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Students in Late Adolescence:
... have a developing sense of themselves
as active players who have some responsibility for the
direction of community life, and are often concerned about
major social and environmental issues and the ethical
implications of human activity and knowledge. |
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The future is a stimulating topic
for young people on the verge of adulthood. By providing students
with a wide range of thought-provoking material to read, reflect
upon and debate, teachers can foster students' interest in the
world's future and encourage them to recognise that they can
play some part in determining the course of events. This may
involve making pragmatic decisions about further study and careers
or considering moral and ethical questions about lifestyle choices.
As with Early Adolescence
an obvious approach to the theme is to explore these issues
through an examination of the science fiction genre, but at
a more sophisticated level.
Another approach to is to focus on modern issues books
dealing with concerns that may confront young adults as they
embark on life beyond school moving into the tomorrow
of adulthood.
Click on the approaches listed below for
learning ideas and fiction titles to get you started.
MARSDEN, John.
Prayer
for the Twenty-first Century
Lothian, 1997
This is an engaging book with a thoughtful message for people
of all ages. It is an elegantly-crafted prayer in which the
sentiments are immediately recognised and strike a chord in
the heart of the reader.
The first stanza uses the symbol of travel to explore the idea
of life choices and of the endurance of traditional values.
The second stanza is devoted to matters
of life - the conservation of nature, the endurance of the human
spirit, the need for understanding of others, and the desire
to see our children lead fulfilled lives.
Adding to the text are the visual images which have been carefully
designed to provoke further thought. These images range from
black on cream line drawings through black and white photography
to highly-coloured reproductions of prints, photographs and
paintings.
In combination, the images of the text make thought-provoking
points of departure for discussion. The poem as a whole is an
excellent opener for class exploration of the key issues and
shared values of our times.
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The Future theme invites readers to
reflect upon the nature of our present society and the future
of the world. Teachers looking for a means of generating interest
in the topic and thoughtful debate on the issues, will find
that science fiction is the ideal stimulus.
Once introduced to the genre most adolescent students will be
hooked. As much science fiction deals with space technology,
space travel, life on other planets, or wars, and is often action-packed
and exciting, it appeals to reluctant male readers.
Science fiction can also be very amusing and entertaining, presenting
a tongue-in-cheek viewpoint. Mature and reflective readers of
both genders relate to the ethical and moral dilemmas incorporated
in the stories. Issues such as organ transplants, genetic engineering,
cloning and environmental disasters are common themes to explore.
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Students can:
- Discuss how the future is presented
in current sci-fi novels.
- Determine whether there is a
common theme in science fiction novels written
by different contemporary authors.
- Compare science fiction written
10, 20 or more years ago with more recent titles.
- Identify common elements in science
fiction writing.
- Debate the ethical or moral issues
raised in the novels.
- Investigate how young people
today envisage the future of the world.
- Research current scientific,
medical and technological developments and discuss
the feasibility of the future scenarios depicted
in novels.
- Examine classic science fiction,
by writers such as Isaac Asimov, George Orwell,
Aldous Huxley, H.G. Wells, John Christopher,
Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and John Wyndham.
Identify the extent to which their predictions
in terms of scientific and technological advancements
have been realised in the modern world.
- Study one author who has written
over a long time span and compare their early
visions of the future with later ones.
- Write their own science fiction
story.
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CASWELL, Brian. The
View from Ararat
University
of Qld Press, 1999
Age 14+ Imagine an alien bug which can survive on an
inanimate object indefinitely, in air or in a vacuum, at temperatures
approaching absolute zero and then cross over to a living individual
and start spreading like a bushfire through a whole population.
DANN, Jack and WEBB, Janeen [Ed].
Dreaming Down-Under
HarperCollins, 1998
Age 15+ Dreaming Down-under is a collection of
fantasy and science fiction stories by well known Australian
authors. The collection is typical of other recent anthologies,
with some cyberpunk, some 'what if' stories, some fantasy and
some more traditional science fiction (time-travel, alien encounters).
Goodman,
Alison. Singing
the Dogstar Blues
HarperCollins,
1998
Age 13+ Free-spirited Joss is late for the Partnering
ceremony. Camden-Stone may just use this against her, to have
her removed from the exclusive Time-travel program, that is
until the alien, Mavkel, chooses her as his Time Jump partner.
Accepting the partnership throws Joss into a world of hi-tech
security, death treats and protests from the Anti-Alien Lobby.
Nix, Garth. Shades Children
Allen & Unwin, 1997
Age 13+ In this future, when Earth goes through the 'Change',
all adults and children over the age of sixteen disappear. All
remaining children are rounded up by 'creatures' and herded
into dormitories where they are housed, fed and educated until
they reach the age of fourteen.
Through the sacrifice of his brother Petar, Gold-Eye escapes
from the dormitories and joins a group called Shades Children.
PRICE, Susan. The
Sterkarm Handshake
Scholastic
Press, 1998
Age 15+ The breadth of vision, its clever intertwining
of history, folklore and the future and its believable moral
code, so different to our own, make this book a wonderful read.
Winner 1998 Guardian
Children's Fiction Award.
Rogers-Davidson, Sally. Spare
Parts
Penguin, 1999
Age 13+ Kelty is a C-grade citizen of Greater Melbourne
metropolis, the city of the future, dominated by the skywalkers,
A- and B-grade citizens who have all the power and privileges.
To escape her dreary, futureless life, Kelty donates her perfect
body for transplant. Kelty thus becomes a cybermorph; her brain
transplanted into a top-of-the-range artificial body while her
human body goes to a recipient who needs a replacement.
The following novels can be used to generate
lively discussion about life choice issues relevant to teenagers
on the edge of adulthood:
- career and education choices
- workplace initiation/bullying
- sexuality
- relationships
- drugs
Refer also to the books listed in the Values
and Ethics section which deal with more controversial
aspects of these topics or are for more mature readers.
EARLS, Nick. 48
Shades of Brown
Penguin, 1999
This funny book has real-life appeal for upper secondary readers,
particularly boys.
Winner CBC Book of the Year: Older Readers,
2000
HERRICK, Steven. A place like this
University of Queensland
Press, 1998
Age 13+ Jack, the hero of Steven Herrick's earlier verse
novel, Love, Ghosts and Nose Hair, has grown up, left
school, tried university, but found it 'too serious'. Still
totally infatuated with the lovely Annabel, Jack starts to realise
marking time isn't enough and he is soon convinced that he wants
to leave town.
KELLEHER, Annette. Pumpkin
Head Is Dead!
Margaret Hamilton
Books, 1999
Age 15+ Written in a first person narrative, the reader
is compelled to walk in the shoes of Fingula O'Shea as she goes
through her summer holidays before starting Year 12. It is not
a happy time for Fingula. Neither is it for the rest of her
immediate family; her brother Connor and her mother.
McCARTHY, Maureen. Queen
Kat, Carmel and St. Jude Get a Life
Penguin,
1999
Age 15+ The scenario is that of three country girls,
barely known to one another, sharing a house in Melbourne at
the start of university life. It is a slow start, owing to the
need to set up all three heroines, their families and homes
to the last eyelash. There is the problem of length for many
potential readers who could otherwise be swept along with the
soap opera mix of nasty, but gorgeous girl who finally makes
it, fat girl who finally makes it and fiery crusader who finally
makes it.
Queen Kat, Carmel and St. Jude get a life was screened
on the ABC in 1999.
MCCARTHY, Maureen. Chain
of Hearts
Penguin, 1999
This cleverly crafted, immensely readable family saga, peopled
with recognisable characters will absorb readers from Year 10
upwards, especially girls.
McROBBIE, David. Tyro
Penguin, 1999
Age 14+ Set in a Scottish shipyard in 1953, Tyro
focuses on the practice of bullying the new apprentices. Although
it is set in Scotland some years ago, from all accounts it really
could be 1999 in any shipyard or tradesman/apprentice work situation
right here 'in our own backyard'. This somewhat controversial
topic is dealt with very realistically, especially those who
may be seriously considering leaving school to take up an apprenticeship
or first full-time job.
Also available as an audio
book.
METZENTHEN, David. Falling
Forward
Omnibus, 1998
Age 14+ This is an extremely engaging book. Told in a
direct and uncomplicated use of third person narrative unspoken
questions underpin the plot. These questions are commonly asked
by all people at various stages of their lives: What if? What
if this had happened? What if I had never met that person? Through
the character of Bruce Daffin, 'tattooed with loneliness', we
are able to ask and explore these questions, as he meets Troy
Spinks - who is everything Bruce is not and has a suppressed
yearning to be.
MOLONEY, James. Angela
University of Queensland Press, 1998
Age 16+ Angela and her best friend Gracey, an Aboriginal
girl from a small community in an outback country town, have
reached the end of their school years and are graduating from
a prestigious Brisbane school. Both girls have their sights
set on getting into courses offered by the University of Queensland
and living in Brisbane. Angela looks forward to the coming year
when they will continue their deep friendship into the next
seemingly predictable stage of their lives. The security of
her white background with all its backing of the accepted establishment
and her well-educated, supportive family, blinds her to the
difficulties which could arise for her friend.
SHEAHAN, Robyn [Compiler]. Original
Sin
University of Queensland
Press, 1996
Age 14+ The concept behind this anthology of Australian
short stories is an interesting one. All fourteen stories are
by different authors and all deal with the problems and dilemmas
of adolescents as they struggle towards adulthood in the last
decade of the twentieth century.
ROY, James. Full
Moon Racing
University of Queensland Press,
1998
Age 15+ Is there a difference between running away from
home and leaving home? The characters in this story are very
definite that there is a tremendous difference. The first is
a reaction to situations one finds oneself in, while the other
is a determination to do things differently and to suit oneself.
Important, often controversial, issues
that may confront students as they enter adulthood are well
handled in these titles and are certain to motivate interesting
classroom debate:
- teenage pregnancy
- abortion
- crime
- drugs
- relationships
- valuing others
- decision making
FIENBERG, Anna. Borrowed
Light
Allen & Unwin, 1999
Age 15+ While this is a book about a dysfunctional family,
it will probably be seen primarily as a novel about teenage
abortion.
HARTNETT, Sonya. All
My Dangerous Friends
Viking, 1998
Age 15+ This is a nasty book! Well, the subject matter
is anyway. The blurb on the back cover describes the novel as
'darkly funny'. I did not find anything about it at all funny.
Rather it depicts most believably a disturbing world of young
middle-class criminals who steal, deal in drugs, shoplift and
worse.
Hartnett offers the reader a lot to think
about and All My Dangerous Friends will spark lots of
discussion with older, mature students.
LANAGAN, Margo. The
Best Thing
Allen & Unwin, 1995
Age 15+ When the reader meets the main character, Melanie,
she is in the middle of an emotional crisis. She has recently
miscarried a baby, she had been about to abort. Her mother provides
some support, but it is not enough to counteract the joking
and teasing she endures from her friends.
LANAGAN, Margo. Touching
Earth Lightly
Allen & Unwin, 1996
Age 15+ Essentially, Touching Earth Lightly is
the story of the relationship between two girls in their late
teens who have starkly different backgrounds.
We are not prepared with knowledge of their circumstances when
confronted, in the first pages, with Janey lying post-coital
in a wrecked-car dump. She has had sex with two boys while Chloe,
the non-participant, hangs around rather disconsolately, if
not slightly bored by the whole thing. These are certainly challenging
images of sexuality. Make no mistake; this is a strong, mature
and inspiring piece of writing.
LUCASHENKO, Melissa. Steam
Pigs
University of Queensland Press,
1997
Age 15+ This book gives an insight into the cultural
and emotional problems faced by an Aboriginal girl who leaves
home to live in a city far from her family and her cultural
background.
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