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Little Women : A Classic for Young Adults  - Soumya Mahalaxmikar ‘Little Women’ –by Louisa May Alcott– is set against the backdrop of the American civil war and tells the tale of the March sisters and their journey through life. It is considered an American classic, is said to have been inspired by Alcott’s real life. The four sisters have been foregrounded as individuals with distinct personalities and flaws. It could also be considered as a didactic guide for young women of the time. Quite like the novel that the “little women” themselves live by, i.e ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ by John Bunyan. The sisters are shown to struggle between finding their own identity and living life according to societal obligations. Often dubbed as the main character of the novel- Jo or Josephine March- is perhaps the one that struggles the most given her personality and the conservative traditions of the time. “Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded one of a colt, for she nev...

The Loser Letters : The Kingdom of God for the Millennials - Anand Nair Drawing on CS Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters for its structure, Mary Eberdstadt's The Loser Letters is young adult-fiction in the epistolary format. The protagonist AF Christian is a young woman who has lost her faith and has become a card-carrying atheist, and is now writing letters to the icons of the New Atheist movement so as to correct their fallacies and inadequacies in argument, so as to strengthen the atheist movement.  Drawing on a wide variety of arguments, with sources as wide ranging as Thomas Aquinas and Alvin Plantinga, Eberdstadt makes the theistic argument accessible in the millennial lingo, with her characteristic wit and snark. In showing how ideology permeates the modern lifestyle of unbridled hedonism, materialism and radical individuality (things which are taken as axiomatic now in our culture), Eberstadt has drawn an intellectual map of sorts starting from the Protestant reform...

  The Hate U Give : A Timely Manifesto  - Mahek Sadhwani The Hate U Give , a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas, strives to address the issues of police brutality and racial profiling. In early 2020, the callousness of the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, left the world aghast. The Hate U Give seeks to explore similar themes through the eyes of a young adult. Thomas’s debut novel, The Hate U Give revolves around Starr Carter, a 16-year-old black girl who attends a predominantly white private school. After Starr witnesses the shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil Harris, at the hands of a white police officer, she is forced to redefine her sense of self. Thomas is incredibly explicit in her description of the events that lead up to Khalil’s death. Following this, she painstakingly underscores the predicament Starr finds herself in — testifying before a grand jury would require Starr to put her family’s safety at risk. Clearly, Khalil’s death has le...

  ‘We are so much more than we dream of’ ; we are all the ‘Little’ women' - Aditi Sawant The concept or the multi-faceted word -  'Young Adult' refers to a period that is one of the most explorative and unpredictable times of an individual’s life. There is so much to say , learn and imagine that if one tries to convey it to the other ‘adult’ world they may be misunderstood or be left  non-comprehended by the other 'Adult' world. To willfully test and prove themselves at each and every step of the way, they find ways which shall abide by their set rules and  regulations. The world of Young Adult Fiction is such, but in the process of it being fiction it leaves back traces of experienced reality.  According to me , uniqueness stands for the ability to relate to something over a longer period of time. Yes,  relatability has his own pros and cons but one such novel will which stood as unique/relatable to me is (drumroll) … Little Women. The title of the novel ...

Personality Development witnessed in A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee -  Kiren Bakhru Young Adult Fiction would not be 'YA' without a journey to find yourself, however shrouded in fantasy and mystery it may be. This is a genre that hopes to attract a transitioning audience; metamorphosing into an independent individual. Hence, it is no surprise that the lead protagonist of such novels finds himself/herself thrust suddenly into a new world, and one of the major themes is this character’s struggle to find his/her place in such an environment.  A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee is the story of a young orphan who is rescued by what is arguably a feminist school and trained to be a spy. Her story begins as a street urchin surviving the polluted streets of London while attempting to become closer to her heritage as the daughter of a Chinese sailor. She is toughened by the streets and strong willed without being foolishly heroic; selfish without being callous. Her first mission brings h...

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis - A Young Adult in Afghanistan - Sonali Daryanani Set in the challenging historical background of Kabul, Afghanistan; this young adult novel puts forward the troubles of a young girl trying to face the Taliban law that has taken over and help her family out of the grave financial situation it has been put in. In the novel, the Taliban government imposes various dehumanizing and sexist restrictions on the women in Afghanistan, for instance: women and girls of all ages are forced to be entirely covered in a burqa from head to toe, not “allowed” to talk back to the elders or men of any age, do what they have been asked, not leave the house without a man, and so on. It focuses on the way women have been treated in an inferior manner since ages and also on what women would do to fight their way out of struggle for themselves and for their family. The novel involves a well-educated father who is arrested early in the novel leaving the entire family in a desp...

 Why every Young Adult should read 'The Amazing Spider-Man' Comic Series! - Keyur Vora People have many conventional movie or series characters as their favorites but my favorite one  is Steve Ditko and Stan Lee's The Amazing Spider-Man comic series. Growing up, Spider-Man has always been my favorite comic book hero. The very first lesson that he taught me is that, "With great power comes great responsibility." He is depicted as a very intelligent and talented  high-schooler who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and suddenly discovers his powers which include superhuman strength and stamina but he struggles to find a way to use them as he  doesn't really know what to do with them besides going after petty criminals. In addition to  fighting villains he also has the challenge of keeping his new-found powers a secret and the daily challenge of living his life. Peter Parker is an orphan who lives with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben  and he also loves Science (P...

  The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: The Journey of Nobody - Ananya Arora Every author that writes about people, writes of a journey. Where the journey then doesn’t matter because in the end, they are not in the place where they started out. This could be literal, but I mean it in a metaphorical sense. Character development is something that happens when a character is faced with a problem, and how they deal with it and solve it determines who they become. It’s always wonderful to see a person grow and change, particularly when it’s well done. I believe that Neil Gaiman has managed to show this particularly well in his book, The Graveyard Book . We follow the story of Nobody ‘Bod’ Owens, a toddler being raised in a graveyard by the ghosts of yesterday. Every event that takes place, helps in shaping the person Bod grows up to be. Bod is a young, playful child who has been accepted by all the dead buried in the graveyard and the former evil, now reformed vampire Silas, who guards th...

  Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami: Dealing with Death = Mansi Dixit Death is inevitable and no matter how hard we try we cannot bring back the ones we love. Sometimes some people get affected more than others and grief is just not enough. No matter how hard they try, they cling to the hope of being with them together and bring back those happy memories. But life is unexpected and what’s worse is the questions lingering in mind, like why did they have to go? When Kizuki commits suicide without even leaving a note, he shatters not only his girlfriend Naoka but also Toru, his best friend, who is the main character of the story. We humans fail to recognise the impact of loss in our lives because of the ignorance of death existing in our culture, leading us to trap the natural processes of grief within that cannot then be unfolded and heal the psyche. Even after years, we see that Toru Watanabe remains horrifyingly ignorant of the deaths and suicides that have left him suffering in a...

Beauty and its Exceptions - Khushi Jagetiya 'Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.' We often come across this saying, but how often have we actually believed it to be true? For the world of beauty, there is a fixed set of standards, of a size zero figure and flawless skin. Our perception of beauty is something we want to see reflected in all characters, be it in a novel or a film, and something or someone that may not fit these standards is often sees as not good enough to be a 'protagonist' and somewhere, we may even feel uneasy about it.  One issue that we should discuss is 'Body Shaming' and whether intentionally or unintentionally, we have all been a part of the body shaming cycle, where the victim and attacker each play a part. It might be in the form of light jokes or by way of mocking somebody, but we have all been there.  Two books were eye-openers for me as they explore these issues. The first was Holding Up The Universe  by Jennifer Niven, and the se...

The Journey of the Self and Adult Issues tackled by Young Adults in Touching Earth by Rani Manicka - Insha Rupani As someone who is not really an avid reader, it wasn't very challenging to narrow down on a novel that really caught my attention. One of the not so many books that really left me dumbfounded was Touching Earth by Rani Manicka. It just isn't categorized as a Young Adult Novel because of its polyphonic nature and the many story arcs that the author has given her readers to feast on. The novel presents us with the story of four very different people from various walks of life as well as varied cultural, ethical and geographical backgrounds. However,  I am centering my piece on the journey of the Balinese twins who at a very tender age in their teenage years migrated to a completely different world located in the bustling city of London in the hopes to expand their horizons and search for their true selves. With their entire childhood and early formative years being ...

Addiction in Walter Trevis' The Queen's Gambit - Prerna Rohra The Queen’s Gambit tells the story of orphaned Beth Harmon who becomes a master at chess in her 20s in 1960s America. The story shows us her journey to winning the world championship against the Russian champion Vasily Borgov. She meets many people in her life like Benny Watts and her adoptive mother who help her achieve her goal.  In the 1960s, tranquillisers were given to children in orphanages to calm them. This also happened to Beth but she becomes addicted to the tranquilisers as they ease her anxiety. Beth’s adoptive mother Mrs. Wheatley also suffers from addiction and alcoholism that lead to her untimely death. In the book, first it is shown that Beth often imagines her games, playing chess with herself with a board on the ceiling after taking the pills. They help her calm her nerves and help her sleep peacefully before matches. Over time, this addiction puts her chess career at stake and she also loses her f...

  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: A Unique Young Adult Novel - Juhi Desai Sometimes, we come across books that leave such a deep impact on us that we are helpless in  resisting their charm. These are books that seem to colour our every thought and emotion, so  much so that after reading them we seem to find ourselves lost in them still, the fantastical  characters and lands etched so firmly in our imaginations that they resist any attempt to allow  us to move on. For me, The Night Circus is one such novel.  The novel tells us the story of two magicians who often try to pit their protégées against one  another in order to determine the stronger of the two. The two students, Celia and Marco, are both young adults who possess extraordinary powers, and are forced to compete with each  other against the backdrop of the enigmatic Night Circus. As the name suggests, this Night  Circus is one that seems to appear almost instantaneously overni...

  The Alchemist  by Paulo Coelho - A unique novel for Young Adults - Ajay Sahu This book was my first love when it comes to reading novels, and it still is. My favourite quote is:  "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes true". This is also the main philosophy of the novel and the advice followed by the protagonist throughout his whole journey.  The story may be encapsulated like this: Santiago, a shepherd, seeks to know the significance of a recurring dream from a Gypsy fortune-teller. The woman sees it as a prophecy, predicting that the boy will find a huge fortune among the Egyptian pyramids. After leaving, Santiago meets an elderly monarch, Melchizedek, or King of Salem, who advises him to sell his sheep and travel to Egypt to fulfil his "Personal Legend." A man who promises to be able to take Santiago to the pyramids actually robs him of the money he earned from his flock soon after his arrival in Afri...

  Acceptance [ ə k ˈ s ɛ pt( ə )ns ]  (n.) the process or fact of being received as adequate, valid, or suitable. - Manal Qureshi The transition from an immature adolescent to a mature know-it-all teenager is tiresome and often lonely. You constantly struggle between knowing nothing and having to know everything. You want to fit in amongst your peers so you’re not picked on, and you do things you already know, or are expected to know. You are expected to keep your head down, follow the herd, and never ask questions. But curiosity is a trait that humans have carried with them proudly since the beginning of time! One always seeks what seems out of their reach. Growing up entails fresh new information at every corner that we turn to. We finally grasp enough consciousness to decide what we like and what we don’t, be it the simpleton choice of clothing, to more complex stuff like hobbies. But even then, the societal stigma of being restricted inside a box may hinder the posi...