Literary Musing : A New Generation of Heroes and Heroines
A New Generation of Heroes..................
What was once the norm for stories , the adults being the protectors of the world and saving the day for their children and generations to follow has been chucked out the window as a new generation of Heroes are evolving –The X and Y Generation. From Children’s to Teens Literature, be thy boys or girls, it is the children and teen’s that are saving the world from destruction.
With the release of the new movie based on John Marsden’s series “Tomorrow when the war began” where a group of teenagers save the world from destruction, it got me thinking and realising that a lot of our adventure heroes are now young girls and men.
As a youngster for boys you are first introduced to Zac Power by HR Larry – a 9yr boy who saves the world and goes on all these awesome missions and Jack Stalwart – Hunt who is a 8-10yr old secret agent who ends up on missions all around the world, a bit like Carmen Sandiego stopping in Italy and England and making his way to China.
For the young girls we have Jane Blonde – a female version of the action star James Bond and our Jane is only 10yrs old to a new series called EJ2 which features a couple of cool spy-chicks again saving the world female style from bad guys and going on awesome missions through the snow and into the dark.
Then we move into the main area of Spy stories for both girls and boys and even spy novels which combine the two genders– the Teen Section. This is where we see multiple different series and each with their own agenda and different adventures/missions.
For Boys we have the famous Alex Rider series written by Anthony Horowitz, which we have also the movie Stormbreaker based on the first book. Alex is a 15yr old boy who lives with his Uncle, when his Uncle is murdered in the field, Alex soon discovers that his uncle was a spy and now it’s his turn. We all know who James Bond is and if you haven’t then it won’t matter as you won’t be reading this blog post as you have no form of technology and live under a rock , author Charlie Higson has written a series called Young Bond which features our awesome 007 agent as a 14yr old boy . Another hugely popular series which again if you are a teen boy then I guarantee you’ve either A) read the whole series or B) read at least the first one is CHERUB or Henderson Boys by Robert Muchamore. Other author’s include Gabrielle Lord with her new series “365 Days”, Jack Higgins, Chris Ryan and Malcolm Rose.
Never fear girls as there are also some kick-butting spy girls in the world of teen literature from Carol Hedge’s series SpyGirl feature Jaz whose Mum is also a secret agent, Ally Carter whose famous for her Spy Girl series “The Gallagher Girls” which is a all-girls Spy academy and she has also written another teen story called “Heist Society” which is about a young girl whose father is an art thief. Most famous for her series of the “Sweet Valley High” Francine Pascal also wrote a series called “Fearless” this is about a teen girl who does not have the gene of Fear. Author Michael Spradlin wrote a series called Spy Goddess which has also been crafted into Graphic Novels.
Now moving into the worlds of the mixed genders , there are plenty of young generation saving the world from Spy High by AJ Butcher where the teens before they venture out into the big wide world of mystery and adventure must train at the local academy to a different side of things where the teens have no control over what happens and are chucked into the path of having to straighten up and save the world or it will and I mean IT WILL be destroyed. From James Patterson’s three series – Daniel X: Alien Hunter, The Maximum Ride Series and Witch and Wizard, to Michael Grant’s latest trilogy Gone, Hunger and Lies. In Michael Grant’s books everybody over the age of 15 has disappeared. Of course who can forget the book and movie by Maurice Gee – Under the Mountain where the red-headed twins had to save New Zealand from destruction and being blown up by a Volcano and the new movie that is becoming a phenomenon in Cinemas and I can’t wait to see it “Tomorrow When The War Began” by John Marsden in which a group of Teens go camping and end up in the middle of a warzone and in order to survive must help fight and save the world.
Do not fear my readers though, as there are many authors and books that I have not listed that are totally awesome spy stories, just head to your local bookshop or library and they will surely stock you up with some Spy reads.
So next time, somebody says something and makes the comment “you can’t do that you’re just a child, think about all those literature heroes that are only children and teens”.
If you have any books that you think should be in our list of Spy Reads for Children and Teens, give me an email @ paulazone@live.com or comment on this post.
What was once the norm for stories , the adults being the protectors of the world and saving the day for their children and generations to follow has been chucked out the window as a new generation of Heroes are evolving –The X and Y Generation. From Children’s to Teens Literature, be thy boys or girls, it is the children and teen’s that are saving the world from destruction.
With the release of the new movie based on John Marsden’s series “Tomorrow when the war began” where a group of teenagers save the world from destruction, it got me thinking and realising that a lot of our adventure heroes are now young girls and men.
As a youngster for boys you are first introduced to Zac Power by HR Larry – a 9yr boy who saves the world and goes on all these awesome missions and Jack Stalwart – Hunt who is a 8-10yr old secret agent who ends up on missions all around the world, a bit like Carmen Sandiego stopping in Italy and England and making his way to China.
For the young girls we have Jane Blonde – a female version of the action star James Bond and our Jane is only 10yrs old to a new series called EJ2 which features a couple of cool spy-chicks again saving the world female style from bad guys and going on awesome missions through the snow and into the dark.
Then we move into the main area of Spy stories for both girls and boys and even spy novels which combine the two genders– the Teen Section. This is where we see multiple different series and each with their own agenda and different adventures/missions.
For Boys we have the famous Alex Rider series written by Anthony Horowitz, which we have also the movie Stormbreaker based on the first book. Alex is a 15yr old boy who lives with his Uncle, when his Uncle is murdered in the field, Alex soon discovers that his uncle was a spy and now it’s his turn. We all know who James Bond is and if you haven’t then it won’t matter as you won’t be reading this blog post as you have no form of technology and live under a rock , author Charlie Higson has written a series called Young Bond which features our awesome 007 agent as a 14yr old boy . Another hugely popular series which again if you are a teen boy then I guarantee you’ve either A) read the whole series or B) read at least the first one is CHERUB or Henderson Boys by Robert Muchamore. Other author’s include Gabrielle Lord with her new series “365 Days”, Jack Higgins, Chris Ryan and Malcolm Rose.
Never fear girls as there are also some kick-butting spy girls in the world of teen literature from Carol Hedge’s series SpyGirl feature Jaz whose Mum is also a secret agent, Ally Carter whose famous for her Spy Girl series “The Gallagher Girls” which is a all-girls Spy academy and she has also written another teen story called “Heist Society” which is about a young girl whose father is an art thief. Most famous for her series of the “Sweet Valley High” Francine Pascal also wrote a series called “Fearless” this is about a teen girl who does not have the gene of Fear. Author Michael Spradlin wrote a series called Spy Goddess which has also been crafted into Graphic Novels.
Now moving into the worlds of the mixed genders , there are plenty of young generation saving the world from Spy High by AJ Butcher where the teens before they venture out into the big wide world of mystery and adventure must train at the local academy to a different side of things where the teens have no control over what happens and are chucked into the path of having to straighten up and save the world or it will and I mean IT WILL be destroyed. From James Patterson’s three series – Daniel X: Alien Hunter, The Maximum Ride Series and Witch and Wizard, to Michael Grant’s latest trilogy Gone, Hunger and Lies. In Michael Grant’s books everybody over the age of 15 has disappeared. Of course who can forget the book and movie by Maurice Gee – Under the Mountain where the red-headed twins had to save New Zealand from destruction and being blown up by a Volcano and the new movie that is becoming a phenomenon in Cinemas and I can’t wait to see it “Tomorrow When The War Began” by John Marsden in which a group of Teens go camping and end up in the middle of a warzone and in order to survive must help fight and save the world.
Do not fear my readers though, as there are many authors and books that I have not listed that are totally awesome spy stories, just head to your local bookshop or library and they will surely stock you up with some Spy reads.
So next time, somebody says something and makes the comment “you can’t do that you’re just a child, think about all those literature heroes that are only children and teens”.
If you have any books that you think should be in our list of Spy Reads for Children and Teens, give me an email @ paulazone@live.com or comment on this post.
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