I have been an English teacher for ten years (only ten….) and always find it funny to think back to when I first started. I was known for being the worst read English teacher on our course. I had of course dabbled in the classics and read what was absolutely necessary on my degree course but I found it incredibly difficult to read for pleasure having spent so long studying. The years approaching my PGCE I had read Harry Potter, I’d been on various adventures with Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s novels, I’d even read a Jeffrey Archer and adored it (Kane and Abel if you’re interested; incredible). But once I had done my teacher training and had to read books to teach them and read academic texts on the Every Child Matters initiative, which went out as quickly as it came in, as well as how to approach classroom management, I found it incredibly hard to pick up a book for the sheer fun of it. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even read a Pratchett novel which I normally would have devoured as quickly as I would a fish and chip supper. The joy had been sucked out of reading and I had no desire to do it. This was even in the days before smart phones so it wasn’t like I was distracted by endless web browsing and Facebook – I don’t even think my phone had a front facing camera so it wasn’t even time for constant selfies! I don’t actually know what I did with my time but I do know it wasn’t spent reading.
I was given books by friends that they had read but I found them too political, had too much of an agenda or just didn’t interest me. It was around this time my Year 10 class became fixated on vampires – namely Edward Cullen and the Twilight series (I refuse point blank to call it a saga as that title came about when the films did; to call it a saga is just ridiculous in my humble opinion. It never reaches anything even remotely saga-esque but that’s another blog). Wanting to know what the fuss was about and still being in that stage of teaching where I felt the kids must like me in order for me to be successful (they obviously do like me still…) I got myself a copy of the first one and gave it a go. I’ll be honest, I became awash in a sea of ridiculous nonsense now I look back on it but at the time I found it completely enthralling. It wasn’t Edward that did it for me really, it was Carlyle. I imagined him as this beautiful man with an air of wisdom and wonder about him. This whole fascination was over by Breaking Dawn – a book I found so awful that I actually looked up the ending on the internet as I couldn’t stand to finish it. I also only managed one film as I found them hideous – it didn’t stand up to my imagination – but this was the beginning of my explorations of YA.
It was around this time I got a Kindle Fire, as they were known then, and so began exploring this area as it meant I could have books instantly. Exploring the library I found trilogies such as The Hunger Games series; Delirium, Pandemonium and Requiem; Matched, Crossed and Reached; and Divergent, Insurgent and then, annoyingly, a six month wait till Allegiant which was even more annoying as it turned out a little disappointing… I found Neal Shusterman’s Unwind ‘Dystology’ – which I think was a fancy name for something that started as a trilogy but calling it this meant he could keep adding to it…. This was a particular favourite – a story about how parents can send their children to be ‘unwound’ which is essentially another word for being taken to bits and these bits then donated to other people who need them. The pieces retaining their original personality and thus the skills, memories and abilities going to their new hosts; meaning some people can do card tricks, some are stronger than before and an unlucky few inherit any difficulties the previous owners had. This set of books was awesome as it was something totally unlike what I had read before; dark, funny, intriguing. It also sparked off my continued enjoyment of multiple narrative and alternative timelines.
I have been to many new places, met many new characters, explored new worlds, laughed, cried and got angry! A Monster Calls reduced me to a sobbing wreck – and I read this on the flight to Italy on my honeymoon while sitting in business class with a glass of champagne!
YA isn’t all about dystopia though – and I’ll be honest I had to take a break from that for a while as it became a little bleak and kind of starts to bring you down. I moved on to books such as Wonder, She is Not Invisible, Skulduggery Pleasant… Stories that were full of heart, adventure, fun, excitement, intrigue. Something I just did not get from adult novels. Adult novels just didn’t give me this. That’s not to say I haven’t read good adult fiction lately – Eleanor Oliphant is one of the best things I have read in a long time – but I just think the sense of fun and exploration you get from YA fiction is fantastic. It didn’t exist when I was younger; you went from Jacqueline Wilson to Dickens and there was very little in between apart from sugary Babysitter’s Club or Sweet Valley High and that just didn’t work for me.
As a teacher it’s important to me to be able to recommend reading to my pupils and now I can do that. I get excited to see what is out next and where the next one is coming from. Peter Bunzl’s Cogheart, Moonlocket and Skycircus are amazing – full of steampunk and adventure – as well as Helena Duggan’s A Place Called Perfect and The Trouble With Perfect are exciting, fun and accessible. I cannot speak highly enough of the standard and quality of book that is out there. This genre has restored my love of reading and now I can get through several books a month – something I never though I would do ten years ago. Don’t just see a kid’s book – see a whole new world in within those pages that’s ready to be explored. Be a kid, let your imagination run wild with it. You might just enjoy it!