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| all I know about Glee is that everyone who watches it hates it except this guy and Darren Criss. |
But today I was wondering just what you guys thought about parents in YA.
I mean, I understand why parents are usually absent from paranormal/fantasy books. They put boundaries on a heroine who is supposed to be out training or saving the world or falling into some magic world and if you have parents, you can't exactly be doing all of those things at all hours of the night. But I feel like this sets some unrealistic plans to an already unrealistic world. A good example of parents still being around even though the heroine is out kicking butt all the time is Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton. Her mother is an important character in the book and because she's present, Ellie has the VERY real-life situation of trying not to get in trouble with her mother or make her worry.
And then of course there's the whole fantasy orphan situation where either one or both parents have passed away because how are you going to leave on a spirit quest when there's people around that still care about you? Usually these people are raised by someone who either doesn't care much whether or not they're gone or a brother or sister who will understand what they have to do.
Parents however, are a lot more popular in contemporary and I suppose that's because...you know, contemp is "real-life". And in real life you have to deal with parents setting restrictions and telling you what to do and worrying about your safety.
BUT! How do you guys feel about parents in books? A hindrance? A realistic touch? Awesome? Nonawesome?
Happy Reading!
