I hate to contradict an indie bookseller, but I think kids and young adult books still include a lot of "boys' own" adventures where kids can dream of adventure and glory. True, you see a lot more than just adventure and glory. Kids books and young adult books now cover so much that just surviving or being yourself is a rich story. But you can still get your Tom Sawyer/Swift kicks. Harry Potter? Just a regular kid who proves to be brave and good and helps defeat evil! percy Jackson? Realizes he's a demi-god and the son of Poseidon. True, it's not reality based glory and adventure, but is becoming Tom Swift and the world's greatest inventor wildly realistic? No. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi is a rip-roaring adventure (set in a dystopian future). I could go on. No, it's not just Hardy Boys anymore, but YA lit and the books kids read are richer for it. And thank goodness pure escapism and glory is still there for the having.
Perhaps it suggests kids (or at least boys) CAN'T dream of glory in the real world. A depressing thought. Or maybe it's just the hot genre now whereas before it was all glory in sports or solving crime a la Nancy Drew.
I hate to contradict an indie bookseller, but I think kids and young adult books still include a lot of "boys' own" adventures where kids can dream of adventure and glory. True, you see a lot more than just adventure and glory. Kids books and young adult books now cover so much that just surviving or being yourself is a rich story. But you can still get your Tom Sawyer/Swift kicks. Harry Potter? Just a regular kid who proves to be brave and good and helps defeat evil! percy Jackson? Realizes he's a demi-god and the son of Poseidon. True, it's not reality based glory and adventure, but is becoming Tom Swift and the world's greatest inventor wildly realistic? No. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi is a rip-roaring adventure (set in a dystopian future). I could go on. No, it's not just Hardy Boys anymore, but YA lit and the books kids read are richer for it. And thank goodness pure escapism and glory is still there for the having.
You have a point! Interesting that so many seem to be set in magical worlds...
Perhaps it suggests kids (or at least boys) CAN'T dream of glory in the real world. A depressing thought. Or maybe it's just the hot genre now whereas before it was all glory in sports or solving crime a la Nancy Drew.