Recreation, Development and Youth

This chapter grounds youth and community development concepts through case studies of Young Adult fiction – i.e., popular books geared for readers from ages 12-20. Although its roots may be traced back at least as far as the end of World War II, the ‘Young Adult’ genre – from classics including J.D. Salinger’s (1951) The Catcher in the Rye, J.R.R. Tolkien’s (1954) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, C.S. Lewis’ (1950) The Chronicles of Narnia series, to more recent publications including J.K. Rowling’s (1997) Harry Potter books, Stephanie Myers’ (2005) Twilight saga, and Suzanne Collins’ (2008) Hunger Games trilogy – is a relatively new, often controversial and hugely popular; Salinger’s novel has sold around 65 million copies, with Rowling’s books selling over 400 million worldwide. Beyond these numbers, the impact and influence of the ideas these books contain and stimulate is worth serious consideration. While drawing from a number of popular young adult books, this chapter spotlights the first book in Michael Grant’s (2008) "Gone" series to explore theories of recreation and youth development. Although perhaps a playful approach to studying recreation, the chapter takes youth leisure and community development seriously, by taking young adult fiction seriously, and tracing lines of understanding that may be developed between the two. For example, Hart’s (1997) “ladder of participation” links well to the wizarding plotlines of Harry Potter. The ‘deviant’ wanderings of Holden Caulfield may be viewed through (and offer a critique of) ‘positive youth recreation’ (Shinn and Yoshikawa, 2008; Witt and Crompton, 1996). The suddenly adult-free zone of Gone operates as a case study of Community Youth Development (CYD) focussed on collaborative political action and (super)empowerment (Outley, Bocarro and Boleman, 2011). Arguably, the playful transferral of recreation and youth development themes, practices and understandings to and from young adult fiction allows for a shift in focus that expand upon concepts such as power, privilege, and oppression in youth and community development through a critical lens. Although fictional, young adult literature is engaging and widely read, and there is much to be learned from it, particularly by students of recreation, youth, and community development. As C. S. Lewis reportedly quipped, “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.