Sarah Dessen is a self-described YA author who recently twittered herself into a maelstrom of controversy. She had taken issue with a student at a small South Dakota university who had recommended Just Mercy (an excellent book by Bryan Stevenson) and several other adult books to be placed on the school's Common Read list as an alternative to one of Dessen's books, which she felt, as a YA book, was not up the appropriate college reading level.
Brooke Nelson, the student, noted in an email to the author of a Slate article that "“In 2017, I was a college junior who joined a committee because I wanted to have a voice in what text was selected for a college reading program. I was only one vote on a large committee of college students, faculty, staff, and community members.”
What happened was that Dessen clipped a piece from an article in the university's newspaper and tweeted a sarcastic comment about it to her 260,000 followers. The inevitable reaction is a case of classic YA juvenile behavior that amounted to nothing less than extreme bullying. YA author Siobhan Vivian tweeted, “Fuck that fucking bitch.” (“I love you,” Dessen replied.) Fellow YA writer Dhonielle Clayton chimed in: “Can I add a few more choice words for Siobhan’s brilliance … fuck that RAGGEDY ASS fucking bitch.” Vivian replied with the clapping, cigarette, and nail-painting emoji."
The juvenile and scatological content of the comments are unfortunately representative of the YA crowd. Just check out the YA stuff on Goodreads and you'll find a viciousness one would hope to be characteristic of teenagers rather than adult authors pretending to be teens in their writing.
Nelson has deleted her social media presence in an attempt to hide from the viciousness and worries it may impact her future career. The reaction of Northern State University was disappointing. “We are very sorry to @SarahDessen for the comments made in a news article by one of our alums,” the school wrote. “They do not reflect the views of the university or Common Read Committee.” The lesson one takes from that statement is that students there need not have any opinions.
A larger issue, and one that bugs me constantly, is the somewhat arbitrary designation of books as YA or adult. There are many teenagers who read at above grade levels and many so-called YA books that deal with adult issues. The are books written for younger readers and then books about teens. One can imagine a lengthy debate, as intense as the one over the number of angels that could dance on the head of a pin, as to whether Jane Eyre, Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, and innumerable others should be shelved in the YA section where adults readers and those wishing to read "adult" book will never find them. The categories become even more ridiculous when aimed at ages. "This book is for those from ages 7-8." Ridiculous, but parents and administrators demand those designations, assuming that reading levels are monolithic and immutable and change from one age to another. Authors are told to remove words that are appropriate to the story but which may not meet some mythic age or reading level.
It's perhaps ironic that had Dessen never said that she wrote for teens (and after all what does she know about teens, not having been one for several years) but about teen issues as she understands them, or better issues of justice or racism, something Nelson wanted to emphasize,
1 comment:
AS someone who works with teens and who reads around 50 "young adult" books a year, I was surprised by Dessen's reaction as well as some of the other authors mentioned. And disappointed. I'm surprised I hadn't heard about this, so thank you for bringing it to my attention. I really enjoyed your piece on this interesting and disturbing commentary on the state of our world these days. Sad to see it happening from authors.
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