Description
Book SynopsisIn this study, feminist theories and insights from new discourses on female adolescence are employed in analyzing the discourses and cultural scripts used in telling stories about the relationship between teenage daughters and mothers in young adult novels and in short stories. The stories examined in this book were marketed for young adults and published between 1965 and 1998. Included are daughter-mother narratives, African-American young adult novels, and narratives set in other cultural contexts. The daughter-mother narratives are examined in relation to Freudian and feminist theories of female adolescent development and in relation to feminist theories pertinent to the mother-daughter relationship, including black feminist criticism. Topics include the fairy tale daughter-mother narrative in re-tellings of Rapunzel and Snow White and generational stories of daughters and mothers. Also discussed are the range of issues raised in daughter-mother narratives that are highly significant to the lives of today''s daughters: debates about the responsibilities of mothering, choices made between career and raising families, abortion rights versus the right to life, and topics relating to sexuality, gender, and body image. The implications of this study for those who work with young people and their literature are also discussed.
Trade ReviewAn outstanding offering. * School Library Journal *
...is an impressively thorough analysis of what they find there. Besides offering readings of these feminist texts, Crew offers specific suggestions for book group discussions that will encourage readers to revisit and revise their own cultural scripts in ways that are empowering for both daughters and their mothers. Crew's scholarly feet wear sensible shoes; that is, she patiently walks her readers through her subject without running too fast through any aspect or skipping any topic that might be significant...offers a systematic framework whereby the conventions of the genre are made visible and orderly...marks a significant entry into the analysis of the conventions of young adult fiction as well as offering a feminist intervention into the potentially damaging effects of following the traditional daughter-mother script too closely. * Children's Literature Association Quarterly *
[Crew] compel[s] readers to open the pages of these books so that mothers and daughters everywhere can be heard, appreciated, and understood. * Feminist Formations *
Educators and librarians will find this study a useful tool for exploring deeper meaning in book discussion group selections, as well as for presenting students with a diversity of family dynamics. * VOYA *
