OVERCOMING THE STIGMA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY IN THE CLASSROOM: AN OVERVIEW OF THE ANDRE NORTON AWARD By KRISTIN L. PAULSON A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2011 1 © 2011 Kristin L. Paulson 2 To my family, who kept on believing even after I appeared hopeless, I dedicate this work. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank the chair and members of my supervisory committee for their encouragement and guidance and the Norton Book Award committee for their help with research. I also wish to thank the authors of the award-winning books for their wonderful novels, and my family for their constant belief and help. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDEMENTS....................................................................................................4 ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………6 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………..7 2 ANDRE NORTON……………………………………………………………………….9 3 THE AWARD………………………………………………………..………………….10 4 THE BOOKS……………………………………………………………………………13 5 STIGMA IN THE CLASSROOM……………………………………………………..16 6 THEMES...……………………………………………………………………………...18 Complex Ideas, Simple Language…………………………………………………...18 The Journey…………………………………………………………………………….22 Nature and the Past…………………………………………………………………...25 Emphasis on Action……………………………………………………………………28 Good Vs. Evil…………………………………………………………………………..31 7 NOT JUST FOR ENGLISH CLASS………………………………………………….36 LIST OF REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………...37 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH……………………………………………………………………38 5 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts OVERCOMING THE STIGMA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY IN THE CLASSROOM: AN OVERVIEW OF THE ANDRE NORTON AWARD By Kristin L. Paulson December 2011 Chair: Ruth Lowery Major: Curriculum and Instruction This paper examines the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy: its nomination and selection process, the author for which it is named, an overview of the winning books, and then an examination of how well the winning books uphold the themes for which Norton herself was known. The purpose of the paper is to introduce an award that can provide a resource for teachers and librarians to find excellent books in an often overlooked and marginalized genre in schools--science fiction and fantasy. The four award winners are discussed in detail to show the themes and ideas that make them a good resource to use in a classroom. 6 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION A discussion of favorite childhood books will often turn up similar choices in a vast variety of readers: J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time series, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, or, for younger readers, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, all members of the science fiction/fantasy genre. However, despite the prevalence of this genre in the minds of readers, it is woefully under-represented in classrooms across the country. A study done by Worthy, Moorman, and Turner (1999) showed that although the genres of science fiction and fantasy were consistently in students' top ten lists of preferred genres, finding the books in libraries and classrooms was difficult. They noted that “teachers...felt pressure to provide and use quality literature in their classrooms. Quality was variously defined as 'something from the library', 'something with educational content', 'an award-winning book', 'classics', 'something wholesome', 'appropriate', or at least not something 'frivolous” (p. 22). And science fiction/fantasy has traditionally not been viewed as educational or award-winning. In 2005, however, the Science Fiction Writers of America decided to add a young adult section to their Nebula Award, and the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy was born. This award provides a resource for teachers and librarians to find substantial, award- winning books in a popular but overlooked genre. The winners of the Norton Award have been proven award-winning by other organizations, as well. Valiant won a Locus Award for best young adult book and a Mythopoeic Award for fantasy in children's literature. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows won a BILBY (Books I Love Best Yearly) Award, a Children's Choice Book 7 Award, an Indigo Teen Read Award, and a Mythopoeic Award, as well as being nominated or honored by many others. Flora's Dare won a Cybils Award for fantasy and science fiction for middle grades and a James Tiptree, Jr. Award for fantasy or science fiction that explores gender roles. Science fiction and fantasy are oftentimes viewed as separate genres, but for the purposes of this paper, they will be used interchangeably. “Young adult” is a similarly vague term, and one that is not defined by the selection committee of the Norton Award. Based on Booklist's published reading levels for each winner, we will define “young adult” as grades 5-11, or approximately ages 9-17. Because the winner of the award in 2009 is not yet published, we will discuss the four available winners in depth. 8 CHAPTER 2 ANDRE NORTON Andre Norton was born Alice Mary Norton in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1912. She legally changed her name to Andre Norton in 1934 to compete with the male-dominated field of science fiction writing that was prevalent during that time. She has also used the names Andrew North and Allen Weston. She started writing as a teenager in high school. After having to withdraw from her freshman year of college at Western Reserve University, where she was studying to become a history teacher, Norton took night classes in English and Journalism at Cleveland College, while working to help support her family during the Great Depression. She worked in various aspects of the literary field, including the Library of Congress, owning a bookstore, and working in the children's section of a public library. Between 1999 and 2004, Norton opened High Hallack, a research library and retreat for fellow writers (SFWA website). Norton wrote over 130 novels and numerous short stories spanning multiple genres, including historical fiction and romance, but her most well-known work is in the fantasy and science fiction genres. She said that “SF appeals to me, as I have always enjoyed reading it, and it is a purely imaginative exercise - though one does have to do a lot of research for each book. I find that the sword-and-sorcery has the greatest appeal for myself - and it is the most fun to write.” Her Witch World series grew to 35 novels at fans' requests (Taddeo, n.d., para. 12). Norton died of heart failure in Tennessee at the age of 93 in 2005. Before her death, she approved the formation of the Andre Norton Award and even suggested some titles for consideration (Zaleski-Ejgierd, n.d.). 9 CHAPTER 3 THE AWARD The Norton Award is given by the Science Fiction Writers of America, a professional organization made up of science fiction and fantasy writers. Members are considered active if they have published three qualifying short stories, one novel, or one full-length dramatic script that has been professionally performed. The SFWA is also responsible for the Nebula Awards for adult science fiction/fantasy and the Ray Bradbury Award for dramatic presentation. The Norton Award is a relatively new addition to the SFWA award base, first awarded in 2006, a year after the death of Andre Norton. Any book published in the past calendar year as science fiction or fantasy work for a young adult audience is eligible for the award, including graphic novels, as there is no minimum or maximum word length required. This leads to one interesting aspect, which is the fact that a book can be eligible for both an Andre Norton Award and a Nebula Award at the same time, although this has not yet happened. If the judges deem that the work is for both adults and young adults, it will be considered for both awards. The novel must have been published in its first English edition in the previous calendar year, so older foreign language books are eligible if their first English translation was published in the past year. Because the genre of science fiction and fantasy lends itself so well to a series of books, many of the winners of the Norton Award are one in a series. However, it is not always the first or last in a series that wins the award, and sequels or first books that have not won the award often show up as finalists. There is no formal submission process required. All works published in the past year are eligible for consideration, but a work must be nominated by ten members of the 10 SFWA to be put on the preliminary ballot. Publishers or authors themselves can bring their work to the attention of any active SFWA member in the hopes of getting their work placed on the ballot. They can do this by sending a copy of the work to members of the SFWA or by sending an electronic copy to the SFWA website, which makes it available for all members to read. After nominations are completed, a Final Ballot is created, with the top six works short-listed for final consideration. There is also a Norton Award Jury responsible for seeking out books that might be overlooked otherwise. The Jury is made up of 3-7 active members of the SFWA. They have the opportunity to place up to three books on the Final Ballot. Publishers can send copies of books to Jury members to increase their chances of getting nominated. A work is eligible for twelve months after its date of publication, so the sooner a publisher or author gets their work to a member of the Jury, the more time it has to be considered.