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In each of the five 2022 recommended honor books, the protagonist seeks to weave themselves into the tapestry of their family histories in order to emerge with an understanding of their future, both as an individual and as a member of a collective.
Many award-winning books for young people take the form of a hero's journey, as conceptualized by Joseph Campbell. The young protagonists of these books (which include Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, Avi's Crispin: The Cross of Lead, Lowry's The Giver, and Rowling's Harry Potter series) are separated from their families and communities and must embark upon journeys of self-discovery and coming of age. These kinds of stories conform to Carl Jung's theory of individuation: "Jung posited that psychic development occurs through the individuation process, yielding finally a complete person-an individual" (Butchart 201). Implicit in these stories is the idea that we must be severed from our families and communities before we can know ourselves, before we can answer the question, "Who am I?"
However, in this article, I will recommend young adult literature with a different structure, whose protagonists come of age together with their families and communities. In these stories, psychic development happens not in isolation, but within the familial context. Cynthia Dillard, who studies the intersections of race, culture, gender, and spirituality, teaches us that we need to ask two questions in order to become our full human selves: not just "Who am I?" but also "Whose am I?" (24).
This summer it was my pleasure to attend the Second Annual Words of Wonder Literary Festival in Chicago (disclosure: I am a member of the festival's board). For the keynote, Eve Ewing interviewed the celebrated young adult book author Jason Reynolds. In the interview, Reynolds reflected on the structure of the hero's journey. He explained that he knew it was a tried-and- true framework in the world of children's literature: the author separates the child protagonist from their family early in the story in order to make space for the child to grow into their own through their individual navigation of this complex and often unjust world. However, Reynolds explained that the hero's journey didn't resonate with him personally. He said that...