Young adults now read a genre I missed in my teens — paranormal fiction. I just can’t recall having the choice of such books, except Frankenstein. Poe’s characters were insane, but human. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow turned out to be about a pumpkin. Around campfires, we told of the sweet hearts necking in the car who hear of an escaped, one-armed serial killer. They drive back to town quickly only to find his hook caught in the driver’s door handle. Creepy, yes. Paranormal, no.
As a teacher, I found my science-based self caught off guard by the mystical aspects of Native American culture. Instructing Lakota kids in the difference between fact and opinion (The former can be proved.), I made up a list of statements including, “Ghosts are real.” An uproar ensued when I insisted that could only be opinion. To that class, ghosts were real and provable.
I taught Eskimo teens in Wales, Alaska, where a shaman tradition existed along with stories of tricksters and shape shifters. Inupiaq youth tended to love paranormal stories, especially those touching their culture. Of course, most teens veer toward coming of age and love stories.
I just finished Amarok, by Angela Townsend. It’s paranormal fiction set in Alaska. Townsend’s sense of place is spot on. I relived the beauty and the life-threatening cold. The protagonist is a modern girl with big issues who runs from an abusive stepfather into an even greater calamity. There is one worse off than she, a young man from long ago turned into a wolf by a hate-filled shaman. The girl and boy form a bond that offers escape from brutality and their own undeserved guilt and shame. It’s a magical read full of adventure, villains, heroism, and mystery. Magic has a place in all our imaginations. I hope Townsend provides us with a sequel soon.
What paranormal stories have fed your imagination?