Overall Trends In Subject Matter

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Although not a new issue, bullying has become a topic at the forefront of current times and is a significant problem in teens' lives. According to the American Medical Association more than 160,000 students stay home from school due to fear of being bullied by other students. The percentage of reported adolescent bullying incidents has increased nearly 50% since 1983 (Olweus, 2003). As school shootings and other bullying incidents are becoming more publicized, a movement to curb bullying has gone into effect with national and school programs to raise awareness (Hillsberg & Spak, 2006). With this increased focus on bullying, it stands to reason that this topic should begin appearing in YA literature.

Trends in writing style included considerable use of alternative writing devices (flashbacks, flash-forwards, and the embedding of poetry, notes or other devices) and text types (journal entries, epistolary novels). Although first Cartier Replica Watches person still predominated, there was an obvious and increased use of multiple narrators ...
... or a combination of points of view.

As the body of YA literature grows, changes are taking place in greater contemporary society, including a growth in digital communication formats (e.g., e-mail and instant messaging) and in the different forms of texts adolescents are engaging with (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004; Bruce, 2004; Moore et al., 1999). Associated with such developments are the changes technology is bringing to forms of print text. These changes have interesting connections to the range of writing styles currently found in YA literature. It appears that more authors are taking risks, experimenting with their writing by playing with new forms of voice and structure.

Although novels with multiple narrators, voices, and point of view are not new—for example, Zindel's classic The Pigman (1968) that employed two narrators in alternating chapters—the results of this analysis suggest that these books are becoming more prevalent. It is likely that something is occurring in today's social and cultural environment to result in more of these types of texts being written. One suggestion is that they are reflective of the changing nature of literacy in the early 21st century (Koss, 2008).

The reading of texts written using multiple narrative perspectives can offer challenges to teen readers and parallel the piecing together of information that is becoming common in their everyday lives. These novels require readers to follow several different strands, perhaps out of linear order, presented Cartier Replica through different voices or narrators, and sometimes with conflicting information and unreliable narrators. Readers need to sort through, analyze, and organize what they read to put together a coherent whole. The fact that a significant number of books written with this variety of writing styles emerged from this content analysis implies that YA novels may be changing to reflect the changes taking place in the field of adolescent literacy.