I need some help from YA fans...

[jreidhistory]

I'm currently working on a non-fiction book about the history of teen room culture in America. Part of it deals with portrayals of the teen bedroom in popular culture. I've got tons of material from the worlds of music, film, and television, but I don't have much material on portrayals of the teen bedroom in literature. Unfortunately, I know very little about the genre, but I was wondering if some of you can recall any YA books written before 1990 in which a teen character's bedroom plays a role in the basic narrative---either as a setting or a defining trait of one or more of the characters?

Thanks,

Jason

[Calidore]

Just curious, why before 1990? Since Harry Potter especially, the YA book market has pretty much exploded, so I'd think you'd have much better pickings if you went through more recent stuff.

[Anymodal]

Excuse my ignorance, what is YA?

[jreidhistory]

My project is historical in nature and my timeline ends in 1990. Anything after that is a bit too recent for me.

[jreidhistory]

Young adult.

[OrphanPip]

I can't really think of specific examples. Judy Blume is a pretty highly regarded YA author, so she might have something that applies, though I've not read her stuff.

[jreidhistory]

Thanks, OrphanPip. I'll be sure to check out some of her work.

[JBI]

I can't really think of specific examples. Judy Blume is a pretty highly regarded YA author, so she might have something that applies, though I've not read her stuff.

It's more childrens than YA, her focus is I think for grades 2-4 or so. Generally the books were made famous for her covering of racial and sexual issues.

[Calidore]

Yeah, Blume was mostly what you'd call middle-school fiction.

Google is your friend. For example, here's the ALA list of 100 best books for teens 1966-2000 (publishing date for each book is given, so you can pick out what you want). As far as which books focus on "room culture", you're on your own there.

http://home.comcast.net/~antaylor1/alabestteens.html

You might also check libraries. They know in general what kids are checking out, and the librarians who work with kids might be able to be more specific (or they could even ask the kids themselves).

[jreidhistory]

Thanks a ton for that link. I've done a fair bit of googling in the past few days, but most of the works that show up were, for reasons noted earlier in this discussion, produced after 1990.

Cheers,

Jason

[Veho]

My project is historical in nature and my timeline ends in 1990. Anything after that is a bit too recent for me.

Shame it ends in 1990 because The Virgin Suicides would be a good one.