The Four Worlds of The Young Adult

I’m taking a Young Adult Literature course as a prerequisite for my Masters degree. It’s a great class and I get to read wonderful books like Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, which if you haven’t read it you’re really missing something.

I have learned YA readers exist smack dab in the center of four worlds. First they are part of their “tribe” or “clique” and must adhere to the rules of the group. If Friday is ponytail day, they must wear their hair in a ponytail. If they buck the system consequences will ensue. In class we discussed some of the rules the students remembered following in high school. The rules ranged from wearing matching clothes to skipping school together and the punishments were almost always the same---rejection from the group. The disobedient member could be shunned for an hour, a day, or face permanent expulsion depending on the offense and the mood of the group.

The second world the teens live in is a broader definition of the “tribe”. It is the world of their peers. The tribe must conform, at least partially, with the greater society of peers. If the peer group does not approve or tolerate the tribe, the tribe must either change or face alienation.

The third world of the young adult is the world of adults or authority figures. This group includes teachers, parents, administrators--basically anybody who could make their life miserable and usually does.

The fourth and most difficult world is the point where the other three overlap. The teen is pulled in one direction by their tribe, in another by the larger peer group, and yet another by the authority figures in their lives. And they are in the center spinning plates on a stick to make it all work. All the while the teens are: a) coming of age, b)searching for their individual identity, and c) trying to identify the world around them. This is the area that makes them snarky one second, sweet the next, and completely off the wall the next. This reeks of conflict. This is where the story takes place.

As authors it is imperative for us to remember the four worlds they live in. We need to know the struggles they have with this precarious balancing act and then we need knock the plates off the stick and watch how they react. Of course the happy ending comes when they manage to get those plates spinning again.