Civic engagement and black female characters in contemporary young adult literature

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that digital age children and young adults are skilled, self-aware, engaged citizens and while fiction published for this demographic still contains strong moral messages (Nikolajeva 2002 25), these are increasingly framed by civic and cultural concerns, such as fair representation of race, social class, and gender (Mickenberg and Nel 2011 467). Narratologically, the increased awareness of civic and cultural concerns requires an updated investigation into character formation and presentation because none of the traditional typologies of character (Propp 1958 [1928], Campbell 1949) cater for female protagonists that are curious, courageous, compassionate and civically active (Tatar 2021). This void is felt even more poignantly when the female characters are BIPOC children (Chandler 2019 176-177). Focusing on Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses series (2001-2021) and Elizabeth Acevedo’s Poet X (2018), I show how both authors reconfigure mimetic and semiotic strategies of characterisation.