Young And Adult And Literature

TORDA'S SPRING 2025 TEACHING SITE

Young And Adult And Literature

4/29/2025

Introduction: We started our semester by talking about this genre living in different spaces. But they are definitely overlapping spaces. To visualize this, I'm going to be cliche about it. Here is a venn diagram where you can imagine, "young", "adult," and "literature" existing in each of the circles.

Details: For this post, consider the texts we read this semester. Where would you place them on this diagram? Do any of the texts live exclusively in one space or another? Do some exist in two (young & adult, young & literature, literature & adult)? Would you put the texts we read in the very center of our diagram? You may not hold a firm position on all the texts we've read--I know I don't--so you might want to gravitate towards the novels we read you have a strongly felt opinion about. Include your arguments for why you made the choices you made. Consider the criteria you are using and be able to talk about that in class. I'm not asking you to respond to each other online, but do read what your classmates have to say. Notice similarities, differences--big differences, big similarities. Wonder about their criteria.

Use some of the hour I am giving you before 7:00 to respond to this post. We'll use this as a jumping off point for a broader discussion to close out our discussion of the genre.

17 Comments

Diane Gentile

4/29/2025 03:12:30 pm

[Please forgive any typos! Writing this in the car on the way to the Celtics game :)]

I actually really love this question and being able to think about all of our novels in terms of where they fall in this diagram. I remember at the start of the semester, we discussed what our definitions of each of these words (“young,” “adult,” and “literature”) are and how they fit together. When we discussed this, I initially believed, and shared, the idea that, to me, anything that is written is literature. I suppose I said this with such confidence because I had avoided graphic novels for much of my young and adult life. However, having read Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir, I actually believe that book falls into just “Young’ (Sorry, Pedro Martin). It is difficult for me to consider graphic novels literature in general, but particularly one that was so youthful and meant for such a younger audience.

With that being said, I would sort the texts we read this semester into the following categories.

Young
Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir

Young Adult Literature
Dear Medusa
For Lamb
Little Women
Saints of the Household
Warrior Girl Unearthed

Adult Literature
The Catcher in the Rye

Literature
To Kill a Mockingbird

????
Dear Medusa

For Lamb, Little Women, Saints of the Household, and Warrior Girl Unearthed truly fit and define the genre of Young Adult Literature the way I have come to understand it. They each individually have so many of the characteristics we discussed at the beginning of the semester and so many of the things we have discovered together as a class over our time together. I believe the characters in these novels do truly come of age through struggle (and often trauma) and teach lessons to the reader from what they have been through. I feel they each approach different difficult topics relevant to young readers growing up (friendship, family, love, identity, gender, etc) and also contain enough adult content or ideas to have the adult part of this genre. They are also, of course, literature in the way the story is told and the language used.

I could not confidently place The Catcher in the Rye under Young Adult Literature because while I did rediscover my love for Holden Caulfield by reading this novel again, I don’t know that he is really a young adult protagonist in the ways we have discussed. I also don’t feel like he really “grew” (at least to our knowledge despite the fact I hope he does). The topics and the events seem much more adult and I can’t identify what would really make this novel young aside from the fact it is used in classrooms with young people.

I know, I know, shocking: I have placed To Kill a Mockingbird in a category all on its own: LIterature. I initially listed it under Young Adult Literature but I do truly think that an adult could pick up this book, having never read it as a child, and appreciate it and feel something from it. I don’t think they would be thinking “wow, this is way too young for me,” (looking at you, Mexikid) but I also know that students in middle school do not say “this book is too old for me.” I think this is why I love To Kill a Mockingbird. To me, it is just literature. Period. And it will be whatever you need it to be when you read it and you will get whatever you need to get out of it at that time in your life. It’s young when you’re young, it’s adult when you’re an adult, and it’s always literature.

I had Dear Medusa listed as Young Adult Literature and had to double back because I fear that Alicia as a character, similar to Holden, isn’t what I imagine for a YAL protagonist. I also don’t feel the ending fits what we expect and have discussed for YAL. However, I don’t think it is the same as Catcher in the Rye as Adult Literature because there ARE many aspects of the novel that do belong in Young (the setting, the verse, the characters journeys to discovering themselves, the angst). So, in my definitions, it doesn’t belong in Adult Literature, it doesn’t belong in Young Adult Literature, but it also just can’t be put with To Kill a Mockingbird either. So, it will remain unsorted (but loved).

Devon Melo

4/29/2025 04:02:21 pm

I appreciate your perspective on Catcher here, Diane. Good point brought up

Gabrielle Sleeper

4/29/2025 03:23:52 pm

I would place Little Women, Mexikid, and To Kill a Mockingbird all firmly in the Young-Literature category. The reason I would place Mexikid and To Kill a Mockingbird in the Young Literature category is largely to do with the age of the main characters. Pedro and Scout are both very young, certainly not teens. As such, their views and messages are a little more simplistic than other novels we have read, and at some points a bit less mature. The messages of these stories are a bit lighter, more straightforward, and overall seem neater than some of the other stories we’ve read, if that makes sense. This feels true for Little Women to me, as well. Although we follow the March sisters through their preteen into their adult years, the story still feels a bit younger to me. I think it’s the focus on making sure there is always a lesson in what is considered “proper” behavior. These neat and tidy lessons sometimes lack the depth and moral complexity that I would expect from a more “adult” story.

I would place Dear Medusa, Saints of the Household, and Warrior Girl Unearthed in the Young-Adult category. Each of these texts deal with teens going through some pretty serious situations that are much more morally complicated than those in the Young-Literature category. However, each of these texts are very straight-forward reads. There’s less to dig into from a literary analysis aspect, and I feel like it would be a little more difficult to use these novels to teach students to read more complicated texts.

I would place For Lamb and The Catcher in the Rye firmly in the Young-Adult-Literature category. Both of these novels follow teenagers who are clearly going through identity-defining moments. They grapple with morally ambiguous situations where there is not always a clear right or wrong way to handle a situation. The messages of these novels are a little more complex. They not just allow for deeper analysis, they demand it in order to fully appreciate these stories. Additionally, both stories are clearly teaching important reading skills to students. For Lamb teaches students how to read stories from multiple perspectives and how to analyze the same situations from multiple points of view. Each change in narration adds to the story, and there is room to discuss why the author chooses to jump to these particular characters in these specific moments. Catcher in the Rye teaches students to think critically about the trustworthiness of the narrator. Students learn how to handle an unreliable narrator and how to look beyond what is being said to figure out where the truth may lie. Any given moment allows for analysis, because any given moment may not be reality.

Caitlin Kelly

4/29/2025 03:26:00 pm

Young-Mexikid, Little Women

Mexikid was the easiest of the texts we read for me to characterize. It easily skews towards a younger audience-on the younger side of middle school, in my opinion. While the memoir does tackle some more serious topics, it does so in a light-hearted and comical way, where young readers can easily digest what is happening even without the historical context the memoir references. All of the scrapes the characters in the memoir experience are fairly easily resolved, and there are a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings between them all the way through the text. There is nothing in this text that I really consider “adult” and so I am placing it firmly in the “young” category.

This could be controversial, but I am also placing Saints of the Household in the young compartment. While it does deal with domestic abuse, I didn’t find the descriptions of the abuse at any time to be too much for a young reader-although I guess I do need to take into consideration the fact that I am reading this as an adult. I think the struggles of both brothers were so clearly coming of age experiences, and the ways that they were struggling to make sense of themselves and their relationship with each other, was more on the young side. They clearly are finding their way in both family and personal relationships, like so many young people are.

Little Women was almost impossible for me to classify, as I know it is viewed as the iconic YA text. BUT-I think it skews more young, if only for the fact that each chapter of the novel seems to wrap itself up nicely in a pretty little bow. Even when the March sisters experience real grief and hardship (Beth’s death, specifically) they always have each other to lean on and are firmly supported with love, compassion, and understanding by each other and their parents. The novel feels “safe” in many ways, which makes me place it in the young compartment.

Adult

Catcher in the Rye also deals with serious topics-Holden’s mental health and the grief he experiences after the death of his brother also landing it firmly in adult land. Despite his antics being irritating and somewhat childish, what leads him to these antics, and the antics themselves, are adult in nature. The ending of the novel is ambiguous, and doesn’t really allow the reader to what growth, if any, Holden has achieved, so I don’t know if I can classify this as a YA novel without fully being shown a coming of age story arc.

Young and Adult
TKAM
Catcher in the Rye
Warrior Girl Unearthed
For Lamb
Dear Medusa

In my opinion, the majority of the novels we read this semester ensconce themselves nicely in the overlapping niche of both young and adult. While I went back and forth on my placement of TKAM, I ultimately decided it belongs in the middle of the Venn diagram simply because I don’t think a novel that is at its core about a rape accusation of a black man in the 1930s as a young text, despite Scout’s young age and decidedly young and unreliable voice as our narrator.

For Lamb is about a lynching. Again-adult. But Lamb is a young girl, trying to find her place in the world, making mistakes and stumbling on her way. Her “friendship” with a white peer shows this-even though Lamb knows that she needs to hide this friendship, she doesn’t truly understand or gauge the consequences until it is far too late. The relatively “happy” ending, even after the lynching of her mother, cements this as young and adult for me.

While the narrative voice of Dear Medusa read young to me, like For Lamb, the novel in verse deals with very serious topics-in this case, the aftermath of sexual assault. The allusions to Medusa also take this text to the adult/literature side of the Venn diagram. However, Alicia’s actions and behaviors are decidedly un-adult-she is avoidant, non-communicative, and has difficulty understanding her own role and place within her problems, making it a crossover text for me.

Warrior Girl Unearthed leans more heavily towards adult, but similarly to Holden in Catcher, Perry’s attitude and the way she continually finds herself in various scrapes made me ultimately decide to make this a crossover as well. I think this is the text that adult readers would enjoy the most or find the most interesting, especially with its discussions of the missing artifacts and the missing indigenous women.

Caitlin Kelly

4/29/2025 04:02:56 pm

Meant to add that Little Women and TKAM should also be in the Literature category.

Ryan Juliano

4/29/2025 03:28:57 pm

Slotting the novels we have read over the course of the semester is a little harder than I thought it would be. I find I’ve been sitting here for a few minutes just thinking. I agree with the sentiment that none of our titles reside in one space between young, adult, and literature. Perhaps part of that is me being bold enough to say that they all fall under the literature umbrella. Whether we liked all of them or not, each novel we read generated discussion about subtext and they all add something to the conversation/scope of YA as a genre. Some are more ‘literary’ than others, but they are all literature.

I don’t know that I would slot any of them as adult. There are a couple titles that come very close in terms of diction and readability (Little Women and The Catcher in the Rye); three that come close simply because they are classics/canon (the two aforementioned and To Kill a Mockingbird); and several that simply feature concepts, themes, and subject matter that lean towards an older audience (For Lamb, Dear Medusa, Saints of the Household, and Warrior Girl Unearthed).

While that last set provides more mature content, I would not go so far as to say that any felt like adult reading. They all still feature mostly teen characters going through mostly teen life challenges in mostly teen settings with a few exceptions here and there.

That leaves Mexikid standing firmly alone as decidedly young literature intended for young readers. That is the easiest to categorize for me. The graphic novel still features many YA themes that we have discussed in class (firsts, family dynamics, identity, bildungsroman), but it is the title most geared towards a younger audience in our list of novels. Perhaps that is why it is the happiest of all of the works we read. It is certainly the most colorful.

We’ve talked about many common themes over the semester. If I were to fully base my understanding of YA on our reading list alone I think I would end up somewhere in this area: YA generally features young (preteen-teen) protagonists facing a part of their lives that will force them to grow up whether they welcome it or not; these young characters will be raised in unique family settings that are either helmed by a single stable parent or no parent at all (two living parents in a loving relationship would be an outlier), they will always have at least one sibling, they will come to question their identity throughout much of their story, and more often than not they will face some kind of life changing tragedy.

Kaitlynn Davis

4/29/2025 03:34:08 pm

Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir (Young)
For Lamb (Young/Adult/Literature)
Little Women (Young/Literature)
Saints of the Household (Young/Literature)
Warrior Girl Unearthed (Young/Literature)
The Catcher in the Rye (Adult/Literature)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Literature)
Dear Medusa (Adult/Literature)

It’s difficult to put them into categories, because I think in some way or another that most of these novels fit into the Young Adult Lit category. The only one that I feel doesn’t is Catcher, which is a book I don’t think would easily be understood by teens (cause I 100% did not). The others are all varying degrees of each other. Mexikid is difficult to assess because its a graphic novel, which tends to be infantilized by higher brow readers. Yes, there are pictures, but I don’t have the toolset at the moment to break down the nuances of understanding how to analyze and interpret art. I feel like interpreting art and literature are very valuable, but are also very different. One wouldn’t judge a movie and book off of similar merits, because they are entirely different mediums.

As for the others, I don’t have a strong opinion about what category they fall into more. They are all books about young adults that are targeted specifically at young adults. They follow the structure of a teen or young kid learning a lesson, and as readers we follow them along in the hopes to in turn to learn something from their lesson. In some books like TKAM or Catcher, they were written not of this time period so there is a natural learning curve that allows readers to see the context. I don’t think it's necessarily more adult, I just think because it was written not in this current time period there is a natural translation that needs to be learned and applied. With the newer YA novels, its easier for us to read them and relate because they were written with current day audiences in mind. In 50 years, they might hold up similarly to TKAM (probably not but you know).

Marisa Silk

4/29/2025 03:42:48 pm

Young - Mexikid, To Kill a Mockingbird

Young Adult, Dear Medusa, Saints of the Household, Warrior Girl Unearthed (Young / Adult)

Literature - Catcher in the Rye, Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird (canon status?)

All - Catcher in the Rye, Little Women, For Lamb

As we examine the Young Adult genre, it is clear that many of the spaces intertwine and overlap. The texts that I would put at the very center of a venn diagram (“all” section) are Catcher in the Rye, Little Women and For Lamb. A text I would only categorize as “young” is Mexikid because of how it is a middle grade text. I also believe the rest of the following texts we read would be considered along a varying spectrum of both “young & adult;” these texts would be Dear Medusa, Saints of the Household, Warrior Girl Unearthed. I will break these down according to the “young adult” criteria elements that we have discussed throughout this course.

#1 “Young:” Mexikid, the graphic memoir, to me feels like a middle grade text, and does not have the same level of nuance and depth as our other texts did. It does have the first-person perspective and internal conflict revolving about Pedro coming to terms with his Mexican-American identity and “in-betweenness” that he faces. However, there is no strong nature of rebellion or center external conflict that I would place this in “young adult.” There is also no feeling that Pedro completely leaves his childhood. Even after the episode with the deer, it feels like he has matured only slightly, and that there is still growing up to do whereas in other texts we read, there is a clear defining moment where we know our protagonist has left childhood behind. To Kill a Mockingbird also feels young adult because of the age of the characters. If the story was from Jem’s perspective or an older Scout, I would define it as
“young adult.” The direct, straightforward prose, with little literary challenge for young adult readers, is why I would challenge that it should not be considered “young adult".

#2 “All / Center:” The texts that I would put at the center as texts that should be considered “young adult” and “literature” are Catcher in the Rye, Little Women, and For Lamb. This is because of how they show the internal and external development of characters who achieve their “quests” of self-realization by the end of the novel and distinct narrative constructions that make them true bildungsroman or coming-of-age novels.

I strongly believe that Little Women is the archetype and foundation for the young adult novel because of Jo’s character development. Even with a text written in third-person close narration, I still feel as if the voice of the omniscient narrator was Jo. By having the girls start as young children and seeing them mature into adulthood grants a full progression of character development. The March sisters’ bond as they navigate the social and class structures of their period. Jo challenges gender norms by embracing her “tom-boy” self and pursuing her dream of writing. All the girls present different aspects of femininity with Jo’s rebellion at the heart of the story. With their mother as a guiding figure, Alcott’s prose is able to convey didactic morals for young readers to learn. However, the mature themes of marriage, death, loss, and heartbreak cause the novel to enter the “adult” space. Meg’s marriage is the first sign of the March girls exiting childhood and entering young adulthood. Then, Beth’s death is the catalyst for the full entry to adulthood as the girls realize the harsh realities of the world. The didactic nature and moral language of the text is a distinct narrative voice that is not typical in young adult literature, constituting it as literature.

For Lamb also achieves this through Lamb’s friendship Marny. Lamb’s experience with befriending a white girl based on their joint love of reading. At first, Lamb is aware of the social inequalities around her, but she has never been directly affected herself. The innocent friendship with Marny is a form of rebellion, but also a chance for her to be ignorant of reality, and believe that there is hope, change, and her friendship with Marny won’t end in tragedy; it is within this friendship that Lamb matures and realizes how embedded racism is. The use of multiple perspectives grants a “literature” aspect that is not your typical “young adult” text as we get to know the adult character well, like Lamb’s mother. This allows for the presentation of the cyclical, generational trauma that Lamb’s mother experiences, and then Lamb does when she is sexually assaulted by Marny’s brother. Marny’s entire character development with her internal and external conflicts c

Marisa Silk

4/29/2025 03:48:31 pm

causes her to become wary and cautious of the world around her. Her naivety and innocence are completely gone, and she enters adulthood without choice. The direct imagery of lynching causes the reader to be immersed in the horrors of the Jim Crow South. Both of these texts combine the elements of “young adult,” but also constitute literature for their mature themes and narrative construction.

Sadie Petta

4/29/2025 03:43:11 pm

Young Adult Literature
Little Women
For Lamb
To Kill a Mockingbird

The texts that we’ve read that perfectly fall into the middle of the venn diagram, representing young adult literature, are Little Women, For Lamb, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I realize that 2 of these texts are classic YA lit, so maybe I’m being influenced by society’s expectations of what is literature? I also almost put Warrior Girl Unearthed on this list because I personally loved it, but it feels more similar to Dear Medusa and Saints of the Household. I don’t think this is something we’ve touched on a lot, but I feel like literature is timeless. While all 3 of these YA novels take place in the past, there is a timeless sense about them. The main characters do things that are representative of young adults. All of these texts have sibling bonds that help tie the story together. I know that all of the texts we read do, but I think these 3 books do it the best. Also, based on the novels I chose here, I clearly think of literature as prose, which is probably something I should dissect about myself.
I do think the writing is stronger in these novels than the other ones. The POV switches in For Lamb would be a great conversation and teachable structure in a classroom. To Kill a Mockingbird is written from the perspective of an older Scout, which adds a complexity that none of the other novels we’ve read did. Little Women covers the course of a decade, which isn’t super common in novels nowadays. I think I chose which texts would be considered YA literature based on how much I enjoyed them, and how interesting they’d be to teach.

Young & Literature
Mexikid

I don’t have much to elaborate on about this. I thought it was a cute graphic novel, and honestly, I may just consider it young and not literature. If the images provided more to the story, it would easily be classified as literature; I’m a sucker for memoirs.

Young & Adult
Dear Medusa
Saints of the Household
Warrior Girl Unearthed
Catcher in the Rye

I enjoyed these books less than the ones I classified as Young Adult literature. Also, most are modern texts (except for Catcher, of course). I know I mentioned timeless as a descriptor of literature and I understand that Catcher is a very popular novel even today, but I don’t really care. I simply cannot put it next to Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird, and For Lamb because it’s not as good. I think these 3 novels teach empathy and Catcher does the opposite depending on how you read it. Saints of the Household, Dear Medusa, and Warrior Girl Unearthed all discuss adult topics from the perspectives of young characters. They all cover violence that the main character or another character faces. I wouldn’t give these books to someone in elementary school, so I wouldn’t consider them just young. They are all very clearly young adult. I still liked these books, especially Warrior Girl Unearthed, but I think the many modern references don’t give them the same timeless character. They’re still good books. I just didn’t think these 4 provided the same umph (only word I can think of) as the other 3 that I put in the Young Adult Literature section.

Megan LeBlanc

4/29/2025 03:51:31 pm

I truly think it would be a disservice to any of these novels to put them in only one category, so my venn diagram focuses on where the categories intersect in one way or another.

YOUNG ADULT
- To Kill a Mockingbird; Scout being so young throughout this storyline is what keeps it from venturing too far into the 'literature' category for me. It's up to the reader to do a lot of the learning, in my opinion, as Scout never has a super clear lesson learned. I understand that the intended lesson is, like, empathy for others, but I think it wasn't very fleshed out. If we (readers) got to see more of Scout's thoughts/personal biases change and morph over time, I think that would change its positioning for me. Many qualities often found in YA Lit are just ultimately missing here, but I think it's a great text to get younger students to start thinking deeper about the world around them

- Saints of the Household; This book was an enjoyable read, but, to echo what I said about TKAM, I feel like there was no specific 'coming of age' moment or change in the characters that I could put my finger on. The intended audience definitely feels teenager-y and the content is interesting, but I think I still feel unfulfilled. I was truly hoping for something to happen to make the characters change how they see the world and people, but this realization never came

- Dear Medusa; This was one of my favorite books, and that made me want to put it in the 'Young Adult Literature' category, but I just couldn't. I wish the story went further into the main character's recovery. I think that would have made it feel more fleshed out and relevant to me, but as it stands the book just kind of... fell flat. I liked the build up and I liked the foundation that was built, but I don't think it really offered any new perspectives. When I think YA Lit, I think of lessons being learned. Again, though, the intended audience for this DOES feel like teenager-ish years, not any younger

YOUNG LITERATURE
- Mexikid; I loved this book, and I think the message it sends is too powerful to ignore. It's a classic hero's journey taken by a Mexican American child coming of age. However, I do think the intended audience is a younger one. I think it would be too young for my 9th grade classes, fitting in better with a 4th to 6th grade crowd (give or take a few grades). With that being said, I had a great time reading it! It was fun, youthful, and impactful

Adult Literature
- The Catcher in the Rye; Maybe I'm biased and a little judgmental, but I really cannot picture young adults finding this book appealing or relatable. I'm not sure if life is just so different now, but Holden was an irritating narrator and it felt like I just never got to the point of the story. The lack of clear structure/intention left me frustrated. I can see where this novel has value in its position as a classic, but for modern YA readers? I just think it misses the mark

Young Adult Literature
- Little Women; This is a classic of the genre for a reason. I like that it can be read by all age groups and be read repeatedly, with the reader gaining something every time. When I read it, it almost felt like a self-help book; the March sisters really encouraged me to keep up with my own chores around the house! The varying ages of the sisters and the length of time that we see them grow and change makes it a viable reading option for all kinds of people, from preteens to grown, retired adults. This novel is long, covers many years, teaches countless valuable lessons, and reads like a series of mini-stories. It's a cozy, ultimately feel-good read (except for Beth... RIP) and, despite being 1. our first reading and 2. a book I was NOT looking forward to, I find myself thinking of it fondly still

- For Lamb; I loved this book so much. I'm excited to say that I'm teaching it next year (assuming my budget request gets approved) and, despite the potential challenges, I'm ecstatic. Lamb was a character that I can see being relatable to a lot of teenage-ish girls, especially ones who struggle with racism. It was powerful and the message of perseverance and the dangers of racism. I will be pairing it with TKAM and I look forward to it adding an additional layer to the classic

- Warrior Girl Unearthed; So great. I think what makes it YA Lit is the learning throughout. Perry changes and learns so much over the course of the novel, learning what was really important to her. It also had a ton of drama and a classic teenage-romance story. It is culturally relevant, engaging, and well written

Devon Melo

4/29/2025 03:58:20 pm

This is a really hard task. This position is not firm, other than Mexikid which I put under the young category. I think several of the texts we’ve read this semester fall under an overlapping space within the criteria of what makes it young, adult, and literature.

I found myself putting a few below in two spots, and question if part of the reason why I have two of the English public school canon in the adult and literature, solely because of their reputation. I’m trying to put that past me though, as I’m fortunate to teach in a district where I can move past the classics a little, so my hope is over the next few years I’ll be able to take a text like For Lamb to replace TKAM and call it literature, which I truly think it is. I loved loved loved that text!

Young - Mexikid

Young/Adult - Saints of the Household
Ofcourse Saints is literature, however when I am thinking literature I’m thinking about if I can teach a full novel study dissection of this text. I get how that shouldn't be the only take for this, but...

Young/Adult/Literature - For Lamb, Warrior Girl Unearthed, Dear Medusa, Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye

Adult/Literature - To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye

Megan Johnson

4/29/2025 04:02:35 pm

Young-
Mexikid
To Kill a Mockingbird

I believe both of these texts lean more towards the young end of this spectrum. I would argue that the content is moreso geared towards younger audiences and/or the topics discussed (rape, exhuming of bodies, etc.) is treated in a manner that is extremely delicate and age appropriate. TKAM does not actually provide distressing details for readers, but rather provides suggestions (i.e. the Ewell family). The elements of each of these texts are more obvious and overt in nature. Mexikid’s structure follows an extremely linear plot, focuses on one character’s thoughts/feelings, and provides a clear beginning, middle, and end. Not much is left to be imagined in regards to this text.

Young Adult Literature-
Saints of the Household
For Lamb
Dear Medusa

These three texts fall directly under the genre of YAL as they exemplify many of the criteria we’ve discussed throughout the semester. The first that comes to mind is the unbridled emotion of the characters. Each of the main characters in the above novels experienced either a deep sense of anger towards their world and/or a burgeoning sense of injustice at how they have or are being treated by those around them. Second, these texts demonstrate adults as the problem. In For Lamb, Lamb’s mother is seen as an antagonistic presence towards her children throughout the novel; eventually, the people who lynch her become the true adult problem. In Saints, the boys’ father is clearly seen as a source of tension in the novel, along with other adults who don’t fully grasp what each main character is going through. Finally, in Dear Medusa, the science teacher, along with other unhelpful/problematic adults, shape the plot significantly.

Adult-
Is it fair to say some of the endings/falling actions of some of these texts turned novels “adult” (Warrior Girl Unearthed comes to mind)?

While I wouldn’t fully say this novel is all adult, I would argue that the second half of the novel becomes increasingly more adult. By this, I mean it covers issues and conflicts in society in a manner that is more direct than TKAM or even Catcher. The outcome of the heist, and the revelation of Hugo’s misconduct quite literally sounds like a true crime podcast! The content, I imagine, would be particularly jarring if someone who read Mexikid ended up reading Warrior Girl Unearthed directly afterwards.

Literature-
Little Women

I believe that Little Women falls under the category of literature for several reasons. First, the text complexity in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary vastly surpasses novels written in the 21st century. Second, the successful treatment of multiple characters and their well-developed plot lines is additionally unlike any of the texts we’ve read this semester, with perhaps the exception of For Lamb. More current YAL texts, based on what we’ve read, seems to focus solely on 1-2 characters and developing their internal thoughts or feelings as much as possible.

Gus Haflin

4/29/2025 04:05:11 pm

Rationale to follow in class (Saw this late)
Text Young? Adult? Literature?
Little Women X X X
TKAM X X X
Catcher X X X
For Lamb X X
Saints of the Household X X
Dear Medusa X
Mexikid: a Graphic Memoir X
Warrior Girl Unearthed X X

Gus Haflin

4/29/2025 04:10:54 pm

My lovely grid didn't keep its formatting :(

Catarina Morrissette

4/29/2025 04:19:21 pm

So, I view most of the novels we have read in class as either Young Adult Literature or just Young Literature:

Little Women (Young Literature)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Young Literature)
For Lamb (Young Adult Literature)
The Catcher in the Rye (Young Adult Literature)
Dear Medusa (Young Adult Literature)
Saints of the Household (Young Adult Literature)
Mexikid (Young Literature)
Warrior Girl Unearthed (Young Adult Literature)

Taylor McKinney

4/29/2025 04:34:41 pm

Oh my goodness, I did not see that I needed to do this before Zoom started.

young & adult,
Dear Medusa
Warrior Girl Unearthed
Little Women
TKAM
Catcher
For Lamb

young & literature,
Saints of the Household
Little Women
TKAM
Catcher
For Lamb
Mexikid

literature & adult
Warrior Girl Unearthed
Little Women
Catcher
For Lamb

Where would you place them on this diagram?
See list above

Do any of the texts live exclusively in one space or another?
Saint of the Household, Dear Medusa, and Mexikid I feel are exclusive to one space.
Mexikid was a juvenile approach to a memoir with an appeal to kids, and literature landing it solidly in the "Young & Literature"
Saints of the Household: I placed it solidly in the "Young & Literature" I felt that the narrative being told was targeted to a young audience and the use of verse and journal entries was it's tie to becoming more of a piece of "literature".
Dear Medusa had many adult themes and very much targeted to a young audience but I didn't feel it was this great piece of literature. Landing it firmly in the "Young, Adult" section.

Do some exist in two (young & adult, young & literature, literature & adult)?
Warrior Girl Unearthed and TKAM I found to land in two sections of the Venn diagram.
Warrior Girl Unearthed I placed in "Young & Adult, and Literature & Adult) I chose these two categories because It had a young protagonist going through episodic chapters of her summer internship, but with the details and history about indigenous people made me feel this was more of an appeal to an adult reader rather than the young reader.
TKAM has been placed in "Young & Adult" and "Young & Literature" I chose these two categories because of the young narrator and seeing the world through her eyes and its very much told from the perspective of a young girl.

Would you put the texts we read in the very center of our diagram?
I would have Little Women in the center as well as Catcher in the Rye and For Lamb.
Little Women was the first book we read as the pinnacle of YA literature and set the stage of what it means to be YA, so of course it has to be in the center of the diagram.
I thought that For Lamb as a modern addition appeals to the young, the adult, and the literature aspects of YA literature and I think anyone who picks up this book would enjoy reading it.
Catcher I feel is another classic YA novel that embodies all aspects.

Young And Adult And Literature

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