| Young Adult Literature and Multimedia—Resources |
Teen Chick Lit: Does it Provide a Mirror
as Well as a Window?
by Marnie Bolstad
Christine Meloni wrote an article titled Teen Chick Lit for Library Media Connection in October 2006. In the article she describes the genre of chick lit for teens, its history and current popularity. She also observes that most teen chick lit is written by Caucasian authors, with the notable exception of books written by Nancy Osa, featuring Cuban-American girls. Because I believe young adult literature should have mirrors in which to see themselves, as well as windows to see through to others, I was disappointed to read about the lack of diversity in chick lit. I decided to conduct a not-so-scientific Œresearch¹ project to see test whether Meloni¹s statement was true.
To conduct my Œresearch¹ I located lists of popular teen chick lit published on the Internet by the Bettendorf Public Library (2007) in Bettendorf, Iowa, the Beaverton City Library (2007) in Beaverton, Oregon and the Township of Library in Upper St. Clair (2007), Pennsylvania. I created a list of 20 authors most of whom were included on all three lists. Without much difficulty, I located Internet sites on each author. Nearly all the sites included pictures of the authors and descriptions or reviews of their books.
My conclusion, unfortunately, is that Meloni (2006) is correct. Of the 20 authors on my list, 17 appear to be Caucasian and their books feature Caucasian girls. I could not find pictures of 2 of the authors but their work leads me to believe they are Caucasian. The last author I researched is Mitali Perkins at www.mitaliperkins.com. Mitali Perkins was born in India and now lives in Newton, MA, the city where I work. Much of her writing is for and about young adults who are caught between cultures. On her Web site, she includes lists of recommended books for tweens and young adults who live in the United States, yet their heritage is from another country. I noticed that books by Nancy Osa, the Cuban author mentioned in Meloni¹s article, appear on Perkins¹ list of recommended reading for young adults. This is the only place where I found Osa mentioned, other than in Meloni¹s article.
Many of the books recommended by Mitali Perkins deal with immigrants or adopted teens who are caught between the cultures of their parents or home countries and the culture in the United States. The books appear to have strong multicultural themes and may not provide the escapism and humor found in most teen chick lit. I won¹t know until I tackle some of the books! For now, I agree with Meloni (2006) that teen chick lit is written primarily by Caucasian women for Caucasian teens.
I plan to read many of Perkins¹ recommended books for teens to determine whether they fall in the category of chick lit. Either way, I plan to use my increased knowledge of chick lit books and authors to assess the collection in my high school library. I also plan to look at the multicultural books we have to determine whether we have the books recommended by Mitali Perkins.
References
Bauer, Joan. (n.d.). Joan Bauer: Stories connect us. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.joanbauer.com/jbhome.html
Beaverton City Library. (2007). Chick lit: Sassy, smart, funny fiction for teen femmes. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.beavertonlibrary.org/teens/chicklit.html
Bettendorf Public Library. (2007). Bettendorf Public Library teens¹ page: Chick lit for teens: the search for the perfect guy, the perfect purse, the perfect shoes. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.bettendorflibrary.com/teen/booklists/chick_lit.htm
Black, Theo and Laurie Halse Anderson. (n.d.). Laurie Halse Anderson. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.writerlady.com/
BookBrowse LLC. (n.d.). Author biography: Anne Brashares. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=691
Brian, Kate. (n.d.). Kate Brian. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.myspace.com/katebrian
Burns, Lucy. (2006, July) Author profile: Louise Rennison. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-rennison-louise.asp
Cabot, Meg. (2007). The official website of Meg Cabot. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.megcabot.com/
Cohn, Rachel. (n.d.). Rachel Cohn. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.rachelcohn.com/
Dessen, Sarah. (n.d.). Home page. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.sarahdessen.com/index.html
Fong-Torres, Ben (2005, November 2) Whacking Moles with 'Buddha Baby' Kim Wong Keltner. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.asianconnections.com/a/?article_id=679
Fredericks, Mariah. (n.d.). Mariah Fredericks. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.mariahfredericks.com/about.php
Hopkins, Cathy. (n.d.). Welcome to the website of author Cathy Hopkins. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from http://www.cathyhopkins.com/
Juby, Susan. (n.d.). Susanjuby.com. Retrieved on February 7, 2007 from http://www.susanjuby.com/
Mackler, Carolyn. (n.d.). Carolyn Mackler. Retrieved on February 7, 2007 from http://www.carolynmackler.com/
Meloni, C. (2006). Teen chick lit. Library Media Connection, 25(2), 16-19. Retrieved Monday, January 29, 2007 from the Academic Search Elite database.
Nelson, Theresa. (n.d.). Theresa Nelson. Retrieved on February 7, 2007 from http://www.theresanelson.net/
Perkins, Mitali. (n.d.). Mitali Perkins: The fire escape books between cultures. Retrieved on February 7, 2007 from http://www.mitaliperkins.com
Tashjian, Janet. (n.d.). Welcome to Janet Tashian.com. Retrieved on February 7, 2007 from http://www.janettashjian.com/
Township of Upper St. Clair Library. (2007). Teen Chick-Lit Books. Retrieved on February 7, 2007 from http://www.twpusc.org/library/teens/booklists/chicklit.htm
Rallison, Janette. (n.d.). Jannette Rallsion official site http://www.janetterallison.com/
Simon & Shuster Children¹s Publishing. (n.d.). Willo Robert Davis. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.simonsays.com/subs/pdfs/kids/WDRoberts.pdf
Teenreads.com (2007). Author profile:
Jaclyn Moriarty.
Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-moriarty-jaclyn.asp