Resilience Literature

Young adult literature has long been criticized for being too dark. It’s true that many YA authors choose to write about difficult topics. Violence, abuse, and trauma are never easy to stomach—in literature or in life. And yet if you talk to adults who actually work with teens, you soon learn that there are plenty of young people living the very situations we see depicted in YA lit. These teens deserve stories that tell the truth about their experience. So do teens whose lives are more sheltered. Literature can show us how ordinary people cope in the face of struggle and pain.

In this episode, you’ll hear about teens who are dealing with a range of obstacles and hardships. Odd as it may sound, some of the books are funny. Others are suspenseful page-turners. What they all have in common is a main character who finds him or herself in a terrible situation, but finds a way to respond with strength and hope.

After listening, be sure to print out this list of recommended titles to take with you to your local library or bookseller.

Books featured in this episode:

• The End or Something Like That by Ann Dee Ellis (Dial, 2014)
• I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister by Amelie Sarn (Delacorte, 2014)
• And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard (Delacorte, 2014)
• Winger by Andrew Smith (Simon & Schuster, 2013)
• When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum, 2014)
• Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013)
• The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher (Chicken House, 2014)
• Like No Other by Una LaMarche (Razorbill, 2014)
• Formerly Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham (Candlewick, 2013)