All in the Family: Fiction for Young Readers

When I was a little girl, I absolutely loved the series by Sydney Taylor about the "All-of-a-Kind Family." A Jewish immigrant family with five daughters lived in New York City at the turn of the 20th century and had all kinds of rather mundane adventures. They were nothing like my family (in Texas, with no sisters, and Lutheran), but I loved reading about them.

Reading about families like our own can help us step outside ourselves to see how these book characters deal with their own family relationships. But reading about families different from our own can be a powerful way to expand our understanding of what a family can be and promote compassion for others. That's what is so powerful about fiction for children who are moving from reading picture books to longer narrative works. Also known as "chapter books," fictional novels provide the vicarious experience of walking in the shoes of another person for a slice of life that mirrors reality.

As children move into reading these longer novel-length works and sustaining interest in more complex narratives, we can seek to provide books that function as "windows" and "mirrors" according to scholar Rudine Sims Bishop (2012). That is, books can offer a mirror, holding up their own experiences for thoughtful scrutiny, or a window into other ways of being, a vicarious experience of life outside their own particular norm, fostering empathy for others. Books may help children discover insight they might otherwise not have experienced in their personal lives. Barbara Kiefer (2010, 397) reminds us, "Childhood is not a waiting room for adulthood, but the place where adulthood is shaped by one's family, peers, society, and most importantly, the person one is becoming."

Realistic and historical novels for young readers reflect the society of their times. Authors often tackle issues of adversity in their writing, including divorce, death, illness, abandonment, and even domestic violence. The argument is often given that books that portray these elements are suggesting tacit approval or making more acceptable these negative aspects of society. The counter argument, however, is that writers are simply reflecting society, not creating or promoting negative circumstances such as child abuse or homelessness. For many children, this is their reality and sugarcoating it or denying it is unrealistic. It can even be a powerful validation that they are not alone in coping with a difficult reality. It is also this very realism that makes this genre a frequent target of book challenges and potential censorship.

When it comes to fiction for young readers, many authors have tackled tough topics that today's children face in their daily lives. This includes searching for a sense of self, exploring one's place inside and outside the nuclear family, and coping with the growing importance of relationships with friends, even budding romances. In addition, these stories may be set in the context of modern urban life or a more rural community, surrounded by people who don't understand you or engaging with people from diverse backgrounds who do. Characters may be gifted, isolated, abused, abandoned, loved, disabled, and more. All these variables add shading to the essential growing up story that makes up the vast majority of fiction for young people.

Families in Fiction Today

In the recommended books this month, you'll find a variety of family configurations that reflect the diversity that is common in society today. According the Census Bureau Reports from November 2016, "the majority of America's 73.7 million children under age 18 live in families with two parents (69 percent)." That's a reassuring notion, but before we get too comfortable, the Pew Center points out that it is clear that "even children living with two parents are more likely to be experiencing a variety of family arrangements due to increases in divorce, remarriage, and cohabitation." In other words, "there is no longer one dominant family form in the U.S."

Fiction for young readers reflects that reality, too. For example, in Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry, the protagonist, Calliope June moves a lot with her single mom and has to cope with her mother's new relationship in a new town, as well as her own Tourette syndrome and the attitudes of others toward her because of it. This debut novel is on many current lists of the best books of the year with its compelling depiction about the struggle to be accepted and to accept oneself.

Families and Divorce

So many children also cope with parents who are divorced or separated, as well as living in multiple houses and with blended families. In The First Rule of Punk, Celia C. Pérez gives us a spunky heroine to root for in Malú (formerly María Luisa) whose punk rock look violates the dress code at her new middle school and annoys her mom, who is a college professor. Her dad, who lives a thousand miles away, is a reassuring voice telling her to just be herself. And in Big & Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd) by Julie Bowe, Wren is also starting a new school, but lying about the fact that her parents have separated and are divorcing. Struggling with this new reality and a new routine in two homes, as well as the consequences of her lie, Wren is jealous of the new girl who is coming between her and her best friend. But as time goes on, she discovers that this new girl understands what she's going through better than anyone.

Families of the Past

Fiction set in the past also provides a look at how families function in society and cope with issues within the family as well as of the times. In Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson, Rose Lee Carter is living with her grandparents in Mississippi in 1955. She longs to be with her mother who is searching for better opportunities and chafes against the constraints of the racist south and a cruel grandmother. Unfortunately, this is also the time and place of the murder of Emmett Till, a young African American boy killed by racist white men. This event and the trial that follows galvanize the whole country in the quest for justice and civil rights and embolden Rose Lee in her own developing sense of self.

Immigrant Families

Coping with our place in society is at the heart of several excellent novels about immigrant families too. In Refugee, Alan Gratz weaves together three separate stories of characters in different eras. The first story focuses on a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany in the 1930s as his family escapes for a new life in a new place. The second story features Isabel, a Cuban girl whose desperate family boards a raft for America in 1994. And in the third story set in 2015, a boy named Mahmoud leaves his violent homeland in Syria with his family to walk across Europe for a new life and a new home. Each character and her or his family make huge sacrifices and face incredible struggles to make their way together to a new life.

Two other current novels focus on immigrant characters and their extended families: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar about a Cuban American girl who is horribly injured in a car accident and is strengthened by the support of family, friends, and the arts; Amina's Voice by Hena Khan about a Pakistani American Muslim girl who is intimidated by a strict uncle, by stage fright despite her love of singing, and by the prejudice she encounters against her community.

21^st Century Big Families

And there are also current novels for young readers that capture the chaos and nuttiness of growing up in big families—with a twist. Billed as "a warmhearted, multiracial update to the classic big-family novel" in a New York Times review, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser, features five biracial siblings try to persuade the cranky landlord to let them stay in their sprawling New York brownstone in a neighborhood as diverse as it is lively. And in The Lotterys Plus One by Canadian author Emma Donoghue, two gay couples (two men, two women) co-parent seven multicultural children (some adopted, some biological) coping with the arrival of a very cranky and disapproving grandfather and showing, as the Times reviewer put it, "how a family, no matter how small or large, develops its own language, even its own culture."

As we seek out contemporary and historical fiction for young readers, let's be sure to honor the variety of family experiences they live with every day. Luckily, it's easy to do with so many good books to choose from!

Works Cited

Bishop, Rudine Sims. "Reflections on the Development of African American Children's Literature." Journal of Children's Literature. 38 (2): 5-13, 2012

"Family Structure." Child Trends, December 2015. https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/family-structure/

Kiefer, Barbara Z. Charlotte Huck's Children's Literature (Tenth Edition).McGraw Hill, 2010.

"Parenting in America: The American family today." Pew Research Center, December 17, 2015. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/1-the-american-family-today/

Simon, Raphael. "Emma Donoghue's New Novel Makes Diversity an Understatement." The New York Times, April 05, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/books/review/lotterys-plus-one-emma-donoghue.html

Swan, Jennifer Hubert. "A Warmhearted, Multiracial Update to the Classic Big-Family Novel." The New York Times, October 27, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/books/review/karina-yan-glaser-vanderbeekers-of-141st-street.html