SJ Longthorne

I read once that children who read Harry Potter indicated higher levels of empathy. Is YA fiction a way by which we can mould the next generation to be more open-minded, kind, and inquisitive?

I know you don't mean it that way, but can't help thinking of some people using YA fiction to purposefully manipulate their audience, and how poorly equipped that audience is to fight it. And that concept scares the hell out of me.

I agree that having literature which exposes moral, ethical and philosophical issues in an accessible way is a great thing, since exposure to different ways of thinking is always valuable, regardless of age or creed.

We all would benefit from having to have those internal arguments, or even better to discuss ethical and moral issues with other people. I think it's really unfortunate we don't give more value to reflecting on our own lives, where we are and where we're headed.

I think it's potentially harmful to think that any fiction has a responsibility to change people. Or that it should be the goal of creating fiction. Yes, a great story can change your perspective. But stories are a catalyst for discovery, for asking questions, not to answer them.

Stories exist primarily to tell us something about ourselves and our world. We may not like their power, but they hold it regardless. We can't simply stop writing stories for YA because of that, because others certainly won't.

I'm not saying that we should write stories that tell us universal truths. I'm saying write stories that give us positive role models and expose us to unfamiliar ideas, simply by including them in the narrative. Stories that allow us to explore ideas.

The way that dystopia, for examples, sets a stage designed around ideological and philosophical principles, and then allows readers to explore that environment and arrive at their own conclusions with the materials they have available to them.