The responsibility of writers to take on the world

Writing

Recently, a friend told me about a painting that depicted Nazi trains carrying Jews to the camps and carried the caption: What would you do?

(No, I don’t expect you to answer.)

He lobbed a different version of that question at me though.  What issues are facing the world NOW that carry that kind of weight?  What wrongs are being done that we turn away from?

(Don’t worry, I’m not going to share the horrifying list we came up with.)

Then he upped the ante by suggesting that writers have a responsibility to ask uncomfortable questions, to demand change, and to bring out our better selves.

(Okay, maybe I added some of that, but I’m sure he’d be on board.)

Now, my buddy is a journalist, and I’m a writer of kid lit.  My first impulse was to say that it incumbent on serious journalist to take on the world’s problems, but YA novels are not the forum for that kind of heavy-duty problem solving.

(A cop-out, I know.)

All you have to do is look at the #YAmatters kurfuffle to know that YA takes on serious topics and probably could take on even more.  The current wave of dystopian fiction is a great example of how we can imagine future worlds that will kick us into gear and get fixing stuff NOW.

But this discussion also made me think about why I write kid lit instead of adult literature where, some might say, I could take on more “important” issues.

Answer # 1: Hope.  Kid lit is allowed to have a happy ending.  We can embrace the possibility of the possible.  (See the poem Sometimes by Sheenagh Pugh for a riff on this.)

Answer #2: Change is personal.  Kid lit explores how young people become themselves.  Picture books clarify the relationship of child to the world.  Middle grade is often about finding self within the context of family.  YA explores the transition from child to adult.  Changing the rest of the world is daunting.  Become our own true, best selves is difficult but attainable.

Answer #3: Each of us matters.  Kid lit validates the experiences of the young.  A book can shepherd readers into self-worth and remind them of their importance to the world.

These readers—equipped with hope, a strong core self, and an unswerving belief in themselves—they are strong enough to face the problems before us and they can change the world.

 

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2 thoughts on “The responsibility of writers to take on the world”

  1. “…Kid lit validates the experiences of the young. A book can shepherd readers into self-worth and remind them of their importance to the world.”

    I loved this line. It is absolutely amazing how many “grown-ups” (even some teachers and grown-ups who are supposed to be “for” kids) really don’t validate a child’s experiences, self-worth, and basically their ideas about the world. What children create, want to learn about, the questions they ask, what they talk about, and how they see the world is important, too! Grown-ups can even learn from them.

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