different paths for further study. Their relationship is stimulating and enriching, each
helping the other to discover what it is that they really believe in. Both find it hard to
cope with the sexual expectations pushed on them by the media, their peers and even
their parents. Paul Zindel, too, has recognised that a common purpose may lead to
powerful friendships which have nothing to do with sex. In My Darling, My Hamburger
(1969) he makes his point about teenage relationships in a story which revolves around
two couples who are treating being ‘a couple’ in quite different ways. He harks back to
the theme in A Begonia for Miss Applebaum (1989) in which Henry and Zelda tell the
story of their befriending of Miss Applebaum in alternate chapters, revealing much of
their thoughts about each other and their developing emotions as they find out about
the life of their amazing teacher and come to terms with her death.
Margaret Mahy has an exceptional understanding of just how emotionally charged
teenagers are. She sees this as relating to many things, including the supernatural, as
much as necessarily being bound up with preoccupations about sex. In The Catalogue of
the Universe (1985) she captures the importance of Tycho and Angela’s friendship. Their
need for one another that is based on understanding and intellectual harmony rather
than anything overtly physical.
Once the sexual side of relationships had became a recognised and accepted part of
teenage writing, the complexities of such relationships rather than their shock qualities
could be discussed in an interesting way. Berlie Doherty’s Dear Nobody (1992) takes a
hard look at a girl’s choices when she discovers that she is pregnant. Helen decides to
keep the baby and the anguish that causes is resolved only at the end, but her steadfast
belief in the rightness of her decision is painfully explored in her diary entries. Chris’s
responses are understandably different—he is mostly concerned with not losing Helen—
but at least he is credited with a viewpoint and, even if he is clearly not as mature as
Helen, he is at least concerned and caring.
The arrival of AIDS and changing attitudes to sexual freedom, especially the advent of
vociferous feminism, have caused a slowing down in the number of books where ‘the
relationship’ is the centre of the narrative. Writers are crediting teenagers with deeper
understanding and good sense about the world and the issues which loom large in it.
Beyond the limitations of peer relationships, books for teenagers are an excellent
vehicle for exploring all kinds of relationships with other members of the family or other
age groups. Recognition of the developing intellectual and emotional powers of
adolescent readers as they move out of a relatively safe world in which decisions are
made for them and into one of infinite variety and choice has encouraged thoughtful and
wide-ranging analysis. Closest in terms of subject matter to relationship with their peers
are the numerous books which reflect relationships within families and, especially, the
breakdown of traditional, close-knit families. To acknowledge parental failing is an
extraordinarily difficult thing and many stories have served as valuable conduits for
analysing the pain and trauma that can be caused.
The extent to which unhappiness and self-examination became a predominant theme
reached an all time high in the late 1970s and was in danger of belittling teenage
readers in a misguided attempt at social realism. Too many books were devoted to the
fragility of traditional family values. Teenage readers were in grave danger of being sold
very short by the dearth of high-quality writing and thinking in what was being offered
TEENAGE FICTION: REALISM, ROMANCES, CONTEMPORARY PROBLEM NOVELS 387