HORROR STORIES OR YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

by Betina Ricchezza        

Why cannot teachers encourage their adolescent students as readers? Can it be because teachers do not choose appealing adolescent novels?

It is important that teachers read about Young Adult Literature (YAL) in order to become familiar with the literary quality of Young Adult (YA) novels and to appreciate the style of writing they present. Teachers usually choose traditional stories of horror and mystery without taking into account that YA novels are specifically addressed to adolescents. YA authors write these novels having in mind a teenage audience. A horror story can be attractive to adolescents but it is not written to describe their life. This is the case of “The Visitor”, written by Jack Ketchun. This is a short story about zombies which is not a case of YAL.

According to Robert C. Small Jr., there are some important characteristics that are unique to YA books. These characteristics are used to describe and reflect the realities of teenage life.  Small points out that in YA novels, the main character is a teenager, who is the center of the plot, and he/she is usually intelligent, perceptive and independent; the events and problems in the plot are related to teenagers and the dialogues reflect teenage speech. These are the characteristics that appeal adolescents as readers because they feel identified.

As regards “The visitor”, the characteristics above mentioned are not present in the story.  It is just a horror story about dead people who come back from their graves. The main character is not an adolescent and the plot is not related to realities of teenage life. This story is not specifically addressed to adolescents.

YAL gained popularity among teenagers due to the universal themes it deals with. Some of them are teenage pregnancy, drugs, family conflicts, discrimination and social injustice among others. All these themes are appealing to teenagers because they can experiment them in their everyday life. In the case of “The Visitor”, due to it is not a YA book, adolescents encounter the lack of similarities with their real own world. Teachers can incorporate YA novels to their lessons and adolescent students can benefit from reading them.