Mirrors and windows for young adult readers: the importance of a diverse reading repertoire

by Sarah Jane Mukherjee, Sally Hunt and Maria Leedham

Our research into the 50 best-selling young adult fiction (2017-2022) draws on the metaphor of mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors (Bishop, 1990). Bishop argued that a reader should be able to see others (windows), view themselves (mirrors), and step into fictional worlds (through sliding doors).  But what are these mirrors and windows, who is reflected and who is seen? With a focus on representation, it is vital to understand what mirrors and windows are offered within books that young people aged 11-18 read. In our work, we engage with this question through exploring how characters are represented through repetitions of words and phrases and how these words and phrases pattern together.  These patterns across a book or set of books convey powerful ideas about who or what is valued or marginalised, serving to reinforce societal discourses and social injustice.

Together and alongside understanding the patterns we want to understand young people’s responses to them.  We were curious about young people’s own thoughts about the books they read.  Would the mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors metaphor prove a useful framing for them when reflecting on their volitional reading? In a pilot study, we asked students in year 8 (n=11) and year 12 (n=9) in one secondary school in England whether the books they read are mirrors or windows on their lives.

Source: L301 Language, literature and childhood © The Open University

Although in the field of children’s and young adult literature, Bishop’s metaphor is well-cited, it was new to the young people, yet they engaged with it enthusiastically and thoughtfully. 

Despite the ubiquitous nature of American films, series and books, American English was a marker of a window: ‘[…] even though American books are still in the same language, and we can still read it, it kind of takes away from the disbelief of reading because there’s like words like pants that we don’t use in the same way’ (Year 8 girl).

Familiar contexts emerged as relevant for a character to feel like a mirror.  Reflecting on A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, one participant highlighted  ‘… she’s also near our age. She's like in A-levels or doing similar things to us and we can imagine ourselves in that situation’ (Year 8 girl).  This observation was made despite the storyline circling around the pursuit of truth in connection with a local murder.

Another participant, a Year 12 girl with a South East Asian heritage, highlighted an unexpected mirror for her when encountering a Filipina character in One of us is Lying by Karen McManus: ‘I think what I felt … sort of represented just because other books I’ve read as a child, … the more desirable characters have often been white. I was quite surprised to see that a Filipina was mentioned, because I’ve never really seen that in a book before and she was almost looked up to by the main character so that was really comforting to read’. (Year 12 girl)

Deep engagement with different storylines books allowed positive sliding glass doors: ‘I like going in and feeling what the character's feeling and getting on the side in the fantasy, rather than just watching I’d rather be trying to think through what would what I do?’. (Year 12 boy)

The students reported that they enjoyed reading about experiences different from their own lives, and reflected on the benefits of ‘windows’ particularly where characters are coping with challenging moments in their lives.

‘it depends on the reader’

The metaphor of windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors facilitated the young people’s reflection on representation. However, they were quick to acknowledge that responses to a character or storyline depend on the reader and their unique world experiences. 

In addition, they appreciated that characters are not one-dimensional: they may have feelings and/or experiences that chime with the reader’s, despite some differences.  Reflecting on, Catcher in the Rye, one Year 12 girl commented

The metaphor is powerful in capturing the relevance of representation and highlights that a reading repertoire is most meaningful when a young adult reader has the opportunity to experience both mirrors and windows dynamically through their reading choices, to extend understandings of themselves and others.