"The Sand in the Oyster So What Really Happened?" Horn Book Magazine

"The Sand in the Oyster So What Really Happened?" Horn Book Magazine

This article explores the increased presence of ambivalence and ambiguity in young adult novels. While the article discusses Cormier's work heavily, Patty Campbell also references YA authors Walter Dean Myers, Lois Lowry, Terry Trueman, and David Almond. The author considers how rising use of ambiguity could come from the unreliable narrative voice of an adolescent. While the author praises the complex ambiguities inherent in the ending of The Chocolate War, she criticizes the novel's follow-up for lacking that ambiguity itself and undermining the ambiguity of The Chocolate War. Campbell also asks readers to consider if increasing the ambiguity in fiction makes the fiction more realistic and if such a goal is even desirable.

Horn Book Magazine, 2005, Vol. 81, No. 4, pp. 503-207.

Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library

July/August 2005

Annamary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana

JPG, 8.5x11

English