Bloomsbury Academic Adaptation in Young Adult Novels: Critically Engaging Past and Present

Adaptation in Young Adult Novels argues that adapting classic and canonical literature and historical places engages young adult readers with their cultural past and encourages them to see how that past can be rewritten. The textual afterlives of classic texts raise questions for new readers: What can be changed? What benefits from change? How can you, too, be agents of change? The contributors to this volume draw on a wide range of contemporary novels from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series and Megan Shepherd's Madman's Daughter trilogy to Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones adapted from mythology, fairy tales, historical places, and the literary classics of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others. Unpacking the new perspectives and critiques of gender, sexuality, and the cultural values of adolescents inherent to each adaptation, the essays in this volume make the case that literary adaptations are just as valuable as original works and demonstrate how the texts studied empower young readers to become more culturally, historically, and socially aware through the lens of literary diversity. Review Adaptation in Young Adult Novels brings together for discussion an impressive range of recent texts inspired by classic works, demonstrating the literary canon's ongoing vitality and mapping areas--including gender roles, identity formation, and our relationship to social and geographical place--in which today's writers for young readers respond to and rewrite the past. --Claudia Nelson, Professor Emeritus of English, Texas A&M University, USASelf-conscious about their own value, encouraging readers to find their own voices in the echo chamber of established classics: adaptations are more than guides to the original. Gauging the scope of this emancipatory cultural work, these essays combine state-of-the-art adaptation studies with perceptive analyses of texts, places, and franchises for young adults. --Anja Müller, Professor of English Literature and Cultural Studies, University of Siegen, Germany About the Author Dana E. Lawrence is Assistant Professor of English at the University of South Carolina Lancaster, USA. Amy L. Montz is Associate Professor of English at the University of Southern Indiana, USA. She is co-editor of Female Rebellion in Young Adult Dystopian Fiction (2014).