A major theme of this story by Richard Peck is the benefit of occasionally stepping out of one’s comfort zone. When junior high schooler Gene “goes along” to a poetry recital with students from a higher English class, he doesn’t “go along” with the students in his own class who ignore the opportunity. Although it isn’t clear whether Gene gains an appreciation for poetry, he is lucky enough to sit with, and starts to “get along” with, the hottest girl in his grade. Other themes include independence vs. conformity to peer pressure, and friendship. More…
Category Archives: Young Adult Stories
Customs
In this story from Julia Alvarez, a Dominican American college student makes her annual trip home to reconnect with her wealthy extended family. Set shortly after the 1965 Dominican Civil War, the story contrasts 1960s Western youth counterculture with her country’s traditional social, economic and political values. Although most Dominican youth cling to the old ways, she finds a kindred anti-establishment spirit in her father’s young chauffeur. It takes a disastrous (sabotaged) camping trip to teach her that she still retains some of her family’s outdated ways of thinking. Themes: culture/tradition, misogyny, class, deception, teen rebellion. More…
Two Kinds
A new slang term came into existence several years ago: Tiger Mother. This story by Amy Tan involves a perfect example of one. A fierce argument takes place between a mother and daughter following a disastrous piano recital. When the daughter refuses to continue practicing, the mother responds: Only two kinds of daughters. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter! Ironically, blind obedience may not be the best strategy for success in America. Themes include mother-daughter relationships, matriarchal power, pride, individuality and self-determination, rebellion. More…
The Moustache
In this coming of age story by Robert Cormier, seventeen-year-old Mike grew a moustache to prove he could. He likes the look, and wants to keep it. When he visits his grandmother, who lives in a nursing home and is losing her memory, he is worried she won’t recognize him. However, when she sees him she smiles and calls him by name. Later, he realizes she has mistaken him for his late grandfather who he was named after and also wore a moustache. She then tells him a secret that affects him greatly. Themes: identity, family, aging, guilt, forgiveness, communication. More…
Dead End
The protagonist of this coming of age story by Rudolfo Anaya faces a difficult decision: to honor a promise made to her dying mother, or risk ending a budding romance with the most sought after boy in school. Whichever choice she makes is likely to lead to a “dead end” of sorts. She comes close to a decision while ‘making out’ with the boy in his car. Fortunately, a childhood memory and plaintive sob from a passing bag lady help clear her mind. Themes: determination, family responsibility, dreams (a better future vs. ‘fitting in’ with the gang), sexuality, life choices More…
Jeremiah’s Song
A major theme of this story from W. D. Myers is the traditional role and modern demise of storytelling. The nine-year-old narrator and an older friend Macon are enthralled by his dying grandfather’s stories. The title refers to both the stories (which Grandpa Jeremiah refers to as the songs of my people) and the music composed by Macon while listening to them. There is an implication that through the power of music (especially the blues) some of these threatened stories/songs can live on. Themes: storytelling, change, family and community unity, death, music. More…
Safety of Numbers
One of the appeals of this story by Lucy Tan is that versions occur in immigrant families all over the world. Parents, who have known hardship and in some cases suffered under corrupt or authoritarian regimes, find a home in a new country. There, they drive their children hard to get the best possible start in life. The children, like the protagonist in this story, don’t fully understand their parents’ experiences and rebel against the added pressure. Mutual understanding often doesn’t come until the children experience and overcome their own challenges in life… which may be too late. More…
Apollo
The major themes of this story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie are aging, parent-child relationships, class, sexuality, jealousy and betrayal. A young Nigerian man is reminded of a time when, thanks to a shared interest in martial arts, he had bonded with one of his family’s houseboys (Raphael). Despite their differences in age and social class, the two spent hours practicing moves and mock fighting whenever his parents were away. For the boy, the relationship changes when Raphael contracts Apollo (conjunctivitis) and is confined to his room. Later, jealousy leads to betrayal with dire consequences for poor Raphael’s future. More…
On the Bridge
In this coming of age story by Todd Strasser, a young teen learns the importance of being himself. As the boy (Seth) and the “cool” friend he looks up to (Adam) stand smoking on a highway bridge, Adam brags about his toughness and experience with older girls. When Adam throws his cigarette onto the windshield of a passing car, the three occupants confront the boys. Adam points to Seth as the culprit, and stands by as Seth is brutally beaten. Seth finally sees Adam for what he is: a boastful fake. Themes include friendship, social acceptance, bravado, betrayal, violence, enlightenment. More…
Rules of the Game
The title of this story by Amy Tan refers to both the game of chess and the game of life. A Chinese-American mother’s term for one important rule is the art of invisible strength (self-control). The story deals with a number of themes: poverty, respect (for parents, others and one’s cultural heritage), pride vs. humility, passion and dedication, and mother/daughter relationships. At the end of the story, both fail in exercising the art of invisible strength. The mother’s understandable pride leads to bragging; the daughter’s response is rudeness and running away. Whose wind (willpower) will blow the strongest? More…
Cooking Time
Anita Roy’s Cooking Time is about Mandy, a teenage girl living in a future dystopian world. An environmental disaster has destroyed all agricultural production. Everything is controlled by a huge company that makes the world’s only source of food… a processed product sold in squeeze packs. The story introduces some powerful themes inside an entertaining backstory built around the Masterchef TV show. Mandy rises above her poor background, surprising everyone by qualifying for the competition. In this version, contestants travel back in time to catch/gather and cook their meals. Mandy has an ulterior motive: to try to change the future! More…
A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune
Angus, Chris Crutcher’s self-proclaimed fat kid with perverted parents, suffers major self-image problems. Constantly ridiculed for his size and unusual family, he is nevertheless surprisingly agile and a defensive force to be reckoned with on the school football team. A prank sees him voted the school Senior Winter Ball King. His “Queen” is the long-term girl of his dreams, who he has always considered out of his league. She arrives with one of the most popular boys at school but, after sharing a secret with Angus, they connect and leave together. Themes: body shaming, prejudice, bullying, self-image, courage, acceptance, homosexuality. More…
Going Fishing
This story from Norma Fox Mazer describes the emotional stress of a plus-sized senior high-schooler having trouble finding her place in the world. Ignored by boys and feeling patronized by her normal-sized family, she fantasizes about a white light that will lead her to where she can be as big and strong and loud as she was born, as she naturally is. In the meantime, she finds solace in casting out her line and watching it break through the glassy sheen of the reservoir. Themes: physical appearance, inclusiveness, alienation/loneliness, sexuality, identity, finding peace in nature. More…
The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant
Many reviewers suggest that the theme of this story by W.D. Wetherell is love. The only real “loves” in the plot are the narrator’s love for fishing and Sheila’s love for herself. For me, the theme is the lengths people go to in pursuing infatuation. Although Sheila is a self-absorbed tease, at the beginning of the story the narrator takes his infatuation too far. The story was published in 1983. Today, the way he creeps through the woods to watch Sheila’s house at night, and studies her every movement as she sunbathes by day, could see him arrested for stalking. More…
My Sweet Sixteenth
In this story by Brenda Wilkinson, a school friend helps a young a girl deliver her baby in her upstairs bedroom while a house-full of guests celebrate her “Sweet Sixteenth” birthday downstairs. The baby’s father wanted her to keep it; she wanted a termination but waited too long. The next morning, she secretly takes the baby to a hospital, claiming she found it on the street. Fortunately, the truth comes out and the prospect of family shame encourages her to keep the child, which she now loves. Themes include naivety, choices and consequences, deception, abortion, friendship, social image, and motherhood. More…
Daughter of Invention
This entertaining story from Julia Alvarez begins by relating how a mother spends her limited free time trying to realize the Great American Dream by inventing improved household gadgets. Conflict arises over her daughter Yolanda’s inspired but controversial Teacher’s Day speech. Her father, whose family suffered bloody repression in his home country, ironically tears up the speech and demands a traditional, more respectful approach. His subsequent “make-up” gift of a typewriter symbolizes that the family “inventor” role has passed on to literary-minded Yolanda. Major themes: family relationships, cultural adjustment, freedom of expression, empowerment of women, pursuit of dreams. More…
The Man in the Well
In this story by Ira Sher, a group of children find a man trapped in a well and reach an unspoken agreement to leave him there. Readers are left with three questions: 1) How/why did the man end up in the well? 2) Why wouldn’t he give the children his name? and 3) Why didn’t the children get help? The first question is of interest, but doesn’t affect the story. The second question begs another: Would the outcome have been different if the man had given his name? The third suggests a major theme: insensitivity to the suffering of others. More…
Supper
The major themes of this story by Lesléa Newman are sexuality and alienation. Protagonist Jocelyn’s annoying grandmother spoils supper by complaining about her vegetarian diet and trying to force her to eat some meat. Later, the grandmother makes a cruel comment about her being too skinny to attract boys. Jocelyn blushes because she thinks there might be something wrong with her. She “doesn’t like” boys, but found a kissing and petting ‘practice session’ with her best friend (who demonstrated what her experienced boyfriend does) sexually stimulating. Sadly, the poor girl doesn’t appear to have anyone to talk to about it. More…