Time USA-October 3-2016

56 Time October 3, 2016

Time OffKids’ Books

FICTION

The wedding

party

RichaRd Peck’s new

novel,The Best Man, is

bookended by weddings. In

the first, Archer is 6, a ring

bearer and clueless about

love. By the second, he’s 12, a

best man and a lot more en-

lightened: the uncle he idol-

izes is marrying a teacher

he idolizes. The newlyweds

are men.

Peck, who won the 2001

Newbery Medal forA Year

Down Yonder, masterfully

frames issues of sexuality

for young readers, translat-

ing the message that “love is

love” for a demographic still

navigating first crushes. The

novel paces through ques-

tions kids tend to ask when

they become aware of gay

relationships: “When did

you decide to be gay?” Ar-

cher asks his uncle. His sis-

ter wonders who’s the groom

and who’s the bride. On both

counts, they learn, it doesn’t

work like that.

The tone is lighthearted,

but the message of accep-

tance is unequivocal. When

three kids gang up on an-

other and write gay on his

forehead, Archer’s teacher

explains what a slur is and

what labels mean. “Stay away

from people who don’t know

who they are but want you to

be just like them,” he tells the

class. “People who’ll want to

label you. People who’ll try

to write their fears on your

face.” —saRah Begley

GUIDE

With a little help, you too can

write a young-adult novel

The Books we Read when we’Re
young have a special sort of power:
they can inspire us to be brave and re-
silient (Matilda by Roald Dahl), take us
on thrilling adventures (Divergent by
Veronica Roth) and even introduce us
to tragedy (The Bridge to Terabithia by
Katherine Paterson). They’re as forma-
tive as anything else in our young lives,
and sometimes they’re the first place we
encounter larger-than-life ideas. Con-
sider the lasting cultural import ofTo
Kill a Mockingbirdor even the urgency of
a newer best seller like I’ll Give You the
Sun, Jandy Nelson’s 2014 novel center-
ing on a gay protagonist. InThe Magic
Words, Cheryl B. Klein, an executive edi-
tor at Scholastic whose projects include
the last twoHarry Potter books, sets out
to inform would-be writers on how great
novels for young readers work.
The market for YA novels is boom-
ing: sales in the children’s and YA sec-
tor have been neck and neck with those
of adult books in recent years, and
adult authors, including Meg Wolitzer
(Belzhar) and Carl Hiaasen (Razor
Girl), are getting in on the phenom-
enon.Magic Words aims to be a mas-
ter class. If you think it sounds silly,
it isn’t. In the era of elevated self-help
sensations like Marie Kondo and Brené

Brown,The Magic Words is of a piece.

Klein deconstructs the seemingly ob-

vious (clear plotlines, sympathetic char-

acters) to reveal the technical intricacies

of some beloved classics. L.M. Mont-

gomery surely didn’t whip upAnne of

Green Gables as a cash-in endeavor. But

for those who want to capitalize, Anne is

instructive: what’s timeless and broadly

appealing about Anne—her teenage

heart and impulses—is what to examine.

Once you understand that, Klein encour-

ages you to get personal: What makes

you ideal to write your story? And what

does it mean to the reader?

On the latter question,The Magic

Words is more than a handbook. It is

also a timely social commentary on the

responsibility YA writers have to young

adults. Those who write to a younger

demographic must start with an aware-

ness of their readers—not only their age

but also how they might connect with

the issues, both the mundane (bullies)

and the cultural (tolerance) that charac-

ters face. The narratives we tell young

readers can influence how they under-

stand and value the world around them.

The magic isn’t in the words; it’s in how

the words come together to reflect and

affirm the realities of a diverse young-

adult experience. —kiRsTen salyeR

New perspective

Marcelo in the Real

World by Francisco

X. Stork relates

the experiences of

an autistic boy

Major obstacles

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

throws extra-

human challenges

at its protagonist

Winning character

Anne of Green

Gables by L.M.

Montgomery finds

charm in the life of

a teenage orphan

Bigger meaning

The Golden

Compass by Philip

Pullman is fantasy

that alludes to

moral themes, like

tolerance

Emotional growth

The Fault in Our

Starsby John

Green traces its

characters’ inner

development

HOW BELOVED
CLASSICS DRAW
READERS IN*

• According to
  Cheryl B. Klein