NEAL SHUSTERMAN SHADOWS OF DOUBT PLUS

It, too, has been scooped up for development, this time with Netflix, and Shusterman is cowriting the pilot. Game Changer is Shusterman’s 2021 release, scheduled for February.

NEAL SHUSTERMAN SHADOWS OF DOUBT PLUS

A number of his books are in development for adaptation, including the long-awaited Unwind at Constantine Films for a television series Challenger Deep with Disney Plus as a streaming film Scythe with Universal and Amblin as a film Dry-cowritten with his son Jarrod-is in development for film with Paramount The Star Shard Trilogy is being developed as an animated series with Gaumont Entertainment and Toei and Bruiser-another title Shusterman cites as one he wishes more readers would pick up-is in the early stages of development for TV with Sony. Though Shusterman doesn’t have a 2020 book on the horizon, there are almost a dozen projects in the works for him right now. It’s unlikely that identity would make an impact on whether young people do or do not read his books-rather, it might encourage more biracial readers to seek out Shusterman’s work because of how blurry and challenging naming and claiming an identity can be.

So when I’m asked, I tell them ‘I’m a member of the human race.’ That also speaks to my desire to write about the human experience.”

I’m proud of my heritage, but I see it as my heritage, not my identity. “They don’t want to hear that I’m a Jewish kid from old-school Brooklyn. What they hope to hear is that I share their ethnicity in one way or another, and they’ll be disappointed if I’m not,” he added.

“I’m occasionally asked by students when I do school visits what my ethnicity is. Perhaps that makes me uniquely suited to writing about teens, who often feel on the outside,” he explained. I’ve never really defined myself by a single identity-and in these times where identity means so much, I sometimes feel like I’m a bit of an outsider to every identity. Shusterman worries that by being forthright with his own identity, he may let down young people seeking that connection with him or his work. He emphasizes the vital reality for #OwnVoices stories, noting that while diverse books are necessary, his own writing centers far more on “the human experience.” So I guess now I am? Does that make me a different person?” And recently through genetic testing, I’ve found out I’m actually nearly 50% North African. “A lot of people think I’m a person of color. All races are blended, and their genetic indexes showcase how everyone is a little bit of everything - and it doesn’t have a bearing on who they are.ĭespite what many readers and writers believe, though, Shusterman, doesn’t identify as a person of color. In the Arc of the Scythe series, race is part of the story, as characters discuss their genetic identity in percentages, but it’s addressed in such a way that race isn’t vital to the identity of the characters. Challenger Deep-one of the books Shusterman wishes was as widely-read as some of his others-is an unflinching look at mental illness. In addition to taking on big subjects, Shusterman’s work has earned a reputation among readers as being highly inclusive and aware of the way the world looks. Those are hallmark symptoms of ADHD-so I do think that our modern life is turning ADHD into just the way we are as a species.”īecause his work spans decades, it’s not a surprise that his work has evolved alongside the YA category more broadly. “And our phones and computers have created a weird combination of ridiculously short attention spans, and an ability to hyperfocus and shut everything else out. Teens are faced with an overload of information that creates a lot of stress-not just the nature of the information, but the very fact of having so much information to process, sort, and prioritize,” said Shusterman. “I think the two biggest changes are information and attention span. There’s new technology to consider and contend with, but in terms of the impact the tools have on young people, that’s far less interesting to Shusterman than the deeper changes happening among adolescents.

There is something deeply universal about being a teenager, and I try to capture that universality in the things that I write,” he said. No matter what year it is, no matter what language they speak or culture they’re in. He doesn’t write down to young readers, nor do his books tiptoe around grappling with complex issues. Though no longer a teenager writing stories for campers, Shusterman’s books certainly reach teen readers-as well as adults who love YA-in an authentic way.

Neal shusterman shadows of doubt