What is Adolescent Literature

Young Adult or Adolescent Literature

   What is young adult literature?

    What are the characteristics of adolescent literature?

 I was not aware that there was a type of literature referred to as young adult of adolescent literature until my time at teachers training college and from my reading Adolescent Literature is a bit of ambiguous genre of literature to define. There have been many disagreements as to how to distinguish it from children’s and adult literature. Who is an adolescent and how does literature affect them, who comes up with the definition all need to be taken into consideration when defining adolescent literature. Nonetheless, in my opinion it is the materials from all genres of literature   that attract the attention of adolescents in other words what they are interested in reading.  It should focus on the struggles that adolescents face as they it grow up and mature these experiences may range from issues with family, forming friendships, search for identity, equality among others.

These are some characteristics of adolescent literature:

1. It is simple and straight forward – students should be able to read most of the books without making use of a dictionary. The plot should also be a very simple one.

2. It is about childhood – the books should focus on the experiences that children face as they grow up or mature.

3. It is optimistic – hope and optimism are critical elements of adolescent literature. Our students must feel that something good will happen or will come out of what they read.

4. A form of pastoral ideal - there is an element of rural life that exists and the joy and innocence that exists in that life is portrayed. Characters are close to nature and friends.

These are a just a few of the characteristics of adolescent literature and now that I am aware of theses I should be able to select books that display these characteristics. Selection is very important as it determines the motivation levels of my students, how well they respond to the material given, and how well they learn and relate to the experiences from the literature read. Books that I did at secondary school such as ‘Annie John’, ‘Harriet’s Daughter’ and ‘Green Days by the River’ are reflective of adolescent literature. These books focus on the struggles that children face as they grow up such as the search for their identity.