What To Do With the Parents

It's a common enough trend: parents mysteriously missing in middle-grade and young adults. (Our own Matthew MacNish posted about this phenomenon right here on PM.) And it makes sense: without parental figures around to fix problems, keep our protags from risking their necks or offer advice, our central characters wouldn't have their own discoveries to make or solutions to find or adventures to go on.

But that isn't to say the parents are in no way useful to the development of character, story and theme in children's books. So how can they contribute? A few suggestions:

1. The parent brings an "adult" problem into the storyline for the protagonist. This problem should add to the protagonist's load and provide opportunity to show growth. For example, in Vikki VanSickle's Words That Start With B, Clarissa's mother is diagnosed with an illness that Clarissa struggles to deal with along with troubles at school and with her friends. This helps to develop Clarissa as a character, as well as her mother.

2. The parent and the protagonist have a dynamic relationship that contributes to both their development. In Carl Hiaasen's Chomp, for example, Wahoo knows how aggressive his father can be; he both admires him and wishes that he were a little more restrained. This push and pull makes for equally hilarious and touching scenes.

3. The adult restrains the protagonist in some way. This isn't to say that the protagonist must resent the parent figure, only that our main character encounters some form of restriction in the parent. Take Kathleen O'Dell's The Aviary, a historical fantasy-mystery; our main character Clara loves her mother, but she comes to realize that her mother is literally restricting her -- she won't let Clara out of the house for fear of her health. Over time, Clara decides that she's able to make her own decisions regarding her health, displaying growth we can get behind as readers.

The important thing to remember is that parents are characters too, and usually the way they interact with their child, the protagonist, will determine how they contribute to the story. Besides, nobody ever said that you couldn't write awesome parents, right?

What are your favourite middle-grade books with parents?

--Yahong

Absent Parents in Children's Literature

That's my big sister Em and I when I was ... very little. I guess my parents figured: "Baby Matthew wants an ice cream cone? Sure. Slap him in a rubber diaper and put him in the bath tub."

Then I guess they left the room.

Who knows? I don't, but I want to talk about parents (or the lack thereof) in the books we read and write. I'm sure most of you have noticed that most MG and YA literature consists of protagonists whose parents are either dead, missing, abusive, distant, incarcerated, abducted by aliens, or sometimes just plain not even mentioned.

I'm not saying it doesn't make sense. I mean these books are about young people, and young people are much more interesting if they can get into adventures. It's hard to have adventures if mom is going to start blowing up your phone when curfew rolls around. But lately I've been thinking about why this is. I mean personally, it feels natural to write about young people with parents who are out of the picture. All my writing is at least partially autobiographical, and my mom died when I was 11 years old. My dad was out of my life even a year before that, for reasons we don't need to get into. Is that really why I write stories the way I do, though?

I don't know.

I'm trying to think of a scenario in which normal, healthy, present parents could be a part of a YA or MG novel. I can't think of a single one I've read myself. I think I may have to write one.

Harry Potter has a lot of awesome adults, even an amazing godfather, but Harry's real parents are dead before the first word. Charlie was there in Twilight, and he seemed like a decent dad, but he'd been out of Bella's life for so long he didn't have much authority over her. Another Charlie, from that story about the chocolate factory, had some pretty decent (albeit extremely poor) parents, but it was his grandpa who came along to take part in the story.

What do you guys think? Have you read any children's books lately that had normal, present, healthy parents in them?

If not, do you think there is some other underlying reason behind this phenomenon? Something other, perhaps darker, than just freeing the characters up to go on adventures?

Middle Grade Moms

Once upon a time, I might have questioned the validity of days like Mother's Day. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for my mom and think it's right and good to celebrate her. But you know the drill: the sappy almost-poetic Hallmark cards, the dilemma of what to buy, and the marketing efforts aimed at tugging on the volatile mixture of guilt and familial love. Sometimes it's hard to buy into it.

Of course, that foolish cynicism characterized my life before having three small children. Now Mother's Day just might be my favorite day of the year. Breakfast in bed - yes, please! Children whispering sweetness (so what if they're being prompted by daddy?) throughout the day. Time to do whatever I want. Oh, I'm sorry, has my gloating over yesterday completely sidetracked me from the intent of this post? Why, yes, it has. And, since Mother's Day is over, and I'm not The Queen anymore, I better get right to it.

You remembered your own mothers yesterday. Now let's talk about some of our favorite moms in middle-grade books. One of the great things about middle-grade is that the families are often present and a huge part of the main character's story. While you may find a suspiciously high number of orphaned protagonists, the parents that are depicted usually have some winning qualities.

Do share. Who gets your middle-grade Mom of the Year Award?

P.S. For me: Molly Weasley, hands down. Her family loves her, the Burrow is so homey, she puts up with the twins...AND she's part of a rebellious order? Go Molly!