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Spirituality in Young Adult Literature
The Last Taboo
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2015
Summary
In a time when almost any gritty topic can be featured in a young adult novel, there is one subject that is avoided by writers and publishers. Faith and belief in God seldom appear in traditional form in novels for teens. The lack of such ideas in mainstream adolescent literature can be interpreted by teens to mean that these matters are not important. Yet a significant part of growing up is struggling with issues of spirituality. The underlying problem, of course, is that there are so few writers who are willing to talk to teenagers about God, even indirectly, or who themselves have the religious literacy for the task.
Spirituality in Young Adult Literature: The Last Taboo tackles a subject rarely portrayed in fiction aimed at teens. In this volume, Patty Campbell examines not only realistic fiction, but young adult literature that deals with mysticism, apocalyptical end times, and even YA novels that depict the Divine Encounter. Campbell maintains that fantasy works are inherently spiritual, because the plots nearly always progress toward a showdown between good and evil. As such, the author surmises that the popularity of fantasy among teens may represent their interest in the mystical dimensions of faith and the otherworldly. In this study, Campbell examines works of fiction that express perspectives from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism. Distinguished YA novelist Chris Crowe provides a chapter on Mormon values and Mormon YA authors and how their novels integrate those values into their books.
By looking at how spirituality is represented in novels aimed at teens, this book asks what progress, if any, has been made in slaying the taboo. Although most of the books discussed in this study are recent, an appendix lists YA books from 1967 to the present that have dealt with issues of faith. A timely look at an important subject, Spirituality in Young Adult Literature will be of interest to young adult librarians, junior and senior high school teachers, and students and instructors of college courses in adolescent literature, as well as to parents of teens.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2015
ISBN-Print
978-1-4422-5238-7
ISBN-Online
978-1-4422-5239-4
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
186
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Acknowledgments No access
Introduction No access
1 Church and Clergy, Mostly Negative No access Pages 1 - 18
2 Bible Stories in Young Adult Books No access Pages 19 - 38
3 Death and the Afterlife No access Pages 39 - 58
4 End Times and the Apocalypse No access Pages 59 - 76
5 Mysticism No access Pages 77 - 94
6 The Divine Encounter No access Pages 95 - 104
7 Other Faiths and Spiritual Practices: Judaism No access Pages 105 - 122
8 Other Faiths and Spiritual Practices: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and a Sikh or Two No access Pages 123 - 144
9 Mormon Themes in YA Literature No access Pages 145 - 166
