Modern Good Reads discussion

Has anyone noticed the common theme in most YA books, where the parents are either dead or out of the picture. What do you think of this?

Yes, I noticed.
I think it's because parents generally get in the way, so to speak. That is, if they are not part of the plot - then we don't need them.

For example, if a 14 year old boy going somewhere at night and returned late, it's unnecessary to write about his parents who discover it and get angry, if it does not affect the plot, even if it makes more sense that way.
And if a teenage girl has to decide a big decision, she will not consult with her mother, but with a friend, because in YA books, the youth rule and decides the decisions.

Maybe one of the reasons is that many of these books are written by people who are too young to have teen children of their own. They haven't experienced life from the parent side, and it's difficult to write about what you can't understand. But taking parents out of the equation makes it easier to write the story. I've written YA/NA books with and without parents.

Kirstin wrote: "Has anyone noticed the common theme in most YA books, where the parents are either dead or out of the picture. What do you think of this?"

I think Parents are a fundamental part of growing up, so if you leave them out of the equation in a story (dead or not interested) then it's a good way to give your kid characters the freedom to do things they couldn't do with parents watching over them.

It also leaves a gaping hole in them, so it can lead to emotional issues, trust issues etc, that can propel your story forward and give you new outlets.

Yes, I notice this a lot (and, to an extent, have also been guilty of it in my own books). As already pointed out above, parents have a tendency to get in the way of the plot - they restrict the freedom of teenage protagonists.

Even if the protagonist's parents are alive at the start of a novel (as with Divergent) they are usually quickly written out.

Off the top of my head, Twilight is the only YA series I can think of where the parents are alive and do actually have a function within the story, although they often have to be ignored/left without explanation, for Bella to do everything the plot requires. It does work though, so perhaps more writers should persevere with them.

Heather wrote: "Yes, I notice this a lot (and, to an extent, have also been guilty of it in my own books). As already pointed out above, parents have a tendency to get in the way of the plot - they restrict the fr..."

That's interesting - I actually thought of Twilight when I saw this topic, but because I consider it a book where the parents were present but ineffectual. The author made both parents incompetent so that Bella could get away with anything and everything. How could a father not know there was a boy in his daughter's bed every night?

As to the original question: yes, it's hard not to notice how many orphans are floating around in YA-Land! Just look at Harry Potter.

Young readers like thinking they can run the world on their own, I suppose! When I was growing up, one of my favourite series was John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began series. The group of teens was conveniently camping in the bush when their country was invaded, so they were left to their own devices throughout the war (and the loooong book series).
So much of the appeal lay in the fact there were no adults to help make the big decisions.

However, I'd like to see more realistic parent-teen relationships in YA, in regular contemporary books in particular.