 | Margaret A. Robbins has a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from The University of Georgia. She is a Teacher-Scholar at The Mount Vernon School in Atlanta, Georgia. She has peer-reviewed journal articles published in The ALAN Review, SIGNAL Journal, Gifted Child Today, Social Studies Research and Practice, and The Qualitative Report. She recently co-edited a special issue of English Journal. Her research interests include comics, Young Adult literature, fandom, critical pedagogy, and writing instruction. She can be reached on Twitter at @writermar and on Instagram, too: @dr.margaretrobbins |
Coming of Age Stories for Adolescents by Dr. Margaret A. Robbins
The popularity of the recent Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret film, based on Judy Blume’s beloved novel, reminds us of how much we all love coming of age stories, regardless of our numeric age. As a Humanities educator and scholar, I’ve always had a fondness for coming of age stories because they can help us connect. This past year, some of our high school freshmen student leaders decided to create a book club to help them get to know middle school student leaders better. The long term goal of the book club, if we’re able to keep it going this coming school year, is to foster more connection between middle and high school students, particularly younger high school students, and make the transition to high school easier. In this blog, I’ll discuss the two books we read and discussed this year. I’ll also discuss other coming of age novels I’ve read recently as well as age and/or classroom recommendations for younger and/or older adolescent students. I teach students who are at the younger side of their adolescent years, but my reading interests focus on both middle grade and YA books.
A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass: Mia Winchell is a bright, creative middle school student who has a rare processing difference known as synesthesia, where she sees the world in different colors. She’s hesitant to tell her friends, even her close friends, and this causes her to feel disconnected. However, upon learning more about her condition, Mia finds a whole community of friends with similar experiences and learns to better articulate her story to others. In the meantime, she’s able to process her grief of her grandfather’s recent death through her relationship with her cat Mango and her artistic talents. Middle and high school students alike in the book club enjoyed the novel. I believe it would be a good book for students aged 10 and up to read.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: This book club session with the middle and high school students had all female students, which made for an interesting dynamic. The novel tells of the March girls (Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth) and the challenges they face during and after the Civil War, as their father has to be away for a long time. A lot of our book club conversation was around how the novel would be different in the modern day. In particular, would Jo have gotten married and/or had children, or focused more on her career if she’d had more options? Students had mixed feelings about Amy, as I always have, but appreciated her growth during the novel. Overall, the students thought this novel “held up” even though it was written a long time ago, which encouraged a discussion about what makes a book a “classic.” While I think this book might be better suited for high school and more mature middle school students, I think it’s perfectly appropriate for students ages 10 and up, as I read it in late elementary school.
The Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill: This is a book I chose to read on my own time this summer, after reading and writing about Asking for It by the same author for the SSAWW conference in Ireland in 2018 and also for another YA Wednesday blog. I’d recommend it more for older high school and college aged students, as it has some sensitive content in it (attempted sexual assault, body image issues, fatphobia, excessive drinking). I thought the pacing of the book was a little bit off at times, and the end in particular seemed rushed, especially considering some of the sensitive content of the book. Some of the characters would have benefitted from more development. I did enjoy the book, though, and I appreciated the feminist perspective. In particular, I was interested to see how the Sea Witch was portrayed in a different, more positive light, what options the little mermaid had for her future, and how her father the Sea King was portrayed differently. For older students in particular, it would be interesting to compare and contrast this novel to the new The Little Mermaid movie and consider how and why we need to rethink and re-imagine our fairy tales as our understandings of the world emerge and evolve. The book is dark at times, but it’s also beautiful with some riveting descriptions of the ocean world.
The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry: I learned about this book when reading The New York Times and thought it sounded interesting. There’s some discussion as to whether or not it’s a YA novel, but the narrator and the main protagonist is a sixteen-year-old girl who has grown up with a wizard and his familiar, a rabbit, in a magic castle. Due to circumstances beyond her control, Biddy (Bridget) has to leave the castle and familiarize herself with the real world, which she has wanted to do for a while, yet proves more challenging than she anticipated. This story has a lot of classic hero’s journey elements, and I believe it would be a good book club choice and potentially a good classroom read appropriate for students 12 and up. The book takes place in 1912 in England, and I love the historical fantasy elements and what a reader can learn about how the Industrial Revolution affected England. Like both Little Women and The Little Mermaid, this novel can be a good springboard for discussion of how women’s roles in stories are continuing to change. The writer drafted the novel during the 2020 lockdown period and writes about how it was “a light” during that time, and Goodreads reviews have hailed it as “a warm hug.” I think the theme of magic and light during dark times is one that will resonate with many people right now.
As the summer season continues, I’ll keep reading more coming of age middle grade, YA, and new adult novels, both for myself and for my students. What are some of your favorites? Email me and let me know. I’d love to keep this middle and high school cross grade level book club going, so I’m open to books within those age ranges. Coming of age can happen during any phase of life, and in particular, it’s a theme that resonates with my younger adolescent students. Happy summer reading season to all!
As the summer season continues, I’ll keep reading more coming of age middle grade, YA, and new adult novels, both for myself and for my students. What are some of your favorites? Email me and let me know. I’d love to keep this middle and high school cross grade level book club going, so I’m open to books within those age ranges. Coming of age can happen during any phase of life, and in particular, it’s a theme that resonates with my younger adolescent students. Happy summer reading season to all!
RSS Feed