This thesis is a young adult fictional novel from the perspective of Rachel Jackson, or Rae, a seventeen year-old girl with Williams Syndrome, a rare developmental disorder caused by missing genes on chromosome 7 that causes those with it to lack logical connections, yet possess very gregarious, social, and musical personalities. Think of it as an inverted form of autism. At the genesis of the novel, Rae becomes pregnant. Upon misunderstanding her mother's sugar-coated reasoning for giving the baby up for adoption, Rae spends the novel trying to find a man to marry so that, in her understanding, she may keep her child. Along her journey, Rae meets Theo, a well-meaning Christian boy, who appears to be a possible match. Rae falls in love with Theo and gets into various kinds of trouble as she discovers how to take care of herself as well as how to accept herself, disorder and all. Along with her hardworking mother, her feisty grandmother, and her sassy little sister, Rae endeavors this bildungsroman to discover who she is and how she fits into society.

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The following study is interested in questions of diversity and inclusiveness in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, a tetralogy of best-selling young adult fairy tale revisions comprised of Cinder (2012), Scarlet (2013), Cress (2014), and Winter (2015). Scholars have expended significant energy defining the fairy tale, tracing its history and development, and analyzing 20th-century adult fairy tale revisions informed by second-wave feminism. However, little scholarly attention has been paid to young adult fairy tale revisions of the 21st Century and less still on The Lunar Chronicles. This study begins the work of filling that gap. Through a close reading of The Lunar Chronicles, I argue that Meyer's tetralogy is an influential, complex, and thematically comprehensive example of an ongoing shift away from feminist fairy tale revisions for adults toward young adult fairy tale revisions that focus on diversity and inclusiveness. My project begins with a chapter situating Meyer's work in the context of existing fairy tale scholarship and the burgeoning emphasis on diversity in contemporary American culture and young adult publishing. The following three chapters provide, respectively, a close reading of The Lunar Chronicles focused on racial identity, gender and sexuality, and disabilities. In showcasing more recent YA fairy tale retellings, the final chapter seeks to draw some tentative conclusions about the continuing importance of diversity and inclusiveness in an evolving genre of reimagined fairy tales for a young adult audience. / Master of Arts / In her bestselling young adult science fiction tetralogy The Lunar Chronicles (2012-2015), Marissa Meyers reimagines four classic fairy tales: "Cinderella" (Cinder), "Little Red Riding Hood" (Scarlet), "Rapunzel" (Cress), and "Snow White" (Winter). Meyer's work continues a tradition of revising traditional fairy tales. Disney's Princess franchise of reimagined fairy tales has essentially defined the genre for generations of American children, while Angela Carter's adult fairy tale revisions challenged its patriarchal orientation in the wake of second-wave feminism. In my detailed textual analysis of The Lunar Chronicles, I argue that Meyer's tetralogy is a relatively early, influential, and comprehensive example of a developing wave of specifically young adult fairy tale retellings that reflects a growing focus on issues of diversity and inclusiveness in 21st-century America. My project begins with a chapter that places Meyer's work in historical context, focusing on the development and definition of the fairy tale and presenting a brief overview of previous approaches to fairy tale revision. In the next three chapters, I analyze The Lunar Chronicles as it complicates questions of, respectively, race, gender and sexuality, and disability. My project concludes with a brief overview of young adult fairy tale retellings of the last decade, exploring how the genre continues to engage with questions of diversity and inclusiveness.

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Steampunk first appeared in the 1980s as a subgenre of science fiction, featuring anachronistic technologies with a veneer of Victorian sensibilities. In recent years steampunk has re-emerged in young adult science fiction as a fresh and dynamic subgenre, which includes titles such as The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross, The Hunchback Assignment by Arthur Slade, and Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. Like their predecessors, these modern steampunk novels for teens use retrofuturistic historiography and innovative mechanical aesthetics to dramatize the volatile relationship between man and technology, only in these novels the narrative is intentionally set in the context of their teen protagonist's social and emotional development. However, didactic conventions such as technophobia and the formulaic linearity of the bildungsroman narrative complicate and frustrate steampunk's representation of adolescent formation. Using case studies of Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld and The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia, retrofuturism and technological hybridity are presented as defining features of steampunk that subvert young adult science fiction's technophobic and liberal humanist traditions. The dirigible and the automaton are examined as the quintessential tropes of steampunk fiction that reproduce the necessary amphibious quality, invoking new expressions and understanding of adolescent growth and identity formation that have a distinctly utopian, nostalgic, and ecocentric undertone.

In recent decades, male protagonists in Australian realist fiction for young adult readers have increasingly become more others-regarding, emotionally intelligent, and self-aware. (John Stephens 2000; Perry Nodelman 2002). Psychologist Roger Horrocks (1995) claims these protagonists are less “tendentious and more realistic” than male protagonists of the past. These boys, despite not bearing the hallmarks of hegemonic masculinity, develop subjective agency and ultimately propose new ways for young men to construct their gender identity. Using Phillip Gwynne’s (1998) Deadly Unna? and David Metzenthen’s (2000) Boys of Blood and Bone as case studies, and my own novel My Private Pectus as creative practice, I explore the construction and deconstruction of hegemonic, complicit, and alternative masculinities in Australian realist young adult fiction. I also analyse the construction of the New Age Boy—a label used by John Stephens for young male protagonists who develop positive self esteem because of their perceived gender differences compared to boys of the hegemonic masculine type. By critiquing the manner in which masculinities are constructed in each case study, and supporting my critique through the literature of leading gender theorists, I question the seemingly homogenous manner in which the New Age Boy gains agency. This question is further explored through my creative practice, as I put into dialogue a protagonist who also recognises his gender differences, but instead of proposing a new and better masculinity, he tries to adhere to and reap the rewards of hegemonic masculinity.

This thesis endeavours to establish how political transformation in South Africa has impacted on the didactic function of locally produced young adult fiction between the years of 1985 and 2006. To this end, a selection of young adult novels and short stories are examined in relation to the time period during which they were written or are set, namely the final years of apartheid (from 1985 to the early 1990s), the period of transition from apartheid to democracy (approximately 1991 to 1997), and the early years of the twenty-first century (2000 to 2006). Chapter One provides a brief overview of publishing for the juvenile market in South Africa over the last century, noting how significant historical and political events affected both the publishing industry itself and the content of children's and young adult literature. This chapter also adumbrates the theoretical foundations of the study. The second chapter examines a selection of texts either written or set during the final years of the apartheid regime. This chapter establishes how authors during this period challenged notions of racial inequality and undermined the policies of the apartheid government, with varying degrees of success. The authors' methods in encouraging their (predominantly white) readers to question apartheid ideology are also interrogated. Those novels written after, but set during, the apartheid era are examined with the aim of determining their authors' didactic objectives in revisiting this period in their novels. Chapter Three explores how authors writing during the transition period aimed to encourage readers to participate in the building of a 'rainbow nation,' by portraying idealised modes of relating to the racial 'other.' While some of the authors examined in this chapter are optimistic, and even naïve, in their celebration of a newly established democracy, others are more cautious in suggesting that decades of oppression and separation can so easily be overcome. Chapter Four demonstrates how the freedoms afforded by a democratic society have prompted young adult authors to explore the possibilities of adapting the sub-genre of the teenage problem novel to suit a distinctly South African context. While some of these texts are not overtly didactic in nature, they confront the unique issues faced by a generation of South African teenagers raised in a democratic society, and in some cases challenge readers to reconsider their approach to such issues.

Syftet med studien är att utforska representationer av asexualitet i samtida coming of age-ungdomsromaner med fokus på hur asexualitet (o)möjliggörs som en oproblematiserad position. Detta görs genom en närläsning av romanerna Tash Hearts Tolstoy, Let’s Talk About Love, Loveless och Beyond the Black Door utifrån ett queerteoretiskt perspektiv. Romanernas skildringar av asexualitet utmanar föreställningar om att sexuellt begär är en essentiell del i vuxenblivandet och tillåter den asexuella positionen att existera utan att formas av negativa stereotyper. Romanernas huvudpersoner genomgår processer av att komma till insikt om sin asexuella identitet, acceptera den för sig själva och komma ut med den för omgivningen. Den obligatoriska sexualiteten är ständigt närvarande i dessa processer men det är den asexuella positionens marginaliserade position jämte den obligatoriska sexualiteten som framställs som problemet snarare än asexualiteten i sig. / The aim of the study is to explore representations of asexuality in contemporary coming of age young adult novels with a focus on how asexuality is made (im)possible as an unproblematic position. This is done through a close reading of the novels Tash Hearts Tolstoy, Let’s Talk About Love, Loveless and Beyond the Black Door from a queer theoretical perspective. The novels’ depictions of asexuality challenge notions that sexual desire is an essential part of becoming an adult and allow the asexual position to exist without being shaped by negative stereotypes. The protagonists of the novels go through processes of realizing and accepting their asexuality for themselves and also coming out to their surroundings. Compulsory sexuality is constantly present in these processes, but it is the marginalization of the asexual position in relation to compulsory sexuality that is understood as the problem rather than asexuality itself. / <p>2021-06-02</p>

This study describes a content analysis of six contemporary young adult fiction novels. Adolescence is a time of great change, particularly for girls. It is during this time that female adolescents develop their voice and identity. As literature reflects the reader’s world, it also affects in part how female adolescents perceive their identity. Latent content analysis was used to code eight variables to determine if select contemporary young adult fiction novels appropriately describe the development of identity among adolescent females. All of the novels included in the study provided sufficient evidence of accurate portrayal of female adolescent identity development, by having examples of at least four out of eight variables, with most having examples of seven out of eight variables.