*Topic 2 of LS 5623, Young Adult Literature, provided an in-depth study of realism, romance, and censorship within young adult literature.  The following novels are examples of New Realism in young adult literature. 

 

 

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1974. ISBN 0-440-94459-7

 

Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War is a dark tale of the effects of high school harassment.  The story centers around the trails and tribulations of a high school freshmen name Jerry Renault.  Jerry attends a Catholic all boys’ prep school called Trinity High.  He lives with his father; portrayed as a complacent withdrawn character, in a small modest apartment that contains zero memories of the life that he shared with his mother.  His mother has just recently died and Jerry struggles to understand and accept the changes that have occurred since her death. 

 

Cormier sets the tone of the story with the first sentence in the book, “They murdered him.”  Using similes, he creates a strong visual image of the students and staffs at Trinity High.  A secret gang called the Vigils controls Trinity High School.  The Vigils amuse themselves and show their power by harassing select students and staff.  The leader of the gang is Archie Castello.  Archie is a master manipulator and prides himself on his ability to create Vigil “assignments”, cruel pranks, that are psychological rather than physical. 

 

Readers are given a glimpse into Jerry’s desire to do what he pleases when Cormier, through the use of symbolism, introduce a quote from a poster hanging in Jerry’s locker.  It reads, “Do I dare disturb the universe?” Jerry refuses to participate in a chocolate selling campaign to raise money for the school.  Father Leon, an abusive and manipulating instructor at Trinity High, enlist the help of Archie and the Vigils.  Cormier utilizes the literary device of irony of when he has Jerry refusing to sell the chocolates even after the assigned number days given by Archie where he was to say no and then say yes on the final day of the assignment are completed.  Through his refusal to sell the chocolate candy, Jerry becomes a hero to some and a rebel to the Vigils. 

 

In this “masterfully structured and rich in theme” (The New York Time Book Review) tale of high school bullying, Cormier takes readers into the minds of each character so that their roles within the universe of the story is understandable. Readers learn that Archie as well as Jerry has insecurities about his place within school, his peer group, and life in general.  Ultimately, it is Jerry that readers see looking deep within and deciding to “disturb the universe.”

 

 

 

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999. ISBN 0-374-37152-0

 

Speak, a first person narrative, tells the story of fourteen-year-old Melinda Sordino freshman year in high school.  During the summer before her freshmen year in high school, Melinda attends a party with her best friends.  At the party, Melinda gets drunk and is raped by a boy she calls “it”.  She tells no about the rape.  Melinda tries to reach out for help at the time of the attack by calling the police.  When everyone realizes Melinda has called the police, including her best friends, they get angry with her for ruining their fun. They do not try to find out why she made the phone call in the first place.  Melinda’s best friends ignore her and treat her badly.  Her best friend Rachel tells her on the first day of school in an assembly that she hates her.  The abandonment of her best friends and the traumatic experience during the summer causes a devastating effect on Melinda’s freshmen year at Merryweather High School.  She retreats into world where she communicates only with herself.  Laurie Anderson depicts the loneliness of Melinda and her desire to withdraw into a silent world when she describes a scene with Melinda biting her lips.  “I pull my lower lip all the way in between my teeth.  If I try hard enough, I can gobble my whole self this way (page 39).”

 

In Speak, Anderson brings each characters voice to the reader in a format like that of a play.  She has divided this narrative into four parts and each part is called a marking period.  A marking period guides the reader through Melinda’s Sordino academic, social, and family life.  To survive her trauma and freshmen year in high school, Melinda creates a world that is safe both mentally and physically.  Her mental safe world is the world of silence and her safe physical world is Art class. During the school day Melinda sometimes hides out in a school closet when she unable to cope.  The closet symbolizes Melinda’s sense of loneliness and entrapment.  When readers first read about her first squatter’s possession of the closet, one knows that this marks the beginning of mental decline within the story.  This story does have a lighter side.  According to the September 13, 1999 Publishers Weekly review, Anderson has infused her novel with wit to sustain Melinda through her pain.  “I stand in the center aisle of the auditorium, a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special (page 5),” is an example of this wit.

 

Laurie Halse Anderson book, Speak, depicts an honest portrayal of the difficulties high school students face and go through.  The book provides an in-depth journey into the mind of a rape victim and the metaphoric changes that occurs with a rape.  For this reason, I feel Speak is a powerful young adult novel.

 

 

 

Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1999. ISBN 0-06-028814-0

 

Louise Rennison’s Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson a hilariously funny fictional account of the adventures of fourteen year British teenager, Georgia Nicolson.  Rennison’s Georgia communicates to the reader through diary entries.  Each entry conveys a universal Young Adult Literature theme of teenage life being anything but normal.  Georgia’s diary entries guide the reader through her daily interactions with family, friends, and her crazy pet cat called Angus.  Georgia is like most teenagers.  She is concerned with her physical appears, clothes, boys, kissing, and her parents.  “There are six things very wrong with my life (page 3).”

 

Rennison uses dialogue extremely well to set the tone of this story.  She has written a realistic tale that conveys the attitudes and thoughts of most teenage girls.  Rennison use of colloquial terms (knickers, bangers, DIY, etc…) makes the story even more believable.  In the book’s introduction, Rennison informs readers, through Georgia, of the glossary that defines the British terms used in the story.

 

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson is a refreshingly funny tale of the right of passage from adolescence into young adulthood that many teenage girls encounter. I found myself giggling over Georgia’s eyebrow plucking problems as I reminisced about the problems I had with my own eyebrows when I was a senior in high school.  This is just one example of a hilarious situation that Rennison has Georgia telling readers.  I loved this story!

 

 

 

 

Garden, Nancy. Annie on My Mind. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1982. ISBN 0-374-40414-3

 

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden tells the story of teenage love between two girls. Eliza (Liza) Winthrop meets Annie Kenyon on a rainy Sunday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Liza had gone to the museum to seek ideas for completing a solar house that she was designing for a senior project.  Annie is at the museum singing.  The moment Liza meets Annie for the first time she is enthralled with her.  They instantly become friends.  Their story is not without trails and tribulations.  Liza goes to a strict traditional “right-winged” school and Annie attends a school that deals with assaults and possessions (page 53). Eventually, Liza learns to come to terms with her own sexuality.  This mental passage brings problems and heartache to Liza.  Liza and Annie’s relationship prevails when Liza accepts the advice given to her by Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer.  “Don’t let ignorance win, “ said Ms. Stevenson.  Let love (page 232).” 

 

This first person narrative by Garden is sensitive and well written.  She utilizes dialogue to convey the thoughts and emotions of each character and the plot of the story is realistic.  Liza and Annie’s relationship does not come across false, but natural.  “Without thinking, I put my arm across her shoulders to warm her, and then before either of us knew what was happening, our arms were around each other and Annie’s soft and gentle mouth was kissing mine (page 92).”    

 

Not only is Annie on My Mind a story about love and relationships, but also it is a story that exemplifies the pain and struggle that teenagers go through to be themselves. 

 

*References used for each review came from the following resources:

http://www.amazon.com accessed 01 October 2004.

http://www.flr.follett.com accessed 01 October 2004