Deenie

Historically speaking, the 1960s and 1970s are considered the golden age of adolescent literature in the Western world. As society grew increasingly aware of teenagerhood as a distinct social category, the market for media specifically geared toward teenagers expanded. Realistic fiction became a popular vehicle to tackle topics previously considered taboo, such as poverty, sexuality, pregnancy, and drugs. The “problem novel” (or “social problem novel”) is a literary subgenre that focuses on contemporary social issues depicted through a young protagonist’s experience, aiming to inform and entertain young readers.

Problem novels empower their intended readers by acknowledging their desire for independence while providing educational value about sensitive and intimate topics. Although the genre arguably emerged earlier, S. E. Hinton’s 1967 The Outsiders is often cited as a precursor of the wave of relatable adolescent fiction published in the 1970s US. Other significant examples of problem novels include J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951), Beatrice Sparks’s Go Ask Alice (1971), and Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999).

Blume’s novels are well-known examples of the problem novel genre popular in the 1970s, including her most famous book,