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Question: Why Do YA Books Not Talk About Religions!?
I've read books with a few atheists, and Jews (usually not religious, just cultural) and general "Christians", A brief mention of a Wiccan and lots of agnostic characters!. So I was wondering why religion isn't talked about more in books!. After all, everyone has some kind of belief, even if their belief is "I don't believe in anything", or "don't know don't care!." Is it because the author is afraid of alienating a certain group of people!? Do they not like to publish books that talk about "controversial" subjects like that!? If I wrote a book that dealt heavily with a religious group and questions of the character about their religion (for example, we'll say my character is Amish), and my Amish character discussed his beliefs in great detail (while not being boring of course), would people not want to read it!? Would people be offended!?
What are your ideas about why religion still seems to be a controversial topic to talk about in length!? Do they think teens don't want to read it!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Wow, great question!.
My opinion is that it really depends on how deep the author's faith goes, actually!. Books like Narnia, LOTR, etc!. do touch on religion, and both authors were Christians!. As one reviewer put it - Lewis without Christianity just isn't Lewis!. But with other people, yes, they are afraid of alienating a group of people!. Like Meyer for example!. She professes to be a Mormon, but is writing odd stories about half baked suicide attempts, almost promoting it, and is giving approval ("keep an open mind, OK!?") to borderline pedophilia!. Never in her writing once does she mention God!. Just a brief touching on whether they're going to have souls or not!. So much for her religion!. It's called "MONEY"
So it depends on the authors' faith and how deeply it goes, in my opnion!. If an author is really deeply religious about whatever, he or she will probably make an effort to touch on it in their books in some way, and if they are a good author, they will make it entertaining and a interesting part of the book as well!.
LuthienTWww@QuestionHome@Com
It's not that they think you won't be able to handle it--it's that it's too heavy for your age group!. Religion is controversial, and putting it in an adolescent's book would spark a war between the author and every single concerned parent in America!.
There are a lot of books that lightly touch on religion (Narnia, His Dark Materials, Bridge to Terabithia) but, in reality, they're teen books!. Teen books aren't about how a kid switched religions or how awesome his youth group is--they're usually coming of age stories!.
:-)Www@QuestionHome@Com
You can't say that YA books don't talk about religion because you can't just put every single YA book into one big category unless you have read every young adult novel there is, which I highly doubt you have!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Maybe your library and bookstore shelves those in the religious category instead of young adult!. You should ask your librarian / storekeeper!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I've read many Teen books with religion as a central issue, but those are usually also related to another "coming of age" or "finding yourself" as a theme!. To be perfectly honest I can't think of any titles off the bat, but I think that many people, especially teens, find religion as something that they do not think about as often as many other things!. I'm not trying to generalize my generation, and personally, I do think about religion, but the one's who are very religious and want to read books with that theme seek them out and find them easily!. The others don't really think about it as much, in my opinion!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Ummm, have you ever read Judy Blume's classic, "Are You There, God!? It's me, Margaret!." Maybe for a slightly younger audience, but the character is trying to figure out what she believes in (while also going through all the typical YA puberty and figuring out boys stuff)!. I'm in my 30's now and haven't read it since I was 12 or 13, but I remember she did a great job addressing a young person's questions about faith and religion!.Www@QuestionHome@Com