The Outsiders For Teachers

THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT . George M. Nicholson

Richard Peck, in his new collection of essays LOVE AND DEATH AT THE MALL, best defines the young adult novel as a "shot fired just over the heads of our readers....Young adult novels test the boundaries...leading to the subtext of all our books: the responsibility for the consequences of actions." In a series of witty and often highly opinionated pronouncements, Peck splendidly conveys the passion of writers in the genre and the extraordinary faith they have in young people to carry on, to understand what is inside themselves, and to find hope in the future.

That hope is often hard to find for today's publishers who are battling the burdens of the bottom line and the eternal war over Art and Commerce.

That battle was not always so clear cut. The Young Adult novel was, of course, originally a librarian's classification for adult novels which young people might enjoy. Primary among these were Betty Smith's A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN and, most dramatically J.D. Salinger's THE CATCHER IN THE RYE which, along with Twain's HUCKLEBERRY FINN, are the classic voices of the American novel of coming of age.

In the late sixties and early seventies, a covey of brilliant new writers began to explore the outer edges of adolescent experience. Writers like S.E. Hinton, Robert Cormier, and Judy Blume, respecting their audience and understanding fully the moral crises young people faced, wrote of a world in which adolescents stood alone, desperately trying to find a place which substantiated their lives. A few titles--the film "Rebel Without a Cause" and the novel THE OUTSIDERS--clearly indicated the way they felt: Honest, if hyperbolic, emotion told the tale amidst a welter of "beach blanket" movies and innocuous fiction for teens.

During the sixties, however, an extraordinary commercial vehide developed which served this new Young Adult novel, the chain bookstore. Over the next decade came the vast growth of the chains in nearly every mall in America, and the insatiable need for product, month in, month out. For the first time, the teenager had only to pick the book he or she wanted. No questions asked at the checkout counter, just cold cash, please. So, for years, the paperback "teen" novel flourished. From an industry which had responded mostly to the critical judgments of professionals who worked with young people in hardcover books sold in school and public libraries came, not only fine books, but, not surprisingly, the return of the pulp novel. Not since the heyday of the Stratemeyer Syndicate in the thirties, had such books been seen in such quantity. Series publishing found its natural partner in the chain stores yearning for new product.

By the eighties, publishing itself had changed. The gulf between paperback houses and hardcover houses had begun to shift. Each began to publish both hardcover and paperback. Sales and distribution divisions echoed the editorial changes. And, soon, fiery competition appeared among houses who had quietly tolerated one another for decades. Packagers entered the scene providing editorial and often marketing services when publishing and editorial staffs were too small to handle the volume. As the proliferation of material accelerated, so did the specter of failure and loss, heretofore almost negligible responsible houses catering to the institutional markets.

Another curious result of this vast overproduction was the broadenmg of the sales base to include material for younger children. The very phrase "Young Adult" came to mean something different in trade bookselling.Children's booksellers who had not always been able to lure the teenager into their stores, as well as the chains, seemed to accept a diminished definition of the YA novel, whereas the label remained constant in the institutional field.

And thus came an increasing gulf between what would sell in larger numbers and what would not. Serious fiction was at a sales impasse, echoing the world of adult publishing. The writers in the field were troubled about whom they were writing for. Literary writers found themselves in the strange position of writing more complex titles and stretching the limits, to much praise and fewer sales. Writers who wrote primarily to entertain found themselves forced to lower their judgments in order to survive in the field. And some writers found themselves frozen out of the Young Adult novel altogether. Certainly the best of the older writers were taught in schools, but what of the new writer?

All of us who care about the future of the Young Adult novel now find ourselves in a most complex position. Publishers must clearly redefine what it is they wish to publish. Do they want the literary novel for the older readers which asks serious questions of its readers? If so, a new market and one largely unaware of YA material coming from children's publishers must emerge. A potential hardcover and paperback market is the adult librarians in the public library systems who have no YA coordinators and surely see YA catalogs and promotions. Small houses like Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill regularly publish fine novels which reach the intelligent reader through adult distribution. Better access to adult mass-market distribution is a desirable but tough goal. YA fiction should be a genre in the adult sections of paperback racks as are romances, westerns, et al., rather than afterthoughts in children's sections. The YA world has to confront honestly the tough aspects of teen life rather than adulterated and often hypocritical approaches to life. It is utterly foolish to think the average 12- to 16-year-old unable to handle serious subjects which they see in every other media. Two non YA writers, Francesca Lia Block and Chris Lynch (both HarperCollins), are publishing in new directions which explore the most intimate of their experiences, sex and family violence. Yet their sales do not approach their potential audience response.

So, are we left only with hope? The hope the writers convey to their readers? Yes, but hope tied to action. It is our job, each of us, to redefine and relocate our goals. It can be done and the young people will be enriched. That recognition of ourselves as readers and caring human bemgs has served us over the decades. And it will do so again.

George M. Nicholson is currently a literary agent with Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.

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