This weeks posting will be regrettably short. It is the beginning of the semester and the my mind-numbing sinus cold is winning the battle.  It is regrettable because I always like to take the opportunity to talk about the work of Chris Lynch and Chris Crowe. They are both incredibly talented authors and remarkable people. Bryan Gillis has asked me to help promote the The 25th Annual Kennesaw State University Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults. I am happy to do so. If you are in the area you should plan on attending. I am not extremely close, but it is on my schedule. Please read how Bryan describes the conference below, check out the webpage, and download the flier.

The Kennesaw State University Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults provides teachers, preservice teachers, public and school librarians, media specialists, and school administrators with a two day experience in which they have the opportunity to listen to and interact with several highly acclaimed young adult and children's literature authors as well as attend presentations from master teachers and experts in the field on all facets of literacy instruction. On this, our 25th anniversary, we are proud to welcome these two outstanding authors to our Young Adult Literature Day on March 21, 2016.
March 21-Young Adult Literature Day:
 
Chris Lynch, author of several award winning novels, including Inexcusable, Pieces, and his popular Vietnam and WWII historical fiction series'.
Chris Crowe, author of several historical fiction and nonfiction works, including Mississippi Trial 1955, Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case, and Death Coming Up the Hill.
 
Our Children's Literature Day will take place March 22, and will feature children's author and writing expert, Lester Laminack, and local Georgia children's author Tracey Phillips.
 
Information regarding registration and proposal submissions can be found at  http://lcya.kennesaw.edu/  
 
Hurry!  The deadline for proposal submission deadline is February 1 and mail-in and online registration ends February 29. 
 
I hope to see you there!       Bryan Gillis
                                                Associate Professor of English Education
                                                Kennesaw State University

 The First Chris
When I first started graduate school and began thinking seriously about young adult literature, I discovered Chris Crowe. Not only does he deserve recognition as an author, he is a past ALAN President, wrote a column on Young Adult Literature in the English Journal for several years, he is a full professor of English Education at BYU, and a former collegiate football player. If you are relatively new to the study and teaching of young adult literature, it is worth the effort to take an afternoon and download several (or all) of this columns. One of my favorites is Young Adult Literature: Using YA Books to Teach Students to Love What We Love. You can find the pdf below.  It was written over 15 years ago, but the conversation sounds relevant today and the books he highlights are worth revisiting. Plus, he is a nice guy. He didn't seem to mind that I followed him around like a puppy trying to soak up all of his expertise for several years. Chris was also one of the first academic keynote speakers at my LSU conference. Wouldn't it be great if he offered a breakout or a workshop at the new 2016 Gayle A. Zeiter Young Adult and Children's Literature Conference in June. Go a head, encourage him to drop by. We are still accepting proposals so, I hope to hear from more of you soon.

The Second Chris
I new a bit about Chris Lynch before the publication of Inexcusable (2005). Mainly, I knew and admired both Freewill (2001) and Iceman (1994). I have written about Chris Lynch in this blog several times. The primary reason is that he is very good. Hit Count (2015) was one of my favorite books of 2015.  To toot my own horn one more time, one of my favorite publications is It is Inexcusable to Deny Inexcusable a Place in the Classroom that was published in The ALAN Review. You can find the article here. I devoured the book during the first day of an ALAN workshop and I knew that I had students that would respond to the book. If you are any where near Georgia, you really should try to attend this conference in late March. Check out the flier below the gallery.
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If you are reading this in the Las Vegas area, stay tuned for next week when we provide all of the details about registering for the UNLV single day conference on March 5, 2016 with Bill Konigsberg and Tom Leveen. It is going to be a great time. Come on, who wouldn't want to spend time with these two great guys and then kill some time in Vegas? We had a great event with Kevin Emerson and Sean Beaudoin. 

It is also important to thank everyone for a fantastic response to last week's introduction to our new journal, Study and Scrutiny. The number of hit on the blog was overwhelming for a three day period. Ok, it didn't go viral or anything--it is an academic blog after all. I hope many of last week's readers return week after week.

,​This week on Dr. Bickmore’s YA Wednesday I am introducing the second issue of a new journal dedicated to the research surrounding young adult literature.  About two years ago, Crag Hill and I, Steve Bickmore, began discussing in earnest the idea of a journal that would provide the space for longer research and empirical articles. As a result, we have created, along with our co-editor, Leilya Pitre, Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature. We love the work of The ALAN Review (Thanks Wendy Glenn, Ricki Ginsberg, and Danielle King) and The SIGNAL Journal (thanks Sean Connors). Our academic lives would not be the same without them.  We wanted to create an additional space to promote the longer research work around young adult literature that we know is happening.  

​The field of Children’s literature has a significantly larger presence, in terms of the number of journals, than does YA adult literature. The list includes, just to mention a few, Children’s Literature, Journal of Children’s Literature, The Lion and the Unicorn, and The Horn Book. As scholars in the field of YA literature we wanted to create and promote another journal that can help us study the proliferation and popularity of young adult literature that has blossomed over the last decade. Certainly, YA literature has been around for a long time. We can argue about whether or not it started with the surge in titles that accompanied The Outsiders and The Contender, or if it began with The Catcher in the Rye, or if it started with a host of juvenile fiction in early decades. You see; it is exactly this type of question that leads us to believe there is space for longer theoretical pieces about the history, the quality, the expansion of space in books stores, the access of these books in school libraries, censorship, discussion of equity issues of all kinds, and the actual research in how these books are actually used in the classroom. That list doesn’t even begin to consider what we can prove about how adolescents feel about these books. Most of us believe that access to these books can and does changes lives, but we need better evidence. We hope you join us as we try to contribute to the discussion of YA literature with Study and Scrutiny.

​The first issue of Study and Scrutiny was published during the summer of 2015. We invite you to revisit or visit that issue. It has a wonderful collection of both empirical and critical studies as well as an interview with author Benjamin Alire Saenz by Rodrigo Joseph Rodriquez. We know that many of you are including Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe in your classes and on your reading list and we hope that you use this wonderful resource.

The second issue of Study and Scrutiny was published on January 11, 2016. We are using this space to introduce the issue to a larger audience. Please take a moment to share the link with a few friends.  This issue has three empirical pieces. The introduction does a great job of summarizing the articles. Let me just throw out a few key words that will link you to the article. Linda T Parsons has an article that addresses food addiction. In the second article, Crag Hill and Janine J. Darragh discuss poverty. The third essay by Judith A. Hayn, Karina R. Clemmons, and Heather A. Olvey examines Wonder as text that can be used to foster inclusion.
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This issue also includes a critical essay by Adam Van Buren about temporality in three novels by A. S. King.  The final contribution in the issue is an essay by Bryan Ripley Crandall and colleagues that highlights an NPR interview with the 2015 Newbery winner, Kwame Alexander and discusses how a yearlong professional develop collaboration with a writing project and K-8 school teachers use Alexander’s The Crossover and Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band. 

​In addition, I would like to emphasize that the work of a journal does not happen in isolation. We would like to briefly introduce our board members. Their contributions are important. Without their work and scholarship the brilliance that is the world of YA literature would be dimmer. The guiding light of their academic work, their discussions, their encouragement, their help with reviews, and their willingness to answer emails has helped us bring this journal to the point of publication. We appreciate that they don’t turn and run in the opposite direction when they see us at a conference. We hope you spend a little bit of time exploring their web pages and reading their publications. Many of them have contributed to this academic blog and others are scheduled, so stay connected. They are in no particular order: Victor Malo-Juvera , Denise Davila, Lisa Eckert, Susan Groenke, Lisa Scherff, Karen Coates, Mark Lewis, Sharon Kane, Sophia Sarigianides, Ashley Boyd, Bryan Gilis, Jennifer Dail, Janet Alsup, and Jon Ostenson.

​One final note before I sign off for the week. If you are in Las Vegas join us to listen to YA authors Kevin Emerson and Sean Beaudoin. They will be discussion their work from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. 

This week's guest contributor to Dr. Bickmore"s YA Wednesday is Lisa Scherff. Her picture might suggest that I am trying to promote weddings as a sub theme to young adult literature in the blog. Not true. It is just chance that my family had a wedding in December and Lisa was married over the Thanksgiving holiday. She sent me this lovely picture as a way to help introduce her. Lisa is another strong advocate for promoting reading in the lives of adolescents. This week she informs us about her relationship with memoirs and what they have to offer adolescents.
Be sure to return next week when we survey the new issue of Study & Scrutiny and introduce everyone to our inaugural editorial board. Now, on to Lisa's comments:

One of my earliest reading memories from elementary school, I would guess around third grade, is reading a biography of Florence Nightingale. Other than the Bobsey Twins series, which I was addicted to, it was my first “big” chapter book.  I can remember spending hours on the couch reading this new type of “story.” Here was someone’s real life, not a made up tale.  However, from that point all the way through and after graduate school I cannot remember reading anything related to biography/autobiography.

It was not until 2007 that I (finally and sadly) first discovered memoir. I stumbled upon Julia Scheeres’ Jesus Land in my local bookstore. Stacked on a table with several other titles, the cover transfixed me. I stopped, read the back cover, bought it, and devoured it in one sitting (Julia and her adopted brother, David, are on the cover). At the time I was teaching a young adult literature course at the University of Alabama and knew I wanted to include this Alex Award winner in my syllabus. For those unfamiliar with the Alex Award, it is given annually to ten books written for adults—published the year prior—that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. Award-winning titles must be written in a genre that especially appeals to young adults, potentially appealing to teenagers, and well written and very readable (I will be posting about this award in April). 

​In the eight years that have passed since I first read Julia’s memoir, I have re-read it at least once per year, kept it (and “lost it” and bought more) in my lending library, written and presented on its relevance for high school students, and even had the privilege to spend an afternoon with the author herself in San Francisco.
 
In my contribution, I want to talk about why memoirs are important for readers and writers and why Jesus Land is particularly powerful. I will not be writing alone, as I have gathered insights from some colleagues around the country and Julia Scheeres herself. 

Why Memoirs?
As my co-authors and I wrote in 2008,
Milner and Milner (2003) claim that autobiographies— the genre of which memoirs belong—‘take us into the lives of others but at closer, more intimate range,” making us “eyewitnesses to actual events’ (252) and such works often catch adolescents’ natural interest about the lives of others. Memoirs differ from autobiographies in that “unlike autobiography, which moves in a dutiful line from birth to fame, omitting nothing significant, memoir assumes the life and ignores most of it. The writer of a memoir takes us back to a corner of his or her life that was unusually vivid or intense” (Zissner, 1987, 13, cited in Milner & Milner, 2003). In Jesus Land, Julia takes readers on a present-tense journey through her turbulent teenage years, a time that still profoundly affects her.

While some high schools assign memoirs as summer reading (titles such as The Glass Castle and A Long Way Gone come to mind), nothing much happens once school starts and the report/vocabulary/essay/quiz is completed. From my—albeit limited—experience with summer reading, there is little discussion of the text let alone any connecting it to what will be read or written in class that academic year.

I asked some of my fellow Walden Committee members to comment on why memoirs are an important genre to include in literacy classes. Mark Letcher shared, “While I appreciate the literary appeal of memoir, my biggest reason for exposing young readers to memoirs is that I want students to understand that everyone's story is important, and that their own stories are worth telling. I think memoir can be as much a gateway to effective writing instruction, as it can be to reading/literature instruction.”  I could not agree more. My students come to school each day with a range of school and non-school related stories, and I find that the curriculum I have to teach, and the tests I have to give, does not often make room for their personal stories.

Joellen Maples agrees with Mark, adding “I have found them to be great exemplars of narrative writing which I find to be so important for beginning and even advanced writers . . . I love how they exemplify author's voice. The nature of storytelling in a way that traditional fiction texts may lack---plus it's a way for non-fiction to storytell.” I love the last part of her sentence: non-fiction to storytell. At a time when texts seem to be given the narrow descriptor of “informational” or “fiction,” there is a need to show students that genres do blend.
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And then Lois Stover writes, “I like memoirs because they a) bring the past to life in the voice of a real person about whom I can come to care, and b) present various versions of the ‘truth’ about a point in time/incident/place and thus help me recognize the complexities of ‘truth’ as a concept, and help younger readers entering that Piagetian formal operational stage start to wrestle with the fact that there are shades of gray, not just blacks and whites.” Her definition describes perfectly the connection I had to Scheeres’ memoir—she was real, and because she was real I felt I could truly learn from what she wrote, more so than if she was a fictional character. 

There were elements of Scheeres life that were very hard to read, not only because they were shocking and sad and terrible but also because I could relate to them. This is why this book is in my classroom library: if I can relate to the book then I know many of my students will probably relate to it too. Yet, what are we to do when the “truth” a memoir discusses is controversial or ugly or not PG-13? If you are me, you make sure there is more than one copy on the shelf!

In Jesus Land, we are confronted with racism, underage drinking, and multiple forms of abuse—emotional, physical, and sexual—some of it from “Christians” in the name of religion. Jesus Land contains themes that would resonate with teen readers: a love story, survival, coming of age, betrayal, abuse of power, and family relationships, to name a few. Such themes are found in the traditional and contemporary works currently read, discussed, and analyzed in English class.

Referring back to the 2008 article written about Jesus Land, “As English teachers, we have relatively few problems deliberating about fictional religious and racial issues: Hester’s scarlet A, Atticus’ defense of Tom Robinson, or Jerry Renault’s refusal to sell chocolates. What will hook readers in Jesus Land, no matter how close to or far removed from Scheeres’ upbringing, is, ironically, their connection to issues of race and religion seen and experienced by Julia and David. Growing up in America, children and adolescents confront and are confronted by race and religion on a daily basis. In fact, the complexity of the two real-life issues sometimes renders students (and teachers) silent." 
As you can tell, I am a fan of memoir, Jesus Land (you can read the first chapter here.), and Julia. Beyond her memoir, Julia has also published a fantastic book: A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown, which was named a Boston Globe and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2011.

I emailed Julia some questions regarding memoir and her book, and she was gracious enough to take the time to answer. 
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1.  It's been a decade since Jesus Land was published. Could you comment on the response from readers on what the memoir has meant to them? Was there some feedback you didn't expect that has (pleasantly) surprised you? Have many teenagers contacted you? If so, what have they said?
 
I’ve gotten thousands of emails from readers, but I think my favorite response has been this one: “When I finished reading your book, I had an overwhelming urge to hug your brother.”
 
That’s deeply satisfying to me. When I set out to write “Jesus Land” I just wanted there to be record of David’s life. The grief I felt over his death and too brief time on earth was a burden too heavy to carry. Immortalizing him on the page --- his hopes, dreams, sorrow, humor despite everything – was a healing experience. But having readers respond so emotionally to his story, to email me in tears or saying that they felt like they “knew” my brother – that was rewarding to me. I felt like I had done him justice.
 
Teenagers do write me – they tend to identify with the story in some way. Either because they themselves feel like misfits or because of some element of the themes of religion/ racism/ sibling love/ parental neglect.
 
As far as pleasant surprises – I learned a few anecdotes about David that I hadn’t known before he died. One reader told me, and I was able to confirm, that he had a girlfriend before he died. The relationship was brief, and ended because her parents didn’t want her dating a black man, but I’m glad he was able to know physical love before he died.
 
2. Every adolescent that I have given the book to has been deeply impacted by it. I think what happens in the book, especially the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, is experienced by many teenagers. The book resonates with them. What would you say to teachers and/or administrators who might be hesitant to have the memoir in schools (say, due to language or sexual content)?
 
This response from adults always makes me snort – and not from amusement, but from disbelief. Puh-lease. What, teens don’t cuss? They don’t have sex? (I know parents want to delude themselves into thinking “not my child!” but really, experimentation is a normal, healthy part of human development). And teens will drink, have sex and sometimes use “bad words” whether their parents approve or not. It’s better to be real than delusional, in my view. Either way, my book does not glamorize sex. In fact, I’d argue the opposite – the sexual interludes are negative and predatory. “Jesus Land” may be a way to help kids to talk about their own negative sexual experiences – incest, pressure from boyfriends, rape, etc.
 
3. In a 2010 New Yorker article Daniel Mendelssohn wrote, "But the truth we seek from novels is different from the truth we seek from memoirs. Novels, you might say, represent 'a truth' about life, whereas memoirs and nonfiction accounts represent 'the truth' about specific things that have happened." What do you think about his belief?
 
I’d disagree. I think all good memoirs explore universal themes. Memoir must illuminate a greater truth. The details are specific to the author, of course – the particulars of her family/ town/ life. But the casual reader should relate to the subject matter or else it’s just navel gazing. This is why identifying the theme of your memoir is important. Most memoirs are survival memoirs – “I went through this crazy, dramatic time and I’m here to tell the tale” – but we can all identify with the despair and hope the author feels.
 
4. More recently, in a 2013 NY Times Opinion column ("How memoirists mold the truth"), Andre Aciman wrote, "Writing the past is never a neutral act. Writing always asks the past to justify itself, to give its reasons… provided we can live with the reasons. What we want is a narrative, not a log; a tale, not a trial. This is why most people write memoirs using the conventions not of history, but of fiction. It’s their revenge against facts that won’t go away." What are your thoughts on this?
 
Memoir walks a fine line between fiction and nonfiction. This is where the weird wiggle phrase “emotional truth” comes into play. Memoir isn’t journalism. There’s no way you can remember, verbatim, a conversation you had 25 years ago – much less one you had yesterday. What matters to us most about events from our past is their emotional impact – their meaning. That’s what memoir seeks to explore. Ergo, recreating scenes and dialogue is perfectly acceptable, provided they have a basis in truth. Because the memoirist must entertain the reader as well as enlighten her.
 
5. You lead writing workshops around the country to help writers reach their creative potential. What advice would you give to English teachers who want to have their students try memoir writing?
 
The building blocks of narrative nonfiction are scene, summary and musing. I’d ask them to focus on an event that had deep impact on them and walk them through each of these. First summarize the events/ problems leading up to the event to provide context/ background.  Then slow time down and write a detailed scene (with dialogue, if possible) describing what happened. Then have them muse on the effect of the event (both internally and externally).
 
Hmm… 

I firmly believe that we are in a golden age of young adult literature. As many of us prepare to usher preservice teachers into the pedagogical possibilities of young adult literature at the beginning of a new semester, it might be nice to remember that the academic resources available to help us are equally rich. Through recent conversations with others who teach YA at the university level and by examining the early data results on study of 300 young adult literature syllabi, I believe that not very many of us are using or requiring textbooks. That situation is neither a good thing nor a bad thing in and of itself. The real questions might be: (1) Are we consulting the rich offerings that are available in academic books that either introduce or critique young adult literature? and (2) Are preservice and inservice teachers and librarians introduced to these texts in their course work so that they know them for future reference?

I am a big fan of YA courses that include the opportunity for the students to read widely through a variety of genres and authors. At the same time, I think the students should be guided to journals and textbooks that can help their critical understanding of how to advocate, to teach, and to critic. In my courses, I always include a list of textbooks to supplement my student’s ongoing understanding. This posting briefly surveys five textbooks. Granted, five books isn’t very many and there are more that should be on your shelves; nevertheless, let’s start somewhere. If you are looking for a starter set you can’t go wrong with these textbooks.

​My first choice is Literature for Today’s Young Adults in its 9th edition. Over thirty years ago the first of edition of this book was just about the only choice for a comprehensive introduction to the study and teaching of young adult literature. The original authors, Alleen Pace Nilsen and Kenneth L. Donelson, were the founding editors of The ALAN Review in 1974. Those scholars who have worked with young adult literature in the 1980s and the 1990s are probably quite familiar with the early versions of this work. Ken has now passed on, but his legacy is very much alive in the work of his students and through the various editions of this touchstone work. The authors of the 9th edition are listed as Alleen Pace Nilsen, James Blasingame, Don Nilsen, and Kenneth Donelson. In reality, Don, Alleen’s husband, has always been part of the work of young adult literature. He has probably attended as many ALAN workshops as anyone. Jim Blasingame is well-known in the YA community. He is a professor at Arizona State University and was Alleen’s colleague before her retirement. Jim is also the new executive director of ALAN. Congratulations Jim! The scope of this textbook is impressive and some of the key definitions about the nature of young adult literature come from this reliable and vital source. 

The Second choice is another collaboration. Early in my academic career I was asked to review for publication the second edition of Young Adult Literature: Exploration, Evaluation, and Appreciation by Katherine T. Bucher and KaaVonia Hinton. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. While it covers some of the same ground as the earlier text, I found that it added to the conversation. During that review I noted that I found the introductory chapter quite strong and I appreciated the genre approach to its exploration of YA literature. Again, in my syllabus study the genre approach to teaching YA seems to be quite common. I look forward to exploring the 3rd Edition of Young Adult Literature: Exploration, Evaluation, and Appreciation and I hope you do as well. I had the opportunity to do a small project with KaaVonia and I found her to be an insightful scholar and she has her own blog. The work we did together can be found in this volume of First Opinion, Second Reaction.

​My third selection is another book that I find myself returning to over and over again. It is Pam B. Cole’s Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century. Pam is another scholar who has been contributing significantly to YA scholarship for a while. She is now an Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the Bagwell College of Education at Kennesaw State University. When I discovered Pam’s book, I liked it immediately. I love how she incorporated the voices of author’s personal stories throughout the book. I asked to review it and was able to write a review of the book in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. You can find the review here. If you would like a collection about authors talking about their inspiration for writing young adult literature, you will find a nice collection as part of this book.

​The fourth text is different in tone and scope than the other three. It is a collection of critically essays that examine themes in YA literature. I have another personal connection to the text. I was asked by the publisher to review The Critical Merits of Young Adult Literature: Coming of Age edited by Crag Hill. In short, I found the book to be fantastic. My only complaint was that I wasn’t invited to contribute. Fortunately, I was invited to write the forward. In the forward I state: “Each chapter serves as a model and theoretical foundation for other scholars to stand on as the field of YA literature moves forward.” Many of these authors I knew causally, but I went out of my way to get to know all of their work better. I think it is worth the effort to have this book on the shelf so that you can easily reference emerging scholars in the field of YA literature. Many had significant publications before this collection and almost all of them now have additional contributions. Crag put together a collection that is important to the field of YA scholarship. He has an eye for quality work. I feel lucky to be working with Crag as we push forward to further establish Study and Scrutiny as a new force in young adult scholarship. 

The final selection for this week’s posting is a brand new book. The editorial team of Judith A. Hayn, Jeffery S. Kaplan, Amanda L Nolen, and Heather A Olvey have two new books. Both books discuss how to use YA literature in the classroom in an era of standards driven education without getting hung up on the standards. The first is Teaching Young Adult Literature: Integrating, implementing, and Re-Imagining the Common Core. This is a great book, but I would like to talk briefly about the second, Young Adult Nonfiction: Gateway to the Common Core. (Spoiler alert: I contribute to one of the chapters in this book, but I promise it is an excellent collection notwithstanding my participation.) The publisher asked me to write a cover blurb for this book and I wrote:

With this book, Young Adult Nonfiction, Hayn, Kaplan, Nolen, and Olvey have gathered together a collection of scholars whose advice and wisdom raise above the demands of the common core and provide teachers with a vision of how young adult nonfiction can be a useful key to seamlessly introduce informational text, cross-curricular knowledge, and text complexity into the language arts classroom. This book will remain an important guide for using nonfiction with students for many years after the hoopla of the common core has passed precisely because it focuses on the timeless issues of good pedagogical practices.
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I believed it when I wrote the blurb and I still do. I was thrilled to get a copy in the mail just a few short weeks ago. Too often we forget how intimately connected the subject matter of the English Language Arts curriculum is related to Social Studies, the sciences, math and the arts. If you are considering any plan for the integration of curricula using YA literature, then this book is a must buy selection for your library.

Until next week.