Young Adult Literature on Teen Issues

Death

• While society tends to ignore death, teen literature explores this aspect of life that comes to everyone. Both classic and modern teen reads look at death in all its many facets. ̶0;The Outsiders,̶1; the classic book from S.E. Hinton, explores issues of violence and death. Set in the 1950s, the book is narrated by 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis as he relates recent events in his life as a greaser in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A more modern tale is told in John Green's book, ̶0;The Fault in Our Stars.̶1; Hazel, a terminal cancer patient, meets Augustus Waters, a boy in remission. As the two slowly fall in love, they discover that life must be lived for the moment.

Suicide

• In ̶0;Thirteen Reasons Why,̶1; Jay Asher explores the aftermath of teenage suicide. The narrator, Clay Jenkins, receives a series of 13 cassette tapes from Hannah, a girl he worked with. As he listens to the tapes and follows the clues she left, he begins to understand why she killed herself. ̶0;If I Stay,̶1; by Gayle Forman, explores the idea of choosing life in a more positive way. In this book, semi-comatose Mia Hall must decide whether to fight for her life or let go and die after a car accident that has killed both parents.

Drugs

• Since 1971, ̶0;Go Ask Alice̶1; has been used to illustrate the dark side of drugs to teens. In this fake diary, readers follow an unnamed narrator in her descent from a high-achieving teenage student to a junkie. The epilogue tells the reader that the narrator has died from either an accidental or intentional overdose. Ellen Hopkins relates the story of a more modern fall in the free-verse novel, ̶0;Crank.̶1; In this book, Kristina Snow goes from a straight-A honor student to a meth addict over the course of a summer.

Abuse

• Laurie Halse Anderson introduces readers to a character who refuses to speak for herself. In ̶0;Speak,̶1; Melinda Sordino becomes an elective mute after suffering rape at a party. It isn̵7;t until she tells her story that she is finally able to speak again. In ̶0;The Perks of Being a Wallflower,̶1; by Stephen Chbosky, abuse is explored in a variety of ways. Charlie, the main character, first comes to the aid of Brad, a teen who was beaten after he was discovered having sex with another boy. Finally, Charlie reveals that he was also a victim of molestation.

Control

• Many YA novels use the idea of dystopian worlds where the government controls every aspect of life to encourage the teen reader to explore the issues of freedom and control. The ̶0;Hunger Games̶1; and ̶0;Matched̶1; are two series that use their tyrannical governments to explore the disparity between those who have freedom and those who don̵7;t. In the world of ̶0;Unwind,̶1; by Neal Shusterman, abortion has been outlawed, but any child between the ages of 13 and 18 may be "unwound." This process harvests every organ and theoretically keeps the child ̶0;alive̶1; as every organ is used by another person. The book follows three very different teens who are running for their lives after they have been slated for unwinding.