Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies: How through the Lens of Political Criticism a Story Seemingly about Beauty Becomes a Critique on Government, Free Will, and the Power of Beauty and Individuality Kevin Andrew Fagan College

Young Adult Literature is shadowed by misunderstandings and biases. The genera is seen as a negative influence upon young adults or it is seen as a stepping stone in which teens use to work their way up to the “classics.” The stories in YA novels are seen as just that, stories; rather than reading the text critically like a classic novel YA texts are read in order to get young adults to read. The common thought is that critical thinking should be left to the classics because they are literature with a capital L. Reading a novel for the story is perfectly acceptable but to limit a text is wrong. Young Adult literature should be treated the same as classics as in that they should be read with critical thinking and different critical theories. I cannot read a novel without wanting to know the time in history that the novel was written—what was going on at the time that this author was writing and why did he write about this topic? Should we not do the same investigating with novels of today? They most certainly will long after you and I have left this world. Literature is embedded with history. Present literature is filled with present history and current events. So, what is the harm of thinking critically and applying critical...