FICTION FOR THE ADOLESCENT

Te Ao Hou, April 1956, Page 54

FICTION FOR THE ADOLESCENT Following my article in the last issue, dealing with children's books. I shall now write about some books that will interest boys and girls who have reached Form I at primary school or who are going to high school. The adolescent will devour anything he can lay his hands on, and often reads more widely during this period than in later years when a particular kind of book—detective novels, war stories, travelogues—may exclude all others. But in spite of his rather indiscriminate taste, an ability to distinguish between good, bad, and mediocre writing is developing, and I think it is this that we should keep in mind when suggesting titles to him, rather than one's own selection of ‘harmless’ subject matter. The young adolescent can tolerate more protein in his literary diet than some people suppose. He still likes the straight out adventure tale, fast-moving and exciting, but can absorb more factual material with it than the younger child. On the other hand, he is less bothered by improbabilities than an adult. Cocos Gold by Ralph Hammond, a direct descendant of R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island and Kidnapped, should be enjoyed. Phyllis R. Fenner has produced four books on different popular subjects, Indians, horses, cowboys, and pirates, that are just as much fun and much better written than the comicstrip stuff. The younger child who likes reading about other children's adventures will enjoy the well-known excellently written Arthur Ransome books, especially Missee Lee. Following these, there are books about children in other countries, such as Ho-Ming, Girl of New China, by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis, Sie and Silver, by Joan Phipson, with an Australian setting, and of course, the Billabong books, by Mary Grant Bruce, also Australian. Except for The Boy who was Afraid, by Armstrong Sperry, mentioned in the previous issue, there appear to be very few, if any, books about peoples of the South Pacific region suitable for younger readers, but there are several very good recent publications for adults which I hope to deal with in a later issue. He Went with Captain Cook, by Josephine Kamm, is the next best thing, and a book certainly worth mentioning. The plot is slight and conventional, but the authentic story of dangerous and exciting exploration with the intrepid Captain Cook as the main character, really needs no further embellishment. For the senior pupil, Flamingo Feather, by Laurens van der Post, is another good example of the travel-plus-adventure kind of book, though this one is entirely fictitious. In his free-flowing, highly-coloured prose, Mr van der Post describes the hunter's South Africa—vast landscapes, a bewildering array of plant and animal life, the uneasy combination of intelligent natives and complacent administrators—a country whose great potentialities could be realised to the advantage of unscrupulous schemers. This is a book I feel I should have enjoyed more than I did, in spite of its blatant and stereotyped anti-Russian propaganda which jarred horribly. The imagination of the young adolescent is very often freer, more vivid and more intense than that of an adult, and children with such an imagination delight in pure fantasy. You know the kind of thing—beat an African drum and you find yourself in the heart of Africa, or put on an old glove and you are transported to 14th century England. Drumbeas, by David Severn, and particularly The Gauntlet, by Ronald Welch, are two good recent books of this kind. Then there is Alison Uttley's A Traveller in Time, Kipling's well-known Puck of Pook's Hill, and one or two by John Buchan and Rider Haggard. These last two authors, incidentally, although old-timers now, prove ever-popular with teen-agers, and their works are always well-written. I recommend especially Greenmantle, by Buchan, and Alan Quatermain, by Haggard. For those adolescents who like to read books in which the central character is an animal, another old-timer, Jack London, produced two of the best dog stories ever written—White Fang and Michael, Brother of Jerry. Another type of fantasy, science fiction has become so popular with the younger readers that in some places fans have organised themselves into clubs However, in the opinion of other readers, science fiction does not deserve the cheap paper and gaudy covers it often appears in. In some cases I agree heartily with these critics. The worst examples are stiff with jargonese and pseudotechnicalities, or dull with conventional hero versus villain plots. But in the best, the craftsmanship is good, the writing fresh, and the imagination lively and sometimes amazingly detailed. All these

qualities recommend them to the young reader, but there is often a more subtle element which appeals to the developing idealism of the adolescent eager to reform the world, that is the hope, even the prophecy, that if man cannot learn to live happily with man on earth he may discover how in the rarified air of another planet. Utopia was crowded out of the South Seas about the end of last century, but thanks to Science fiction, appears to have set up house in outer space. Among recent publications there is The Star Raiders, by Donald Suddaby, suitable for junior forms, and for the seniors, Islands in the Sky, by Arthur C. Clarke, The Kraken Wakes, by John Wyndham, and Out of the Silent Planet, by C. S. Lewis. But only the best contemporary authors come anywhere near Forty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne, or The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells and his grim little drama The Invisible Man. The next two books I recommend with reservations. They are among the best examples of another kind of book which has gained great popularity but little distinction in recent years—career books. On is Sue Barton—Student Nurse, by Helen Dore Boylston, and the other is The Two Cadets, by Ian Scott. These will undoubtedly appeal to the girl who has ideas about nursing and the boy who can't wait to join the navy, but I'm not sure that an enthusiastic teenager, about to choose a career, will be able to discount the elements of glamour and romance which both these books possess. Seventeenth Summer, by Maureen Daly, can hardly be called a career book, but like them, it is a book written for adolescents about adolescents. It is the story of a seventeen year old girl (American) ‘going steady’ with a boy for a summer. It is skilfully written with great sensitivity and acute insight into the thoughts and feelings of some, but only some, adolescent girls. When it first appeared it caused quite a controversy. It certainly is an unusual book but I feel it has somehow missed its mark. It may have been intended for seventeen year old daughters but it seems more suitable for their mothers instead. There are very few New Zealand books written for intermediate readers. Between The Book of Wiremu and the adult books the field is wide open to any would-be New Zealand authors. But there is one novel. Drovers Road, by Joyce West, a New Zealander, which I recommend heartily for both seniors and juniors. Published in London in 1953 and reprinted in 1954, it is as the dust-jacket says, ‘a tale of family life on a New Zealand sheep station’, well written in a fresh and natural style. It has all the qualities that make Charlotte's Web so attractive—plenty of humour, a little tragedy, excitement, but above all, very human and convincing characters and an adult treatment of human relationships. It will be immediately appreciated by the young New Zealander who has developed any feelings at all for his own country, and for those who have not, it should be a set book.