Jonathan Stiles is a 14 year-old atheist who is coping with his first day of ninth grade at the fervently religious St. He rebels against his teachers, he argues with his classmates, and he rejects what others believe, bringing the reader with him on his enlightening journey as he learns the value of challenging accepted beliefs-including his own. Being a teen is tricky to navigate when you’re an outsider, and Ben struggles to find his place without compromising who he is. His classmates bully him for not fitting in, his teachers don’t understand him, and with his brother serving in Iraq and his sister away at college with problems of her own, Ben is left on his own to figure things out. Misdirected is the story of fifteen-year-old Ben, who moves to a small conservative Colorado town where his atheism seems to be the only thing about him that matters to everyone. The atheist teens in these books grapple with their own beliefs, the beliefs of others, and how these beliefs affect their place in – and view of – their world. It’s interesting (and gratifying) to see the lack of belief highlighted in these titles, especially since this group is growing quickly.
Aside from some purposely religious publishers (like Zondervan), most YA fiction usually ignores religion, leaving the characters’ religious beliefs unstated. I’ve been working on a project that requires me to review the library’s YA fiction collection one by one, and it’s surprised me how many titles I’ve come across that feature an explicitly atheist main character. Written by: Kimberly Francisco on April 15, 2020.
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