Names and Naming in Young Adult Literature - Scarecrow Press

Names and Naming in Young Adult Literature xv
their children ethnic-sounding names as a reflection of pride in
their heritage. Of course when an author writes a book focused
on exploring ethnic differences, there is much more involved
than simply giving the characters ethnic-sounding names. Nevertheless,
it is the titles of such books as When My Name Was
Keoko by Linda Sue Park, Call Me Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer,
and Missing Angel Juan by Francesca Lia Block that serve to let
readers know that the books are going to have something to say
about particular ethnicities.
In this book, we define young adult literature as whatever readers
between the ages of twelve and eighteen choose to read for their own
pleasure or enlightenment. Such reading might be related either to
school assignments or to leisure-time reading. Also, we do not restrict
our definition to books published by youth divisions of publishing
houses; for example, we are including books published for
general adult audiences by Sherman Alexie, Maya Angelou, Orson
Scott Card, Sandra Cisneros, Yann Martel, and Amy Tan, but
“found” by young adults, who relate to them at least partly because
of the young protagonists, but also, we think, because of how observant
and clever these authors are in their uses of naming as a literary
technique.
We hope to encourage teachers and librarians to add names and
naming to their book discussions with young readers, but we shudder at
the thought of fill-in-the-blank tests where students lose points for forgetting
the names of minor characters or misspelling the names of major
characters. We hope to inspire readers to make deeper connections
and thereby gain added pleasure from reading many of the well-written
books being produced for today’s young adults.
In closing, we want to thank the late Robert Cormier, who when we
interviewed him in 1979, gave us so many insights into what skilled authors
can do with names, that we began reading with increased pleasure
and a new interest in names. Without his generosity, we probably
would not have thought of writing this book. We also want to express
thanks to Arizona State University students Lisa Arter, Sandra Crandall,
Elizabeth Dern, Morgan Langhofer, and Barbara Yost, who made
numerous contributions both through their knowledge and enthusiasm,