From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges Between Young Adult Literature and the Classics, and: Young Adult Fiction by African American Writers, 1968-1993: A Critical and Annotated Guide, and: Writers of Multicultural Fiction for Young Adults: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges Between Young Adult Literature and the Classics, and: Young Adult Fiction by African American Writers, 1968–1993: A Critical and Annotated Guide, and: Writers of Multicultural Fiction for Young Adults: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook David L. Russell (bio) Sarah K. Herz with Donald R. Gallo. From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges Between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. Deborah Kutenplon and Ellen Olmstead. Young Adult Fiction by African American Writers, 1968–1993: A Critical and Annotated Guide. New York: Garland, 1996. M. Daphne Kutzer, ed. Writers of Multicultural Fiction for Young Adults: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996. Defining Young Adult Literature (YAL) and its place in the larger scheme of literary studies are issues that remain largely unresolved. Nearly everyone who writes on the subject feels compelled to explain YAL and to defend its existence. But that it has achieved something of a coming-of-age is indicated by the growing number of critical and resource books now emerging from the publishing houses. Cases in point are the three works discussed below, which reveal the major strengths and weaknesses of YAL as a genre and as a field of study. [End Page 117] From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges Between Young Adult Literature and the Classics by Sarah K. Herz (Donald R. Gallo made some minor contributions and freely gives the principal credit to Herz) is intended to show high-school English teachers the many possibilities that YAL can bring to their classrooms. Herz’s thesis is that YAL, because it is more readily accessible to teenage readers, affords an opportunity for teachers to ease their students into the great books by showing them the connective themes between the works. Herz opens her book with a description of her personal experience discovering YAL and a brief theoretical discussion. About a third of the book is devoted to showing how certain books for young adults can be used as segues into the classics through their thematic connections. So, for example, Herz identifies several themes in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and then describes several YA books with similar themes, including Avi’s Nothing but the Truth and Paul Zindel’s The Pigman. The premise is that teenagers will appreciate the classics much more once they have seen the thematic similarities between the “great adult books” and their favorite YA books. Some of the connections drawn may seem tenuous at best. For instance, Herz recommends YA books on teen suicide as entrées into Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. And she makes no distinction between psychology and parapsychology when recommending cross-disciplinary readings—so that stories on witchcraft and demonology appear on the same list as stories about teenage obesity. In addition to identifying these bridges between the YA books and the classics, Herz and Gallo’s text is filled with an assortment of practical information for English teachers who have not been adequately introduced to YAL—lists of available catalogues, review journals, bibliographic and reference resources. The authors also provide helpful tips for promoting YA books in the schools, establishing library programs, and using YA books in interdisciplinary studies. Some readers, however, may wish for more teaching tips from Herz—how she excites her students about reading in the first place, how she generates lively book discussions, and how she sustains student interest through the difficult passages. Such success comes not from merely linking YA books with the adult classics; it is the result of patience, passion, and careful and creative planning. This eclectic work includes a considerable amount of helpful advice, but it is to be hoped that readers will not come away from this book convinced of its implication that YAL is fundamentally a stepping-stone to the good stuff. Herz writes as a teacher constrained by a prescribed curriculum. Her aim is not to defend YAL on its own merits. Nor does she [End Page 118] adequately emphasize that good YA books need no apology and no excuse for their inclusion in the curriculum. Good YA books belong in the classroom not only because they speak to contemporary students in their language...