I.S.F.D. N°30 Profesorado de Inglés Language and Written Expression IV
Pires, Aldana; Vincenti, Nicolas Assignment #2, Draft #3 Prof. Blas Bigatti - 2014
Ass-hat young adults and their magic books: an analysis of a sci-fi story through a YAL perspective "It occurred to me that in certain situations, like space travel, exact mass is very important—every gram must be accounted for. And every time you sweat, spit, cut your hair, or blow your nose, your mass changes. So I began to wonder what space-exploring colonists might go through to leave behind just a little more of themselves, if it meant they could bring along just a bit more cargo. Which brought up the question, “What possession would it be worth diminishing your own body to keep?” This story is my answer to that question."
These are Scott Westerfield‟s words in the authors' note of the short story Ass-hat Magic Spider (1). Considering that the answer to the last question is a book, it is hard to conclude that Ass-hat Magic Spider could be a narrative intended for adolescents. Nowadays, it is a well known reality that reading and teenagers don‟t get along together, and this fact makes it difficult to think that a book would represent something worth of sacrifice to a youngster. In fact, Young adult literature has become an object of debate in the last 30 years or so. For instance, in a 2012 survey by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) (2), it is reported that in the last 30 years the percentage of 13- and 17-year-old students who read for pleasure have considerable decreased. However, more than ten years ago, Herz and Gallo have already attributed the responsibility for this situation to teachers. They say that “trying to explain or define Young Adult Literature to teachers who have not read it or who have a negative attitude about it (...) is very difficult” (3). They consider young adult literature not as a stepchild to classics, but as a way to engage students in reading. Taking into account their work as the theoretical basis to approach Young Adult Literature (YAL), this paper will look at a typical example of YAL to explore its power of engaging students in reading. The short story Ass-hat Magic Spider is part of Jonathan Strahan‟s anthology “The Starry Rift: Tales of New Tomorrows.” It revolves around a first person teenage narrator who tries to lose weight in order to make a space travel to Tau IV, a fictitious planet. This paper will analyse this sci-fi story as a case of YAL and consequently will use it to explore the power of YAL to engage students in reading. Before starting our proper analysis, a definition about YAL must be provided. Donelson and Nilsen determine that “anything readers between the approximate ages of twelve and twenty choose to read (as opposed to what they may be coerced to read for class assignments)” represents a case of YAL (3). Considering the previous too broad, if not vague, opting for Robert C. Small Jr.‟s characteristics will be more suitable for our analysis. The author considers some features to be unique to Young Adult novels. They are the following: - The main character is a teenager. - Events and problems in the plot are related to teenagers. - The main character is the center of the plot. - Dialogue reflects teenage speech, including slang.