“ORANGE", A SCIENCE FICTION STORY WRITTEN BY NEIL GAINMAN THAT CAN BE CONSIDERED A CASE OF YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

by ANDREA OLAZABAL

Choosing reading material for teenagers is not an easy task. In general, adolescents like reading if stories can reflect their needs and interest. Choosing appropriate literature to young adults has become an important task taking into account the development of the concept of adolescence.

Pedak (1978) defines the term young adult as “a member of the public who is in transition from childhood to adulthood, usually between the ages of thirteen and eighteen.”

According to Gail de Voss (2003) “adolescence is the term pshycholinguistics an educator use to identify the developmental stage marked by oneset puberty and the end of structural physical growth”.

Taking into account these definitions and changes adolescents undergo during adolescence stage is that offering appropriate literature to teenagers can engage them in reading.

But the main question for those who choose reading material for young adults is: what do they really prefer reading?

Young adult literature (YAL) is very popular among teenagers and comprehends those texts such as novels, short stories, legends, etc which are appreciated by young adults and may not be appreciated by other public.

In order to catch teenagers´ attention, Small ( 1992) points out in “The  Literary Value of Young Adult Novel” that there are some characteristics that are unique to young adult novels. They are the following:

•The main character of the story is a teenager.
•Dialogue reflects teenage speech, including slang.
•The point of view presents an adolescent´s interpretation of events and people.
•The teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature, and independent.
•The novel is short, rarely more than 200 pages, among others.

“Orange”, a science fiction story written by Neil Gainman, can be a case of YAL since some of the important elements stated by Small are present in the story.

This science fiction story is told from a 17- year- old girl. She tells the story of her nutty scientist mother with a laboratory in the garage and her irritating younger sister, Nerys, who is transformed by one of the mother´s experimental dyes into a glowing orange “immanence” floating above the ground and demanding to be worshipped. When things begin to get out of hand, aliens arrive in a spaceship and take the transformed Nerys away.

There is one particular element that can catch readers´ attention; the story has a very original style since it is composed of answers to questions the reader does not get to see.

“1- Jemima Glorfindel Petula Ramsey.
 2- Seventeen on June the ninth.
 3- The last five years. Before that we lived in Glasgow(Scotland). Before that, Cardiff(Wales).
 4- I don´t know. I think he´s in magazine publishing now. He doesn´t talk to us anymore. The divorce was pretty bad and Mum wound up paying him a lot of money. Which seems sort of wrong to me. But maybe it was worth it just to get shot of him…”

The previous extract shows some characteristics mentioned by Small. One point to consider is that in ORANGE the main character and also her irritating sister are both teenagers. Furthermore, it can be seen that the girl is perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature, and independent. This can be appreciated when she speaks about her father, the divorce and the relationship between their parents.

Another point to take into consideration is that the story is composed completely of answers to questions the reader does not get to see and the way of speech the narrator uses reflects teenage speech. In this case, another element stated by Small is present in this point of analysis and young readers may feel the story attractive and interesting.

What is more, ORANGE is short and easy reading and this can be a good point to engage teenagers reading this science fiction story.

To conclude, ORANGE, the science fiction story written by Neil Gainman can be considered a case of Young Adult Literature since it has some important characteristics pointed out by Small. Taking into account what was mentioned before is that young adults may feel the story interesting and this can engage them in reading it.