YA Through The Ages: the '70s

If the '60s are when YA really got its start, then the '70s are known as the beginning of the "golden age" of YA fiction. 

The realistic angle we saw begun in the '60s only grew in the '70s – the darker, the grittier, the edgier, the better. S.E. Hinton may have started it off, but The Outsiders was soon surpassed in terms of 'edgy' material by the likes of The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (1974) and Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (1971). The Chocolate War portrayed the consequences of a vicious high school mob mentality, and Go Ask Alice was a hard-hitting look at a teenager's addiction to drugs.

Two 1970s paperback covers of Go Ask Alice. These are radically different in the vibe they give out, the first one very clearly getting at the drug aspect, and the second being somewhat more accessible to teens, with a shadowy face that hints at a dark tone and subject matter.

The first YA book to specifically address addiction to heroin was A Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich by Alice Childress (1973). And while his books may not have been quite as radical, Paul Zindel wrote several more "problem novels" during the '70s, such as I Never Loved Your Mind (1970), Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball (1976), Confessions of a Teenage Baboon (1977) and The Undertaker's Gone Bananas (1978). The original covers of these books were so weird that I have decided to include them all (admittedly, I have not read any of these, so perhaps the covers do make sense and I just don't know it):

 Two versions of the 1976 hardcover (I believe the one on the left is the US and the one on the right is the UK version). Okay, I like the flowy feel of the drawing in the 1st one, and the raccoon is cute, but that font? Oh, how it hurts my eyes. Someone didn't know how to color coordinate. And the 2nd one...I don't even know where to start. Is that supposed to be blue HAIR? Has someone stepped on his eyeballs and that's why we can't see them anymore?

I like the oval outline and at least they jazzed up the font a little...but the picture. Why are their heads disembodied? Why are there plants growing out of them? Why is the guy staring at me with that creepy expression on his face? I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

When I first saw this cover I thought the guy had a coat hanger for a head.

Awkward pose, anyone? Seriously, she must have tremendously strong leg muscles to keep holding them up like that. And they're both looking toward, I'm assuming, the undertaker who has gone bananas...so why does the guy have a relatively pleasant expression on his face, while the girl is biting her nails in terror?

Even books for girls about growing up were starting to test boundaries. Forever by Judy Blume (1975) has become a YA icon for its revolutionary frank discussion of teenage sex, and even her novel Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret (1970) was challenged for dealing with issues like menstruation and religion.

Interestingly, alongside some of the more serious books, humorous YA reads were also starting to rise in popularity. Paula Danziger published The Cat Ate My Gymsuit in 1975 and Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice? in 1979. And for boys, Gordon Korman started off his wonderfully funny Macdonald Hall series with This Can't Be Happening At Macdonald Hall! (1978).

Okay, Gordon Korman's writing is hilarious, but this cover image is just sad.

Ditto.

Lois Lowry may be best known for her amazing dystopian YA novel The Giver, but some of her earlier books were lighter, fun reads. The first book in her Anastasia Krupnik series (don't you just love that name?), Anastasia Krupnik, was published in 1979. The series is both humorous and, apparently, "edgy," as it was #29 on the ALA list of the most frequently challenged books from 1990-2000. I've read some in the series and would never have thought of them as particularly controversial...but there you have it. Some people do.

Anastasia Krupnik, looking oh SO scandalous.

In the '60s we saw an increase in the number of YA novels featuring African-American characters. This trend continued into the '70s, with novels such as His Own Where by June Jordan (1971), The Planet of Junior Brown (1971; 1972 Newbery Honor) and M.C. Higgins the Great (1974; 1975 Newbery Medal) by Virginia Hamilton, and the well-known Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (1976; 1977 Newbery Medal).

There was also a sprinkling of other YA novels featuring people of colour. Dragonwings by Laurence Yep (1975; 1976 Newbery Honor) depicted the life of a young Chinese boy after immigrating to America. Scott O'Dell's novel Sing Down the Moon (1970; 1971 Newbery Honor) told the story of a Navajo girl taken by Spanish slavers. Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey by Jamake Highwater (1977; 1978 Newbery Honor) is based on Native American legends. Paula Fox's book The Slave Dancer (1973) won the 1974 Newbery Medal for its tale, based on a historical event, of a boy forced to play music that slaves had to "dance" to on a slave ship. And Jean Craighead George's book Julie of the Wolves, an educational novel about both Arctic wolves and Inuit culture, was published in 1972 and won the 1973 Newbery Medal.

I'm sorry, but I really doubt they got many teens picking this book up with a cover like that.

Or, frankly, with this one either.

With all this 'realistic' focus on plumbing the dark depths of adolescence, it looks like fantasy was a bit overlooked in this decade. Susan Cooper did keep on with her The Dark is Rising series, with The Dark is Rising (1973; 1974 Newbery Honor), Greenwitch (1974), The Grey King (1975; 1976 Newbery Medal), and Silver on the Tree (1977). The realm of the fairies was tackled by Elizabeth Marie Pope in The Perilous Gard (1974; 1975 Newbery Honor), probably one of the first YA books to cross genres (historical and fantasy). Robin McKinley also came out with her very first novel (my favourite of hers), Beauty (1978). And of course, we can't forget the classic The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (...ironically enough, I actually never finished this one), which was published in 1979. Still, compared to the realistic fiction genre, it was pretty slim pickings in the YA fantasy section.

Finally, a 1970s cover that actually does some things right! I quite like the simplistic but elegant design of this one.

Psychological thrillers/suspense/horror novels for young adult readers also appear to have taken off in the 1970s. Lois Duncan wrote lots of these, her most famous being I Know What You Did Last Summer (1973). Richard Peck published a few as well, like The Ghost Belonged to Me (1975), Are You In The House Alone? (1976), and Ghosts I Have Been (1977). And in 1979, V.C. Andrews started her Dollanganger series with Flowers in the Attic.

Gotta love the pigtails. Also, why put the exact same image on the front and back? Unless she's checking every single window.

And lastly, a special mention to Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl (1970; 1971 Newbery Honor). This must have been one of the first YA sci-fi novels, and many of the ideas even predated Star Trek, as it turns out she wrote some of it in the 1950s. 

Of these books, I've read the most from the "edgy books about girls growing up" and "humor books" categories. I loved Paula Danziger, Judy Blume, Lois Lowry and Gordon Korman when I was younger. I haven't read any of the Zindel books mentioned, but I am tempted to because those titles are just so fantastic. And some of these – The Chocolate War, Go Ask Alice, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and The Slave Dancer – are such YA classics I should probably give them a shot... I don't think I'll be trying the thrillers anytime soon though!

What about you guys? Have you read all/most of these? None of these? Do you like the "realism" trend of this decade?