You Are What You Read?

I've always been a bookish young lady.  Growing up, most of my allowance and baby-sitting money was spent on books; I mentally referred to the public library in my small town as 'my office'; and if I met Judy Blume today, I'm pretty sure, nay, certain, I would lose my shit completely.

I still re-read the books that I enjoyed as a youngster and despite my voracious reading habit, I still find that I missed a few classics here and there.  My friend Melissa was reflecting on her best-loved books a while ago, and mentioned the works of Alida Young, in particular, a cautionary tale of the dangers of steroid abuse: Dead Wrong.

Oh no!

I never read Alida Young when I was growing up, but she seems to be in the Lurlene McDaniel/ Beatrice Sparks camp of writing cautionary tales about young people who go through incredibly trying ordeals and often die.  Other Alida Young titles include: What's Wrong with Daddy?  Is Chelsea Going Blind? and I Never Got to Say Goodbye.

Naturally, I immediately requested Dead Wrong from the library and read it the other day on my lunch break.  What struck the most, however, was not the message that steroids are terrible (I do already know that, and have no desire to bulk up), but the fact that money and the family's struggles with it are just as much of a theme in this book as steroid abuse is.

The parents in this book own a small business and work very long hours trying to bring the money in, which ends up being one of the reasons that the older brother uses performance-enhancing drugs--he needs a college scholarship.  The main character hates that her parents are always working, and begs them to buy a computer so she doesn't have to use her teacher's or a friends, but they tell her that they can't afford it.  

This reminded me that a lot of young adult and children's books I read growing up featured families that were struggling financially, and that in most of the young adult books I read these days (the current ones) rarely include characters like that, or even mention money unless it's spending it at the mall.  Let's take a look at some of the books I read that shaped me into the lovely adult I am today:

Ramona Quimby in the Ramona Quimby Series:

1. The cat, Picky Picky, had to eat Puss Puddy brand cat food because it was the cheapest, and he hated it.
2. In Ramona and her Mother, Ramona squirts out an entire tube of toothpaste in the sink, and her mom carefully scrapes it all back out and the family has to dip their brushes in the cup of paste until it's all gone.  When I first read this, I thought it was weird and gross, and I remember having what may have been my first lightbulb moment: this family is poor!  In my mind, that made these books even more interesting.
3. The family always eats at home, and there is mention of crock-potting and eating pancakes for dinner.
4. There are various job changes and layoffs over the course of the series, and even though the books are told from the perspective of a young girl who doesn't quite understand everything, money is often at the forefront.

Baby Sitters Club Series:

1. Perhaps most of the families weren't poor, but Kristy's rich step-father was an anomaly which always got an extended mention.
2. The BSC members all worked for all of their own spending money, and seemed to buy most of their own clothes.
3. The only time the BSC girls seemed to go on vacation, they were also babysitting.  Even when they went to camp, they went as Counselors in Training and presumably got a reduced rate.

Sweet Valley High Series:

1. The Wakefield twins shared a car that had previously belonged to their mother.
2. Jessica was often involved in a hair-brained money-making schemes
3. Elizabeth saves up for the duration of a whole book to pay for her word processor
4. Many mentions of baby-sitting jobs, au pair gigs and internships (that Jessica always seemed to get even though she was wildly underqualified and seemingly uninterested).
5. There were 'rich' characters--Bruce Patman, Lila Fowler, and then there was everyone else.

Contrast those titles with current 'classics'

1. Gossip Girl Series: Rich kids in Manhattan whose only money concern is having the newest and best.  I used to read Gossip Girl books while on my break at the bookstore.  I would pretend that the latte and biscotti I was enjoying were not simply spoils of the barista life, but that I was the type of person who lounges in a cafe with coffee and a treat.
2. The Clique Series:  I've only read one of these books, but they pretty much only talk about labels and shopping.  Apparently The Gap is unacceptable?  Who knew!  I rarely shop at the Gap because I think it's too expensive.
3. Pretty Little Liars Series:  Fancy houses in a fancy part of Philadelphia.  There's some shoplifting, but not really because the characters are poor.  Many, many mentions of Escalades.

So what happened?  I realize that it's more fun to read about and write about people who have the means to have endless adventures, but if these books are supposed to imitate life and allow kids to find themselves within the pages, we may have a problem.  Did we get too comfortable during the heyday of the 1990's spending and forget what it meant to scrape by?  

So far, the current economic slump seems to be inspiring more distopian YA fiction than ever before, which seems to make the money woes of the present more far removed from reality.  Maybe the 'New Frugality' will take a place in the books for the next generation, or maybe we'll keep sheltering kids by making money trouble more fantasy than real life.  Of course, we have to consider that there is far, far more writing for young people these days than at any other time in history, but even if we look back at the very old classics, there was often mention of money and not having enough of it, and there were often secondary characters who were known as rich people--often the rich people were unhappy:
Little Women-- The March family constantly frets about money (even though they have a servant).

The Secret Garden--The characters have money, but are miserable until the poor neighbor boy teaches them how to play outside and make things grow.
Heidi--Lives in a mountain hut with her grandfather and sleeps on a bed of straw.  Also, spends time in Frankfurt with rich people who seem very unhappy.
Nancy Drew--Even though Nancy never worried about money personally, Bess and George often had the challenge of coming up with cash to go mystery-solving with their favorite chum.  Honestly, I remember wondering at various points in that series where Nancy got all her cash.  Then I decided to be a lawyer, since they're obviously rolling in it, like the famous Carson Drew.

Is this something anyone else noticed?  Can you think of other books from way back that included poor or poorish characters?