I fall down, I get up again: Resiliency in YA Lit
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ne of the main differences between YA lit and adult fiction is hope. However dark young adult novels get— and some are dark enough that we crave night vision goggles—a ray of hope filters through the pages. Resilience is a life skill that we all need, but it’s not something we’re specifically taught in school. Thankfully, humans have always drawn life lessons from art and that’s true of YA lit, too. The sheer doggedness displayed by the characters populating these books provide us with a well of inspiration for getting through the rough stuff. From fantasies like Kristin Cashore’s Graceling Realm series to Ibi
by Juliet White
Zoboi’s American Street, resilience is an ever-present theme. Before YA was acknowledged as its own vibrant form of literature, we saw a lot of “problem” novels. Books explored a particular issue, from eating disorders to teen pregnancy. Critics complained that, in some of these stories, the characters took a backseat, rather than being fully fleshed out. Still, these tales focused on the descent into a problem and, many times, the process of emerging on the other side. In 1999, Laurie Halse Anderson’s groundbreaking book Speak came out. The novel was exceptional for its unflinching exploration of the aftermath of rape. Melinda CURIOSITALES
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