Comments on: Note: I just told another journalist that what I thought contemporary YA was missing was “guileless masturbation,” so grain of salt

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:59:22 +0000

When I first read, “I want a guy who values the same things I do,” I thought, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ But your push on it is spot-on — YA literature is about the exploration of the unknown, the unexpected.

“‘We’re not kids forever,’ she tells her summer fling, discouraged by his aimlessness.” Part of the problem with a lot of Christian YA literature (and perhaps Christianity in general?) is that it insists on sacrificing the present moment to the future. Because its sense of morality is static — and its characters are often avatars for a prescribed moral law — it doesn’t recognize the phases of development and uncertainty that make for the kind of YA novels I wanted to read when I was a teen.

By: This post has been vetted by a theologian. « Public Road

This post has been vetted by a theologian. « Public Road — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:41:56 +0000

[...] it in the days and weeks to come. In the meantime, you can find others’ responses here, here, and here, among other places. And check out the [...]

By: Molly

Molly — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:54:56 +0000

I don’t read much Christian YA, and as a Christian teenager, I’m the audience. I’ve read several of the books that were mentioned in Ms. Graham’s article, but I wasn’t particularly impressed. I felt like the writing was/is watery, and there is far too much cookie-cutter in a messy world. I will give credit to Madeline L’Engle and C.S. Lewis, but looking closer, the reason that I actually read those works (and enjoy them) is because there is very little cover-up morality trying to sneak in tell me right from wrong. They show me one character’s choices, and let me take as much from them as I want.

Christian YA serves a purpose, providing literature to those who want reading to be safe, and tidy. But for myself, I don’t want to be neat and tidy. The characters that I want to read about have genuine struggles, make bad choices, and the author is giving me insight and freedom of choice, instead of a Sunday school lesson.

By: Ransom

Ransom — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:50:36 +0000

I love it. Can I sign up for my Prada purse now?

By: Amy @ My Friend Amy

Amy @ My Friend Amy — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:23:42 +0000

I generally don’t like Christian YA fiction much though I did really enjoy the Miracle Girls, but there isn’t even that much of it to talk about!!! Very few titles published each year. Which is to say…there’s still plenty of room for growth and other perspectives.

Teens are different…all teen girls are different and certainly there can be enough books for them all…the prada dreaming ones and the husband dreaming ones.

By: altehaggen

altehaggen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:17:51 +0000

Sue me — I was feeling freshman year philosophy.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:32:45 +0000

An object of desire is a representation of an aspect of self? Wow!

By: Emily Hopkins

Emily Hopkins — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:26:10 +0000

Oooh, you had my blood boiling too! But even with percolating blood, you still managed neatly to shoot down Ruth Graham’s fatuous promotion of those (boring sounding, goody-goody, insidious and manipulative) “Christian” YA books. Hooray for the Old Hag!

By: levonne

levonne — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:40:29 +0000

Love the name of your blog.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:06:38 +0000

All excellent comments and I agree with them all, especially your take on teenagers being teenagers and not knowing anything. To argue that a 15 year old girl is somehow preparing herself for Mr. Right is ridiculous because it completely ignores that fact that she has no idea who she is and probably won’t truly know who the hell she is for another 15 years. It is nice to think that she is developing some sense of what she believes is important, but if my world view on guys hadn’t changed since I was 15 I shudder to think who I might have ended up with.

By: The Diamond in the Window

The Diamond in the Window — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:42:12 +0000

What’s so frustrating is that these sorts of stories appeal to girls at their worst and most-self defeating, setting up yet another pinnacle that they can see their fictional counterparts easily scaling (“who valued what she did…”) while the real girls, like all of us poor benighted humans, slither along in the mire of what really is, which is much more likely to be “I love him though he does not know I exist, let alone whether we share values.” Pretending that what these girls think about is what should be the contents of a girl’s heart is somehow essentially shaming and cruel. Better to be at least openly didactic, I think, than to cloak it and pretend it either entertains or teaches well.

By: Twitted by paulGtremblay

Twitted by paulGtremblay — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:54 +0000

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