Tag: teen blogging contest

October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Rachel Carroll from California.

We see it all the time in young adult literature these days. Blue Sargent, Katniss Everdeen, Beatrice Prior: girls who know how to stand up for themselves and do some serious damage. After spending so long watching Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and Percy Jackson do their thing – you know, overcoming all odds, saving the world, the usual – a lot of female readers are excited to see some more girl power in the books they pick up and love. This new wave of strong female protagonists is something that I’m really excited to see on account of how empowering it is for women. Except, of course, when it isn’t. Because sometimes, having a female main character isn’t enough.

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to making sure that men and women are represented equally in literature and in all other kinds of media. The way that authors write about their female characters and the choices these writers make about how those characters interact with others says a lot about how society as a whole perceives women. So that begs the question: what is a “strong” female protagonist? When put side by side, there are a lot of overwhelming similarities between a lot of girls in recent young adult novels, particularly dystopian books, which are still experiencing a popularity surge. Since trends are always trends for a reason, I think it’s important to look at some of these patterns, as well as to think about why these women may not be as powerful as they’re meant to be.

PHYSICAL STRENGTH Perhaps one of the most obvious examples of a modern day heroine, someone I’ve already mentioned, is Katniss Everdeen. The driving focal point of The Hunger Games is the Games themselves, and the Games are very much a physical competition. Katniss’ strength is necessary for her survival. But when we see female characters over and over again who are only defined by their strength or other physical abilities – archery, for instance – it gives the impression that there are no other ways to be “strong.” (Counter example – Hazel Grace Lancaster, the main character in John Green’s wildly successful The Fault In Our Stars, is chronically ill throughout the entire novel, and is anything but physically fit in any sense of the word. However, this does not keep her from being intelligent, clever, and compassionate.) Continue reading Women as Warriors: Why Girls Deserve More

October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Ellie Gardiner from New Mexico.

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” —Toni Morrison

Whether your favorite genre is dystopian, fantasy or science fiction, one thing is perpetually true. There are never enough books. We’ve all run to the store or library, riding a book high, desperately in need of a new novel to feed our crazed bibliophilic hunger… only to be disappointed by the lack of stories that seem to meet our satisfaction.
The truth is, there really are quite a lot of books out there. There is an enormous amount of fiction waiting to change someone’s life for the first time. There is a novel out there right now that is waiting to be loved, and smelled, and hugged, and cried over anew. And a good portion of these sorts of books have been written because someone – someone just like us – couldn’t find the book they wanted, and decided it was up to them to write it.

After I finished Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, I had an experience that changed my outlook on writing. I entered the local book store, still at the top of that aforementioned high, and accosted an employee. “Do you have any books I could read that might help me through the aftermath of this one?” I asked, gesturing to Zusak’s novel excitedly. My face fell as Gladys the Shelver responded, “I don’t know. I’d suggest looking in the teen section.”

Oh, dread.

I do not have the slightest vendetta against teen fiction, but that was the last place I wished to be pointed. I wanted specific suggestions. I wanted answers. Reluctantly, I slumped off to root through the romance novels in search of a historical fiction that would satisfy me. Continue reading Write What You Want To Read