Supernatural Genre in Young Adult Fiction

In small towns of Mexico, many children and young adults are brought around the table and told stories of vengeful spirits, bogey men who get little children who misbehave, and unexplained occurrences due to witchcraft. A wide variety of stories are told in order to teach morality, model behavior, and to teach about past customs that were once practiced and are considered traditional. Some stories are also told for entertainment purposes for the gathering of people or family during special events in their lives. It is the intrigue with the supernatural that keeps the readers glued to the pages and the words of the orator. According to Donelson in Literature for Today�s Young Adults,

We delight in chambers of horrors, tunnels of terror, and haunted

houses. We claim to be rational beings, yet we read astrology

charts. We mock the superstitions of others yet hold as pets one or

two of our own, joking all the time while we toss salt over our

shoulder, avoid walking under ladders, and knock on wood. We

follow customs without wondering why they came about. (192-193)

The stories mainly serve to provide foundations of beliefs and customs to the audience of the stories, and to continue the oral and written legend of them. In the various books chosen, there are compilations of stories told in the South West of the United States or various parts of Mexico. The listeners who are intrigued and mesmerized by the flow and imagery of the words pass down these stories from generation to generation. It is this continued interest that maintains the stories alive and thriving with awe. Some of the other books selections vary from which country they originated from, or in the language they were written. Whether these stories are told or written in various languages, or even many versions have been adapted, as long as one person is intrigued and spellbound with the story, they will hand down the integrity of the story and its lessons they provide.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Janet S. The Last Treasure. Dutton: 2003.

Wealthy John Matthew Smith died in 1881, but that doesn�t keep his spirit from returning for an annual visit to see how his family is doing and to nudge things along in hopes of helping his descendants appreciate each other. (Donelson, 196)

This book has various qualities that many young readers crave about the supernatural. John Matthew Smith has the ability to be the omnipotent character from beyond the grave, and therefore is able to try to mend his family�s weakening ties.

Carus, Marianne, ed. 13 Scary Ghost Stories. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2000.

This collection of short ghost stories have been edited and revised to fit more of a modern day audience. These stories come from different countries and have been retold for entertainment and for correcting inappropriate behavior from the teenagers that are affected throughout the stories. This book was chosen because since it is a small collection of short ghost stories, it is easy for quick reading for young adults and does keeps the busy young adult entertained.

Delacre, Lulu. De Oro y Esmeraldas: Mitos, Leyendas y Cuentos Populares de

Latino America. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1996.

This collection of stories was originally printed in English with the title, Golden Tales. The stories range from three different areas of Central and South America. The stories tell of legends from the past and explain why customs and beliefs are the way they are now based on the past.

Hayes, Joe. �El Cucuy!. Texas: Cinco Puntos Press, 1999.

Everyone hears at least one teasing reference to the �bogeyman� when they�re growing up, but not everyone knows him by name. In the Southwest and much of Mexico, he�s known as el Cucuy. The use of Cucuy is to threaten and scare children to behave and not to wander in the streets without permission or supervision.

--- La Llorona: The Weeping Woman. Texas: Cinco Puntos Press, 1987.

La Llorona, the �Weeping Woman�, is truly the best known folk story of Hispanic America. Parents and grandparents have been telling this story to their children and grandchildren for generations. It appears at first to be only a frightening story filled with mysterious events, causing children to huddle up together and listen spellbound. Yet it�s the simple, universal wisdom at its core that finally works its magic in their hearts.

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. New York: Alfred Knopf,

1999.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a dark and profound novel about the codes that men impose on women, and women on themselves; the curious notions of honor that can dominate an isolated community; the irresistible impulse toward violence; and the psychology of mass complicity. Unsettling, powerfully evocative, luminous with color, it is brilliant performance by the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude and an important literary event.

--- Collected Stories. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1984.

Beautifully written, these stories explore, with a deceptive simplicity, the different faces of reality, the miracles and mysteries of life, and the humorous, tragic and ironic patterns of the human condition. These collected stories provide a lasting sense of wonder.

--- Doce Cuentos Peregrinos. Mexico: Editorial Diana, 1992.

This collection of stories is in Spanish and provides stories of everyday life and how they are affected with death, and the supernatural. These are accounts of fictional mysteries and murder that are not traditional Mexican folklore. Yet the stories provide foundation of traditional customs in different cultures that demonstrate comparison between cultures.

Reyna, Sergio. The Woman Who Lost Her Soul and other Stories. USA: Jovita

Gonzalez, 2000.

�This collection is significant both as a remarkable literary work�humorous, vivid, and colorful�and as a contribution toward understanding the historic framework of the storyteller genre surviving in Mexican American lore.� Library Journal

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. Little, Brown: 2002.

Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon is on her way to school when she is raped and murdered in a cornfield. She tells her story from Heaven as she watches over her family. (Donelson, 196) This book was chosen because it goes the mystery of death and shows how one spirit in order to be set free must guide the characters in the book to her assailant. This book also deals with the omnipotent character and the ability to interfere with mortals.

Works Cited

Donelson, Kenneth L., Alleen Pace Nilsen. Literature for Today�s Young Adults. 7th Ed.

Boston: Pearson Education, 2005.