Too little room for junior literature in college?

"What book do you study in French lessons? Ask this question to a schoolboy, and there is a good chance that he will talk about Molière's plays, Maupassant's news, or the story.Antigone Anouilh. More rarely will you speak of works by Marie-Aude Murail, Timothée de Fombelle or other great contemporary authors addressing children and adolescents.

Indeed, the recognition of youth literature in secondary education is relatively recent. Introduced in the supplements to the program of the college of 1985, it was imposed in the programs themselves only in 1997. With the texts published in 2015, a course seems crossed: the literature of youth can now be the object study sequences in class, if the teacher wishes, and is no longer confined to "cursive readings" – these readings recommended or requested to students in addition to the French course.

But the evolution is short-lived. In July 2018 a new version of the programs is published for certain subjects, including French. While most of the changes are superficial, others have more consequences, as in the case of children's literature. In cycles 3 (CM1-CM2-6^e) and 4 (5th-4th-3rd)^e), it is more evoked in cursive reading, the integral studies must relate to "heritage works".

Categories to relativize

The opposition thus created between "youth" and "heritage" literature deserves to be questioned. It assumes a difference in value that pre-exists the written books in one or the other category. But the boundary between these categories is actually much more porous than is often thought. Often perceived as related to childhood, tales, whether from Perrault, Grimm or others, were read by adults for a long time and lend themselves to extensive literary analysis; they are sometimes studied in high school.

In addition, some books have changed category over time as Oliver Twist Charles Dickens, which is sold today in the youth literature but was written for adults. Many books such as The little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry are in both categories at the same time. Other works are published in both "youth" and "adult" collections, without the text changing.

For example, we can think of Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll or the works of Jules Verne, as Twenty thousand leagues under sea. If it is not necessary to judge a book by its cover, it is nevertheless it which induces the perception of a work as being or not of youth. Thus, the distinction made appears mainly as an editorial rather than a literary phenomenon.

Multiple levels of analysis

Moreover, to attribute a literary value to a book a priori by placing it in one of the two categories is rather absurd. What criteria does it evaluate? A "good" book does not take its reader for a fool (as do some youth books but also some "adult" literature), offers a text that is not completely smooth, but on the contrary that extends its depth when we analyze it.

It is also a book that challenges us, in our humanity, our relationship to the world, or to literature itself. There are bad and good books in all literary categories, but the existence of the less good should not make us miss the rest. The passer Lois Lowry, for example, classified in youth literature, is a book allowing several levels of analysis and opening to philosophical questions. It would be a shame to deprive yourself.

The study of youth literature in class can therefore be rich. Add to this that it also offers texts that resonate strongly with the public college, sometimes allowing an easier entry into the reading, preliminary necessary for analysis. For example, the series Savior and son Marie-Aude Murail is in direct contact with the present, which does not prevent her from having a very interesting narrative complexity to study in class.

Authors to meet

Youth literature is also a gateway for reading long books; in French version, The Hobbit from Tolkien is about 400 pages long. When, after a sequence in this book, the teacher points out to the students that they have read so many pages, this helps to minimize the obstacle that the length of a book may represent for them.

Finally, contemporary youth literature can be an opportunity for projects and meetings with writers, which is always a stimulating time for students, allowing them to better understand that behind each text there is an author.

This can help students discover literature and make them want to read. Teachers to seize this opportunity and articulate the different parts of the literature. Unfortunately, the latest programs limit their room for maneuver in text selection.