Teen (and younger) books with nudity

[Bob S.]

I love books for teens and younger kids. Right now, I seem to be on a fantasy kick.

Anyway, two books that I read within the lsat few months (including one that I just finished) have some natural nudity.

"Many Waters" by Madaline L'Engle has two fifteen-year-old boys travelling back in time to before Noah built the ark. Everyone in the village only wore loin cloths and no tops--females included.

"Deep Wizardry" by Diane Duane is about a 13-year-old girl and her 12-year-old friend (boy) who are both wizards. They help some whales, dolphins, and other sea animals with an ancient ritual. In order to do so, they have to change into whales thmselves, meaning they have to get in the water naked.

At first they have some issues with seeing each other naked, but after a number of times having to go inand out, they stop caring.

It would be intersting to see just how many other normal nudity are in other books for teens.

Bob S.

[Caipora]

Try Piers Anthony's "Phaze" books, for example: http://www.piers-anthony.com/splitinfinity.html

They're set in a world with two sides, one run by technology and the other by magic. In the technology world, except for a small class of "Citizens", all the inhabitants are slaves - and prohibited from wearing clothes.

Most of Anthony's books are juveniles, he's written some more serious science fiction, but the juveniles seem to sell very well indeed.

Avoid him if you can't stand puns.

- Caipora

[Florida Cracker]

In the book, "The Island" by Gary Paulsen, the main character is a teen boy who is having trouble fitting into the world. He discovers a small island in a lake near his home and goes out to it for solitude. He tries skinnydipping and then discovers the joy and inner peace of going nude everyday for a period of time on the island. Paulsen also wrote "The Hatchet" and he is an excellent author for kids and teens. And Bob, L'Engle is one of my favorite authors and Many Waters is one of her best books!
Florida Cracker

[kphoger]

"The Island" is one of my all-time favorite books, yet, amazingly, I don't remember the nudity at all. I guess that's a testament that nudity really is natural, not shocking. I wonder if I have that book somewhere around here still...

[njbrian]

This topic brought two books to mind. "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbitt is a book that was assigned reading in the sixth grade. From what a remember a young girl comes in contact with a family that has discovered a fountain of youth. There is a scene near the end were the two brothers in the family, both in their late teens or early twenties go skinny dipping. They then go into the house were they interact with their mother while they are still nude.

The other is "The Lost Salt Gift of Blood" by Alistair MacLeod. This is a collection of short stories. In one story a young boy visits his grandfather at a coal mine. The boy gets dirty and is then undressed and takes a shower with his grandfather, uncles, and the other miners.

[luvnaturism]

Don't forget "Huck Finn." I think there was skinny dipping in "Tom Sawyer" also.

[jon71]

I forget the exact name but it's something like "in the night kitchen" by Maurice Sendak. He's the author of "Where the wild things are". It's kind of a dream trip through a kitchen and the little boy shows his butt on one page. Sure enough that's enough to get some prudish losers upset even though it's as innocent as can be.

[timothyc]

Re: Teen (and younger) books with nudity

There was a book I read as a kid I believe called Panther. The teenage boy in 1 chapter is out somewhere alone and it is really hot and he sees a lake and eventually decides to take all of his clothes off and go skinny dipping. After swimming for a while he eventually sees a panther watching him from a nearby tree and is at first embarassed but quickly gets over that and the panther soon goes away. I do not know the name of the author.

[Fitz1980]

Re: Teen (and younger) books with nudity

In elementary school I remember reading "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler," a childrens' book about a brother & sister who run away from home and live in the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art for a few months. They spend the day wandering around the museum and people assume they are part of a school group. They hide in the bathrooms at closing time and than have free reign after the place is locked up. They bathe in the fountain and eat stuff from the food court that they buy with change that people throw into the fountain. I remember the edition that we read had some illustrations at the chapter marks. One was of the pre-teen brother and sister bathing in the fountain. Of course they were drawn in such a way that you don't see anything. I didn't even know what nudism was but I thought that it was so cool that they were casually naked infront of each other.

[Petruchio]

Re: Teen (and younger) books with nudity

I remember having to read The Good Earth by Perl S. Buck when I was a teen. It had it all - Drugs, sex, nudity, lactation, infidelity and more that I have forgotten.

[timothyc]

Re: Teen (and younger) books with nudity

Two more I thought of. Spotted Boy and the Comanches by Mabel carson about a boy kidnapped by Comanches who was stripped of all his clothes and for the first couple oof days while they were traveling to where they were going he presumbably was naked until they gave him a loin cloth to wear a couple days later. He lived with the comanches for years before he went back home. It really did not talk about the fact he was naked but it can be assumed since they took all his clothes and didn't give him anything else to wear.
Another was Bernard Baruch:boy from North Carolina By joanee Landers Henry a childrens biography of Bernard Baruch. It included skinny dipping and at least in an early edition I read included a picture of the boys skinny dipping which showed at least 1 rear end. With him having grown up in the 1870's and '80s most boys swimming would be naked so if they were going to be swimming it would be strange to be otherwise.

[M1DNE]

Re: Teen (and younger) books with nudity

in enders game by Orson Scott Card all the kids spend some of there time naked

[Ken Palmer]

Re: Teen (and younger) books with nudity

Hello Caipora, I have a question for you. When you said the inhabitants were prohibited from wearing clothes, does that mean they were completely nude or did they wear loin cloths? Or were they dressed scantily in another way? Just curious because a lot of people use the term "nude" when talking about certain situations and they're really not.

Ken Palmer

Try Piers Anthony's "Phaze" books, for example: http://www.piers-anthony.com/splitinfinity.html

They're set in a world with two sides, one run by technology and the other by magic. In the technology world, except for a small class of "Citizens", all the inhabitants are slaves - and prohibited from wearing clothes.

Most of Anthony's books are juveniles, he's written some more serious science fiction, but the juveniles seem to sell very well indeed.

Avoid him if you can't stand puns.

- Caipora

[Kari P]

Re: Teen (and younger) books with nudity

There's somewhere another thread on the same theme where e.g. "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" has been mentioned. I told there about a book of a Swedish writer. Has someone time to look up this thread and put a link here?

[jon71]

Re: Teen (and younger) books with nudity

Hello Caipora, I have a question for you. When you said the inhabitants were prohibited from wearing clothes, does that mean they were completely nude or did they wear loin cloths? Or were they dressed scantily in another way? Just curious because a lot of people use the term "nude" when talking about certain situations and they're really not.

Ken Palmer

If memory serves (it's been a while since I read that series) the serfs went completely nude all the time unless a situation specifically called for clothes like protective gear or costumes in a play (I remember that specifically because it came up in the plot). The citizens wore clothes like most people do. Also while the Xanth series is full of puns Piers Anthony doesn't do that in his other series so don't worry about that.