A Spoon Full of Sugar: Exploring Real World Social Issues in YA/NA Retellings

This thesis reviews four young adult/new adult retellings to understand how these novels shape understanding of and empathy for real world social issues. The first chapter explores the novel Girls Made of Snow and Glass and how the reshaping of the “Snow White” narrative, within the text, undermines the patriarchal narrative that pits woman against woman and, instead, tells a story of female solidarity. Chapter two considers A Court of Thornes and Roses and A Court of Mist and Fury and how the fallout of “The Beauty and the Beast” narrative in book one carries into book two as a means to build empathy and understanding for those suffering with mental health issues, including those suffering with PTSD. Finally, Chapter three reviews The Lunar Chronicles and how the pandemic within these science fiction retellings foster discussion around medical injustices and the dehumanization that allows such injustice to occur.