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12-2013
Celebrating 200 Years of Pride and Prejudice
(1813): Austen-Inspired Literature for Young
Adults
Christina Miller
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Miller, Christina. "Celebrating 200 Years of Pride and Prejudice (1813): Austen-Inspired Literature for Young Adults." VOICE OF
YOUTH ADVOCATES Dec. 2013: 14-15.
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Miller, C. (2013, December). Celebrating 200 years of Pride and Prejudice (1813). Voice of Youth
Advocates, 36(5), 14-15.
Celebrating 200 Years of Pride and
Prejudice (1813) Austen-Inspired Literature for Young Adults
y CHRISTINA MILLER
A s Miss Bingley from Pride and Prejudice aptly notes, there
Z A is "no enjoyment like reading"—especially when reading
.J. \Jiiisten-'mspned literature for young adults.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged . . ." that )ane Austen's
life and works have inspired hundreds of adaptations, sequels,
prequels, and retellings. Adult-level books and series, like Shannon
Hale's Austenland and Midnight in Austenland and Carrie Bebris'
highly rated Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries, are enjoyed by both
adult and teenaged Austen enthusiasts. The young adult titles below
complement Austen's novels and satisfy the "anything-Austen-isgood" appetite of budding Janeites; they also scaffold her novels by
introducing the archetypes, vocabulary, and historical and social
conventions that are portrayed in her stories. Hopefully, these
books—enjoyable reads themselves—will encourage reading of
Austen's novels, but all will be enjoyed on their own merits.
AUSTEN'S WORLD
AUSTEN, GRAPHICALLY RENDERED
Cora Harrison's fictional memoir, I Was Jane Austen's
Best Friend, provides a peek into the life of fifteenyear-old Jane Austen through her sixteen-year-old
cousin Jenny Cooper's (fictional) journal entries.
These entries, based on fact, span a period of three months in 1791,
from Jane, Jenny, and her sister Cassandra's time as students at
Mrs. Cawley's boarding school in Southampton, England, through
Jenny's move to the Austens at Stevenson. Jenny Cooper's journal
entries include an extraordinary number of details taken from historical Jane Austen's life, including her plays, books, balls, travels, and
friends. The memoir is a wonderful look into Jane Austen's life and
times, and, by extension, her novels.
These adaptations of Austen's Sense and Sensibility,
Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Northanger Abbey
closely adhere to the original novels' plots, characters,
and settings. The pictures and dialogue give the reader a good feel for Austen's style and her characters' personalities and
attitudes; text boxes clarify and advance the story with Austen-like
succinctness. Readers will learn of the mores, etiquette, and conventions depicted in Austen's novels; modern-looking characters help
the reader appreciate the novels' timeless themes and character traits.
In Jane Austen: A Life Revealed, Catherine Reef intersperses historical events, primary documents, quotes
from letters, photographs, and paintings to give the
reader a very good sense of Jane Austen, the person,
and how the time, place, and social stratum she
occupied shaped her perception of the world and forged her novels.
Readers learn of the stratified society, mores, manners, and entertainments of Austen's late 18th- and early 19th-century England, particularly the status of women. Reef, with numerous quotes, describes
the influence of other authors and how Austen's books came to be
published and were received.
ADOLESCENT AUSTEN
ADORABLE AUSTEN - ABRIDGED
AUSTEN'S ARCHETYPES
For a quick overview, especially for younger YA readers, Gü Tavner's Real
Reads Classics: Jane Austen provides short, easy retellings of her six major
novels. Ann Kronheimer's ülustrations give readers vivid images of the
characters and setting. Each volume is divided into three parts: part one
comprises illustrated descriptions of major characters; part two is an
ulustrated retelling of the story; and part three contains useful resources
including: "Filling in Gaps" (detaus ñ^om the original novel omitted from
the retelling); "Background Information" (understandable literary criticism of the novel); "Books" (recommended reading about Jane Austen's
life and times); and "Food for Thought" (questions to ponder and/or
discuss about the novel's characters, style, and themes). This series is a
nice addition to middle school library and classroom collections.
AUSTEN'S LIFE, TIMES AND WORKS
Though marketed for adults, Jane Austen for Beginners is a good
place for students to start their Austen education.
Robert Dryden provides biographical information
about Austen's family and draws parallels between
people and events in Austen's life and world to people
and events in her novels. Summaries of Austen's six
major novels provide a feminist perspective and character and archetype analyses (how she punishes or
rewards her archetypal rake and Cinderella, for example). An appendix contains a list of film and print adaptations, Austen-related blogs
and websites, and a bibliography. This is a well-organized introduction to Austen and a useful supplement to her novels.
»4 I VOYA December 2013
In Sass & Serendipity, Jennifer Ziegler's modern
1 ctelling of Jane Austen's novel. Sense and Sensibility,
seventeen-year-old Gabriella (Gabby), a hard-working student with a part-time job, blames her "deadbeat" father for her parents' divorce and serious
financial problems. Younger sister Daphne, impulsive
and quick to judge, struggles with school, plans to get
a job, and adores Dad. High school sophomore Daphne falls in love
and fantasizes about marriage; if only she would be more sensible
like her sister Gabby ("Crabby Gabby," per Daphne). In spite of all
the fighting, sisterly love is just beneath the surface. Ziegler tells the
story from each girl's perspective and the reader empathizes with
both, each dealing with the normal trials and tribulations of adolescence with superimposed poverty and divorce.
AUSTEN-FLAVORED
In Stephanie Strohm's Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink,
seventeen-year-old Minnesotan Libby loves Jane
Austen novels and "dream [s] of a time of true love,
courtly manners, and real gentlemen." Libby is mad
for history and fashion and spends the summer interning at a living
history museum, set in the year 1791.
Not directly based on a particular Austen novel, this story has
gothic (think ghost) and romance (think shirtless lumberjack)
overtures and Austen-like characters—from the gentleman "look-
www. voyamagaztne. com
alike" to Libby's cargo-pants-and-fanny-pack-wearing, knowit-all, foolish roommate. The plot has an Austenesque romantic
twist (think Sense and Sensibility) and a mystery as well; fans of
romance will enjoy this book.
AUSTEN TODAY
Ashleigh is an Enthusiast with a capital E; her latest
obsession is Jane Austen. She dresses Regency-era and
speaks "Austenese"—"Let us repair to your abode,
where there is more room." She wanted to address friend
Julie as "Miss Lefkowitz" but was reminded that Pride
and Prejudice's Elizabeth Bennett called her best friend Charlotte.
Julie and Ashleigh make frequent references to Austen's novels
and characters; events and dilemmas in Enthusiasm are similar
to those in Austen's novels, as when Ashleigh mistakes a "mild
regard" for a "more intense emotion" (à la Harriet in Emma).
With characters that resemble Austen's fictional archetypes (i.e.,
the seductive creep), this fun read is a good introduction or
complement to her novels.
Harrison, Cora. I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend. Random House, 2010. 352p.
$17.99.978-0-385-73940-5. VOYA December 2010.4Q 4P M J
Peterfreund, Diana. For Darkness Shows the Stars. HarperCollins, 2012,448p.
S9.99 Trade pb. 978-0-06-200615-8. VOYA April 2012. 3Q 3P M J
Reef, Catherine. Jane Austen: A Life Revealed. Clarion, 2011. 208p. $18.99.
978-0-547-37021-7.
Shulman, Polly. Enthusiasm. G. Putnam's Sons, 2006. 208p. $15.99. 978-14294-1977-2. VOYA April 2006.4Q 4P J S
Strohm, Stephanie Kate. Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink. Graphia/Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 208p. $8.99 Trade pb. 978-0-547-56459-3. VOYA
February2012. 3Q3PMJS
Tavner, Gill. Real Reads Classics: Jane Austen. Windmill Books, 2009. 64p. PLB
$13.55.
. Sense and Sensibility. 978-1-60754-144-8.
.Pride and Prejudice. 978-1-60754-141-7.
. Mansfield Park. 2008. 978-1-60754-389-3.
. Emma. 978-1 -60754-147-9.
. Northanger Abbey. 978-1-60754-150-9.
. Persuasion. 978-1-60754-389-3.
Ziegler, Jennifer. Sass & Serendipity. Delacorte/Random House, 2011. 384p.
$15.99. 978-0-385-73898-9. VOYA Online September 2, 2011.4Q 4P J S
ALSO CONSIDER
ANACHRONISTIC ANNE ELLIOT
For Darkness Shows the Stars is a post-apocalyptic
parallel to Jane Austen's Persuasion. After a terrible
genetic accident and the War of the Lost nearly destroy
humanity, Luddite lords, saved by their contempt for
technology and modern medicine, manage large but
declining estates worked by the greatly diminished
"Reduced" caste and their descendants. Elliot North
manages her ruthless and inept father's estate. Striving to maintain
appearances and feed the laborers, she rents an adjoining estate and
shipyard soon visited by the Cloud Fleet led by Elliot's childhood
infatuation who, years previously, had fled. Elliot's Luddite beliefs
are at odds with her benevolence and sense of duty, forcing difficult
decisions. For Darkness Shows the Stars brings Austen's characters
and enduring themes to a futurist society.
WORKS DISCUSSED
Bebris, Carrie. Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mystery Series
. Pride and Prescience (Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged). Forge,
2004. 288p. $6.99. 978-0-7653-5071-8. VOYA October 2004. 4Q 4P J S A/YA
_. Suspense and Sensibility (Or, First Impressions Revisited). Forge,
2005 304p. $6.99. 978-0-7653-5092-3. VOYA June 2005. 4Q 3P J S A/YA
_. North by Northanger (Or, The Shades of Pemberley). Forge, 2006.
320p. $12.99. 978-0-7653-2382-8. VOYA April 2006. 4Q 3P J S A/YA
_. The Matters at Mansfield (Or, The Crawford Affair). Forge, 2008.
288p. $14.99. 978-0-7653-2383-5. VOYA February 2009.5Q 3P S Y/YA
_. The Intrigue at Highbury (Or, Emma's March). Tor, 2010. 320p.
$13.99. 978-0-7653-2821-2. VOYA June 2010.5Q 4P J S A/YA
. The Deception at Lyme (Or, The Peril of Persuasion). Tor, 2011. 304p.
$14.99.978-0-7653-2798-7.
. Pride and Prejudice. IUus. by Hugo Petrus. Marvel Worldwide, 2010.
120p. $14.99. 978-0-7851-3916-4.
Butler, Nancy. Sense and Sensibility. Ulus. by Sonny Liew. Marvel Worldwide,
2011. 128p. $ 14.99. 978-0-7851 -4820-3.
. Emma. Illus. by Janet Lee. Marvel Worldwide, 2012. 120p. $14.99.
978-0-7851-5686-4. VOYA August 2012. 5Q 3P M J S
. Northanger Abbey. Illus. by Janet Lee. Marvel Worldwide, 2012.
112p. $14.99. 978-0-7851-6440-1.
Dryden, Robert. Jane Austen for Beginners. For Beginners, 2012. 176p. $16.99.
978-1-934389-61-4.
Hale, Shannon. Austenland. Bloomsbury, 2007.208p. $12.99.978-1-59691-286-1.
. Midnight in Austenland. Bloomsbury, 2011. 288p. $15. 978-1-59691289-2. VOYA February 2012. 5Q 4P M J S
www.voyamagazine.com
Bennett, Veronica. Cassandra's Sister: Growing Up Jane Austen. Candlewick
Press, 2007. 227p. $15.99. 978-0-7636-3464-3. VOYA December 2007. 4Q
3PMJ
"Bennett constructs a readable fiction of how Jane [Austen] could have
been motivated to write her early novels."-Julie Scordato.
Bradbury, Jennifer. Wrapped. Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 2011. 320p.
$16.99. 978-1-4169-9007-9. VOYA June 2011.4Q 3P M J S
"Regency period Agnes WiUcins . . . uses poignant Austen quotes in response
to her mother's constricting attentions to her dress and demeanor."-Ann
Reddy Damon.
EuMberg, Elizabeth. Prom and Prejudice. Scholastic, 2011. 288p. $17.99. 9780-545-24077-2. VOYA February 2011. 3Q 2P S
"Everything revolves around . . . dates for prom [instead of] wedding
proposals. Major plot and characters stay the same [as Pride and
Prejudice]."-Teresa Copeland.
Kiely, Tracy. Murder at Longbourn. St. Martin's Minotaur, 2009. 336p. $24.99.
978-0-312-53756-2. VOYA December 2010 (Clueless? Adult Mysteries with
Young Adult Appeal 2012).
"Fans of Jane Austen will delight in this wickedly funny contemporary
mystery, which features among its cast of characters several modern day
interpretations of Austen's immortal characters." - John Charles and Joanna
Morrison.
Locke, Juliane. England's Jane: the Story of Jane Austen. Morgan Reynolds.
2006. 60p. 978-1 -931798-82-1. VOYA December 2006. 3Q 2P J
"England's Jane does an excellent job of describing the time in which
Austen lived . . . and offers young readers an interesting view of the life and
times of this famous author." - Heather Pittman.
Olsen, Kirstin, Cooking with Jane Austen. Greenwood, 2005. 432p. $55.00.
978-0-313-33463-4. VOYA February 2006. 5Q 2P M J S
"Everything [readers] will need to know about cooking in Regency
England." - Anita Beaman.
Rushton, Rosie. The Dashwood Sisters' Secret of Love. Hyperion, 2005. 336p.
$15.99. 978-0-7868-5137-9. VOYA June 2005. 3Q 4P J S
"The spirited Dashwood sisters—sensible, thoughtful Ellie; flighty drama
queen Abby; and sporty tomboy Géorgie—are having quite the life drama . . .
[in this] lighthearted romance." - Carlisle Kraft Webber. •
JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) member, VOYA
reviewer, and school media spcciaHsl Cliristina Miller is York
College (CUNY) Library's "Jiigh Scliool Librarian," the library's
liaison to the on-campiis Queens High School for the Sciences ai
York College. She also provides library services for York's early
college school, York Early College Academy, and serves York College stiidenis.
December 2013\OYA
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