Cause the good ole days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems..

Oh yeah.. let me go ahead and date myself.  This post is titled after lyrics in the Billy Joel song "Keeping the Faith."  Billy Joel's "Innocent Man" was one of the first cassette tapes I bought after getting my new jam box for Christmas one year... ahh but I digress.


I have been noticing that every now and then I start to idealize my childhood... yeah I know it's not just me but while I do think remembering things fondly is good, there is also room to notice that today is not always worse than the days that came before.  If I continue to overly reminisce there is always the danger that I will begin to look and talk like this guy....

'Nuff said!

So today I realized in talking with some parents of teens that there has been alot of lamenting about the current state of teen fiction. I often hear from parents of teens and sometimes from teens themselves that there really is nothing great to read out there for the junior high to high school age. That "these days" young adult fiction is a one trick pony, a veritable supernatural wasteland. 


Now being the book freak that I am, I do realize that you walk into a bookstore today and in the young adult section you will notice that about 80% of the books are either about ghosts, wizards, Greek gods, fairies, witches, or vampires. So I found myself beginning to reminisce about the literary choices I had as a teen, how I enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables series, Narnia, anything by E.L. Konigsburg (the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler), Beverly Cleary, the Nancy Drew books etc.  Now these were some great books, they were about relationships, right and wrong, history, faith, innocent mysteries and friendships.  


Yep I can feel my eyebrows getting bushier by the minute.


So here is the thing: The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was thinking about the books I read prior to seventh grade or so.  The aforementioned books and series were over for me by the time I hit Jr. high.  I got to really thinking and when I was in junior high and high school the popular series that we were all reading were things like:


The Fear Street books by R.L. Stine (yep, the Goosebumps guy)
Books by Christopher Pike (the first one, Chain Letter, scared my socks off)
Stephen King (I can remember reading  "Misery" and deciding that maybe trying to be an author was too scary)
V.C Andrews (jeez that Flowers in the Attic series sure was wholesome, what with the infanticide and incest and all)


Looking back, it is really a wonder that I was even able to sleep during that period of my life.  Yeah, most of our jr. high and high school stuff did not have ghosts or vamps but it had serial killers and psychos.  There was less emphasis on the love triangle aspect of teen life (well, we did have Sweet Valley High but that is another story) and more emphasis on the violence and the need to survive.  Heck, one of my favorite trilogies was about a family whose mom abandoned them in a parking lot and they had to live in their car.  


Seriously I am a happy well adjusted non murderous adult even after reading all that stuff so maybe there is just something in our teenage angst that draws us to violence, fear, and the supernatural?  It is a bit disturbing but I do know that by the time I was a junior in high school I was discovering Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston.


I can still remember how moved I was the first time I read "Their Eyes Were Watching God."  I began to tire of reading things that did not change or stir me in some way.  I began to want a book to make me feel something other than excited or in suspense.  


In a way I guess that is what growing up is.  We begin to look past the passion and visceral emotion and we pursue something stronger, something more life changing.  


I have two books beside my bed right now, one on top of the other, the titles?  


Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand 

and

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

Guess we never really lose who we are as teens huh?  We just mix that into who we become as adults. I love that I get to have my redemptive literature, my  higher plane, and still tap into the passion and suspense of life. 

I don't think we ever need to lament the choices our children have in literature (no matter how stale they may seem at first glance) we need to have faith that they will keep reading, keep moving forward and keep adding to their literary oeuvre.  After all, books are only as strong and alive as we become when reading them.