemporary YA dystopia is prevalent, it seems that the cracks in her armor are what really make her pleasing and accessible to the crowd.

While the characters in the dystopias I mentioned are not Sleeping Beauties in the sense that they are idle and mute, they do still require outside influence to spur their actions. They may be strong, but their vulnerability links them to their Sleeping sisters.

Read Tatar's full post here: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/03/sleeping-beauty-lady-gaga-hunger-games-heroines.html

The Future is Now

On a flight to the east coast a few months ago, I became the person I hate: I talked nonstop to the stranger in the seat next to me. I was on my way to a conference and typing away at the paper I was finishing at the last minute, and the man next to me asked me about my topic. And, well, if you're anything like me, you know how easy it is to start talking about your work with the exuberant enthusiasm of the Comic Book Guy at a Star Trek convention. I was writing about postmodernism and dystopian young adult fiction, and my description of dystopias led to a long conversation about science fiction in general. My seat neighbor, Frank, eloquently explained his own fascination with sci-fi:
"Our technology has grown exponentially since the Industrial Revolution, making strides faster than any other era in history. If we can go from giant computers to handheld computers in just 50 years, imagine what will happen in the next 50. Doesn't that intrigue you?"

Yes, Frank. Yes, it does.

And while we all know that innovators are frequently churning out new ways to use technology, there are a few inventions that stand out for their, well, creepy sci-fi factor. And when I read about one of these things on the internet, inevitably someone in the comments section remarks that "this is like something out of a dystopian novel!"

Here are four of the weirdest and most dystopian-esque inventions/scenarios I've come across and the YA books that, in my mind, correspond with them. Care to add to the list?

1. Internet glasses: The prototype for Google's "Smart Glasses" was unveiled last year, but the Economist recently highlighted them as something that could become more mainstream in 2013. And yeah! They're going to look as good on you as they do on the model. Promise.

YA Correlation: In Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky, characters live in domes, protected from the noxious environment outside. They spend their days hanging out in the "realms," a virtual reality universe that they access through their SmartEye -- a flexible and fleshly spectacle permanently attached to one eye.

2. The anti-feeding tube: Jezebel.com called this a "terrifying bulimia machine," and tongue-in-cheek epithet aside, this invention is indeed quite unsettling. Called the AspireAssist Aspiration Therapy System (that name alone -- come on! Euphemism, much?), this contraption is essentially a reverse-feeding tube, as it is inserted into one's stomach via a "skin flap," wherein it sucks out undigested food. Eat what you want and slim down! Just remember that you'll have a permanent skin flap, not unlike these poor cows.

YA Correlation: Not a direct correlation, but consider this scene in Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire: the rich residents of the luxurious and futuristic Capital attend parties where they gorge on delicious food, then drink a concoction that makes them throw up so they can continue to gorge.

3. Flawless plastic surgery: Apparently in South Korea it is not unusual for young people to get plastic surgery to drastically alter their appearance. Surgical procedures include eyelid surgery and jaw chiseling. This American Life did a story on it, and this Tumblr features before and after pictures.

YA Correlation: Scott Westerfield's Uglies envisions a dystopian future in which everyone gets a surgery that makes them conventionally beautiful at age 16. The downside? They get lobotomized, too. Yikes.

4. Fake meat: Is there anyone who didn't say "Eeeewwwwww" when they first heard about petri-dish hamburger? Using stem cells to grow beef in a lab is just...well, it's straight out of a science fiction novel, is what it is.

YA Correlation: In M.T. Anderson's Feed, the main characters spend a day in "the country," which is a meat farm of genetically engineered beef. So romantic! 


Bonus: I would be remiss if I didn't mention cyborgs. This is good one, with an altruistic purpose, too. It is complex and intricate, and it's mind-blowing to consider the time, skill, and effort scientists and engineers put into creating it. But...watch it walk on the treadmill. And then imagine it chasing after you because in the future your currently unborn son will helm an uprising against its dominance. That's why it's on a treadmill, you know. To practice.

This is the Way the World Ends: Top Ten Post-Apocalyptic Young Adult Novels

In honor of the end of the Mayan calendar, I'd like to share my favorite post-apocalyptic books for teens. I'm using the term "post-apocalyptic" loosely, here. Some of these books are set in a distant future, when society has rebuilt itself (in an appropriately dystopic manner), and others focus on the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic event. But they all share the same idea: that nothing is the same as it used to be.

1. Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer. When a meteor hits the moon and knocks it out of its standard orbit, the environmental effects are disastrous. Massive tidal waves wipe out all coastal cities, long-dormant volcanoes erupt and choke the sky with ash so that the sun can no longer warm the earth. If you want to be freaked out by the idea of being able to do absolutely nothing in the face of a natural disaster, go ahead and give this book a look-see.

2. Ashes, by Ilsa Bick. Part lost-in-the-woods survival story, part zombie apocalypse, part dystopia, Ashes is the kind of book you'll want to read with the lights on.

3. Blood Red Road, by Moira Young. Whether another world or a ravaged Earth, the setting for Blood Red Road is bleak and dusty. Think the salt flats in Utah, or a dessicated Salton Sea. The story, though brutal at times (particularly when the main character is forced into cage fighting), is ultimately uplifting.

4. Legend, by Marie Lu. I attended an author talk in which Marie Lu admitted that part of the inspiration for writing this book was this: she saw a map of the projected changes to North America with drastic global warming, and Southern California was all but wiped from the landscape. An Angeleno, Lu mused "What if my hometown was completely ravaged?" Legend features a Los Angeles like you've never imagined.

5. Empty, by Suzanne Weyn. What if we really do run out of fossil fuels? Empty imagines a not-so-far future in which that happens. Neighborhoods go dark, nobody can drive, and global warming sends massive storms across the continental U.S. This book is realistic enough to make you want to go out and buy an electric car to help assuage the need for fossil fuels and a crap-ton of matches and canned goods for when we run out of them anyway.

6. Gone, by Michael Grant. Not quite so much post-apocalyptic as teenager's fantasy. When all the adults suddenly poof! disappear, children and teenagers must form a new society on their own.

7. Partials, by Dan Wells. A virus has wiped out everyone in the world except for a small community of survivors in what used to be Long Island. The science-fiction element of a virus that kills newborn babies -- so that no life may ever thrive again -- is compelling, but what really stands out in this novel is a Manhattan that has been overtaken by nature in the wake of human disaster.

8. Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline. Overpopulation has forced people into trailer parks that climb into the sky, and everyone now functions within a giant global internet that has usurped the need for any human interaction. While the outside world is disturbing, the universe inside the internet is amazing. Ernest Cline should win a prize for world-building. Read this book. You will be in awe. And if you're a child of the 70s or 80s, you'll enjoy the dozens of references to the pop culture of your childhood.

9. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Do I really need to say anything about this one? It's chilling and thrilling, and if you haven't read it, what's it like under that rock?

10. Pure, by Julianna Baggott. This one earns the prize of best-book-I've-read-all-year. In a frightening future where nuclear detonations have changed the face of the planet and the faces of the people, main characters Pressia and Partridge must figure out what brought them together and what the real significance of the Dome is. The Dome -- a sheltered area around the erstwhile Washington D.C. -- is home to the "Pures," people who were untouched by the detonations. Those not so lucky to make it to the dome (basically everyone who wasn't rich or otherwise already privileged) fused to whatever was nearest at the time of the explosions, resulting in a new society of mutated humans. With themes of gender difference, familial obligation, disability, political unrest, science fiction, abjection, and class difference running through this book, it is ripe for analysis and discussion.

"Hey baby, what's your faction?"

In keeping with the theme of easy distraction this week, I have a couple of fun diversions for you. I recently read Veronica Roth's Divergent, which came out in 2011 and was hailed as the perfect option for readers who couldn't get enough of The Hunger Games. In Divergent, another young adult dystopian thriller, the society is divided into five factions, each representing a shared set of very specific values. The factions -- Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite -- have their own respective codes of conduct, and the people within them are defined by the characteristics of their faction. For example, the members of Dauntless get around town by jumping on and off of moving trains, and the selfless members of Abnegation always carry extra food to give to the homeless. Amity is filled with friendly, peaceable types; Candor is home to the artless; and Erudite finds its members spending their days in the library.

Of course, there are problems with essentializing an entire community of people, but if there weren't problems, there wouldn't be a book. And much as you may resist wanting to categorize yourself and others, it's difficult to read this book and not consider which faction you would inhabit. To that end, here are three online quizzes that sort you into your faction. (Much like Hogwarts' fabled sorting hat.)

Quiz One
Quiz Two
Quiz Three

Fun Little Links

It's been a few weeks since I last posted a round up of interesting children's literature links, and since we've got a short holiday week, now seems like a good time for some diversion. Happy Thanksgiving to our readers!

Would The Hunger Games be picked up if it were submitted to a publisher today? While it's kind of a silly question to ask of a book that is only four years old, this blog entry on i09 examines the responses from publishing insiders. (But it really boils down to is a chicken-or-the-egg question. Yes, the market is saturated with dystopias. But didn't The Hunger Games encourage that publishing trend?)

This 6-year-old child in Great Britain took Hasbro to task for gender inequality in their game "Guess Who?" In response to her honest question about why there are only 5 girls compared to 19 boys in the classic board game, Hasbro spouted some mumbo-jumbo about statistics. The following response by the little girl's mother is pretty classic. I hope that her question - why is female gender considered a "characteristic" while male gender is not? - will have the gamemakers furrowing their brows in thoughtful reconsideration. Check it out!

And speaking of gender, this thoughtful blog entry on The Horn Book's website looks at gender-neutral books for children.

Oh man, you guys, this is the best site about fairy tales EVER.

Page To Screen: What popular YA books are next in line for Hollywood? I haven't read Warm Bodies, but the trailer for the movie looks very charming.

Anyone out there have a first edition copy of Anne of Green Gables? You could make yourself a cool $10,000 if you were willing to part with it. Read here.

Until next time!

Lois Lowry on Dystopian Novels

For those who love Dystopian novels or those who have grown up on the books of Lois Lowry, her new novel Son, the fourth and final installment of the series that began with the critically acclaimed The Giver, should instantly have caught your attention.  This interview on Huffington Post with Lowry is a welcome window into the heart and mind of the author, where she discusses among other things the Dystopian genre and why she loves writing for children.

"Early on I came to realize something... That is, kids at that pivotal age, 12, 13 or 14, they're still deeply affected by what they read, some are changed by what they read, books can change the way they feel about the world in general... I think writing for kids is profoundly important."

Links You'll Love

Sometimes you just need someone else to round up some fascinating links for you, right? Here are five noteworthy links to entertain you today:

Presenting Lenore's 2012 Dystopian Recap: Every August, blogger and author Lenore Appelhans rounds up dozens of dystopian young adult novels and rates them on a scale of "zombie chickens." The rating system might be a little quirky, but Lenore's thoughtful reviews are an excellent resource for those of you who might be seeking a repository of dystopian options.

55% of YA Books Bought by Adults: Publishers Weekly reveals a study from Bowker Market Research. Are you surprised? Considering that I own about ten bookshelves' worth of young adult novels and I'm a fully qualified grown up, I'm not.

University of Florida's Fairy Tale Resource Page: Check out this fantastic site with information about fairy tale retellings, the Brothers Grimm, and link after link of fairy tale resources, from pop culture to scholarship.

YA Author Jessica Spotswood's Blog: When I do these link roundups, I'll try to highlight my favorite blogs by active young adult writers. The first is Jessica Spotswood, whose first novel Born Wicked debuted last February. Jess writes an eclectic blog that ranges from personal musings to author

Genrefluent: Diana Tixier Herald is a blogger who has been reviewing and recommending children's books for over 15 years. She has a huge archive of book reviews categorized by, you guessed it, genre.