​From time to time an editor or and author will contact me to review a book and talk about it on Dr. Bickmore’s YA Wednesday. Currently, I am trying to highlight one author a month. Remember, the primary goal is to talk about research, theme, activities, and genres that a university professor might include in a Young Adult literature course or teacher or librarian might use with adolescents. Nevertheless, authors and their novels are the life blood of what we think about. I can’t cover them all and I try to spend time with books that catch my interest. To get in the queue, I have to think the book has some literary quality, kids will like it, and it would be a good addition to a classroom library.

I love it when I come across a novel from a small press that is worthy of a bigger audience. This is without question the case with Maddy Lederman’s novel Edna in the Desert. I have to admit that the tag line on the cover (Can a Beverly Hills teen survive without a smart phone, Internet, and TV?) caught my eye and caused me to ponder my addiction to social media, not to mention the way my preservice students and graduate students seem to be completely connection to their various devices. 

I remember teaching before cell phones were an issue in the classroom and –after the change. It was perfectly timed with when I was out of the classroom for three years working on my doctorate. When I returned the cell phone crisis was in full swing and many schools and districts didn’t have policies that addressed the issue constructively. In my opinion, it was too late. I used to joke that the new way I could tell that students weren’t paying attention was that their hands were under the desk working away on their texting skills. Before that, it was sneaking notes or just doodling. I believe there are proper and important ways that cell phone technology can be incorporated into the classroom. I tried hard not to be afraid of the phones even when I didn’t have a clue what to do about it. When many of them had internet access, I started to encourage my students to use their phones during vocabulary activities—there were never enough dictionaries anyway. The students proved to be lightning fast searching for definitions and they stayed on task. Okay, they stayed on task at least as much as they had before.  I am pretty sure that a few more ventured to engage, because of the new toy.

Lederman poses a situation that more of us would like to see imposed on some of our nonresponsive teens.  A forced hiatus from technology. As adolescent seemed locked on their various devices, they appear lost in their particular worlds. In reality, they are probably more attuned to the world around them than we imagine or would like to give them credit for taking in. Nevertheless, is there something to be gained with a camping trip without technology? What would a 10 day vacation be like if both parents and kids were untethered from technology for the duration of the trip? Lederman’s character, Edna, takes a pause that is much longer than she thinks she can survive. A forced timeout for the summer with her Grandmother in the desert opens her mind to other forms of information input—both emotional and pragmatic. 

Adults in my generation—those that graduated from college before the invention of the personal computer—often think that we have lost something about ourselves in the age of technology. Do the generations after us have the same sense of value in a prolonged casual discussion at the dinner table? I know that occasionally, I think better if I get out a pen and a yellow legal pad as I plan a unit or a new paper. Revision used to be a much slower process when I was in college. I used to write on one side of a page, skipping every other line, knowing that my spelling was so bad that my first editing task would be with a dictionary. Do our students have any sense of that type of revision?

Lederman’s text explores a teen confronting relationships while the tether to technology is served. I think this is a novel that will help students and teachers start conversations about the ways the digital world has altered our culture, our modes of communication, our access to information, and our relationships with people; those within our own generation and across others.   

In the document below you can find Maddy's responses to a set of interview questions.

Thanks Maddy for writing such an engaging book. You can find out more about Maddy through some of the following media sources:
​
Twitter maddylederman.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edna.in.the.desert/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ednainthedesert/
Introducing Maddy Lederman. 

One of the best things about working in the world of young adult literature is that there are so many great people. I had a great week last week at Kennesaw. I had the opportunity to listen to great authors, meet wonderful teachers and librarians, and work with great colleagues. There was even a great dinner with more colleague. I had the opportunity to listen to Laurie Halse Anderson which is always an educational opportunity. I also had the chance to hear Ashely Hope Pérez give a keynote address. She was fantastic. I am already looking forward to her next novel and the opportunity to work with her in the future.

This week's guest contributor is another example of another great person in the YA world.  Joellen Maples, Ph.D. is an associate professor at St. John Fisher College. This week she talks about using YA and Critical Literacy to help new teachers frame conversations about difficult topics.  The young adult novel she uses as an example is All American Boys, which builds on one of the text that we used in our Kennesaw presentation.  Her post really gets at the core of the purpose of this blog--to help us inform each other about the variety of ways we can use YA literature. YA literature isn't only enjoyable literature; it is also a tool to help us teach teachers.  Those teachers, in turn, use this literature in their classrooms in a variety of way to engage their students. 
​
Okay, Joellen lead us through it. 

I hear a variety of the responses above when I’m teaching my diversity class to in-service teachers as I expose them to young adult literature that showcases the various topics and readings we do in class. I recently began incorporating young adult literature into my diversity class as a way to bring alive the theories we examine and to show my students how they might open up their classrooms to discussing such topics as police brutality, racism, immigration, body image, sexual trafficking, and transgender youth. The texts I have used lately to address such issues include All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, Dumplin’  by Julie Murphy, Dime by E.R. Frank coupled with Sold by Patricia McCormick, and George by Alex Gino. I choose to use young adult literature because I know its power with teens. Glasgow (2001) explains young adult literature can provide “a context for students to become conscious of their operating world view and to examine critically alternative ways of understanding the world and social relations” (p. 54). Young adult literature is equally powerful for teachers as young adult literature can serve as a medium for critical dialogue because it may help teachers to “raise questions” that help students “notice…‘systems of domination’ and ‘systems of privilege’” (Edelsky, 1999, p. 12).

All American Boys
In this blog, I want to focus on All American Boys (AAB). This novel which has won several awards including the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, the Walter Dean Myers Award, and was an ALA Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book tells the story of two teens, Rashad and Quinn, who grapple with the repercussions of police brutality against Rashad. The novel discusses the impact of the act on the characters, the community, their families, and their school. When we finished reading AAB the all too familiar responses commenced from my students. I turned and looked at them and asked, “If not you, then who?” As teachers, I try to impress upon them the necessity for them to have these talks with their students through the use of young adult literature and critical literacy. As I listened to all their reasons of why they couldn’t use the book in their classrooms, the only response I really accepted is I don’t know how to do it. That’s fair, and fortunately for them, I did know a way for them to have these discussions. One of my students in particular, Melissa (pseudonym), wanted to use the book with her 5th graders. She exclaimed, “Ugh! Maples! You’re giving me a headache. I’m scared.” As I’m apt to do, I used a little of my Maples’ guilt and looked at her, smiled, and repeated, “If not you, then who?” She stared at me and said, “Argh. Ok. I’ll do it! Teach me how.”

Melissa’s Experience
Melissa chose to read AAB in a rural school in upstate New York with her 5th graders. She had a lunch book club and read with the students daily. I commend her willingness to see the value of using such a text and discussing racism and police brutality with her students. Students at her school do not experience much diversity at all, but they were aware of the recent incidences of police brutality that had been on the news---Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and unfortunately many more. She taught her lesson that focused on disrupting the commonplace and had discussions with her students about incidences of police brutality against African Americans while connecting it to the novel. She deconstructed what it meant to be a police officer and how interactions with officers might change depending on one’s race. Even though the students were young and needed a lot of scaffolding and unpacking of terms and ideas, they shared many thoughts for Melissa to build off of. One of her students remarked, “When people say racist I actually think about someone treating a black person like they don’t have the same equal rights like we do. Like they treat them unfairly and poorly. They treat them basically the opposite they would treat a white person.” Even more exciting was the support that Melissa received from her students’ parents. One parent actually wrote to her commending her for using the book with her child by saying, “I think it is important for our children to read literature that highlights racism to open their eyes to prejudice that did and /or does in fact exist.  Truth be told, a middle class child from our school can lead a pretty sheltered life and have no idea what certain people have experienced in their lifetime as a result of racism. Reading is knowledge.  Knowledge is power.” In fact, on presentation night in class, Melissa’s students wanted to come to the college to share what they had learned through this project and some parents came as well. It was so encouraging to hear the parents tell my in-service teachers that they must read books such as AAB and do lessons like this with their students. It was quite an impact. 

Melissa’s Takeways
During her reflection, she shared that through this assignment she learned not to be afraid, and she acknowledged that the critical literacy dimensions gave her a tangible framework to help guide her lesson and discussion. I think we fail our teacher candidates by not helping them learn how to have such difficult discussions but impressing upon them to do so. She expressed to her peers that “books do not harm children and are gateways to having difficult discussions.” She saw the benefit firsthand of using young adult literature when one of her students said, “My experience was that I was more interested in this book than any other. It kept my attention and I didn’t want to stop reading it. Also because there was a realistic event in the story, I learned how awful blacks are treated; it’s unfair.” This was the first young adult novel her students had read, and they were really excited to read more in the future. Finally, her parents’ support in what she was doing really increased her confidence. She learned that communication with parents made them allies rather than adversaries when it came to reading books about tough topics. 

Final Thoughts
For me, the experience reminded me of the importance of the work I’m doing by promoting the use of young adult literature in classrooms. I hope to develop in my students a critical acumen that follows them beyond my course. McLaughlin and DeVoogd (2004) point out that teachers do not just become critical as it is a process that involves “developing theoretical, research, and pedagogical repertoires; changing with time and circumstance; engaging in self-critical practices; and remaining open to possibilities” (p. 55). I often think about this quote when I am teaching. I express to my students that they are not just “doing a critical literacy lesson.” It’s not a one time lesson. Critical literacy should be a constant thread that runs through their decisions about teaching, how they teach, and what they teach. They must become critical and as the quote expresses so well, they must constantly be reading, researching, and revising their teaching pedagogy. They must also be fearless regardless of how difficult a discussion may be and constantly checking their biases and prejudices and evaluating how those feelings are impacting their teaching, their students, and the choices they make in the books they use in their classroom. By equipping them with an understanding of critical literacy both in theory and practice and exposing them to powerful and engaging young adult literature, I am positive they will have the tools to remain open to possibilities for themselves and more importantly, their students. 

Below is a copy of a powerpoint that Joellen and two of her students, Kathryn Hansen and Sarah Oeschger, prepared to further explain the class assignment.

 References
Edelsky, C. (1999). On critical whole language practice: Why, what, and a bit of how. In C. Edelsky (Ed.), Making justice our project: Teachers working toward critical whole language practices. (pp. 7-36). Urbana: NCTE.
Glasgow, J. (2001). Teaching social justice through young adult literature. English Journal, 90 54-61. 
Lewison, M., Flint, A.S., & Van Sluys, K. (2002). Taking on critical literacy: The   journey of newcomers and novices. Language Arts, 79(5), 382-392.
McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. (2004). Critical literacy as comprehension: Expanding   reader response. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 48(1), 52-62.

Joellen can be reached at: ​jmaples@sjfc.edu

The above title was the name of the presentation that I gave with Paul Binford, Gretchen Rumohr-Voskuil, and Laurie Halse Anderson as a respondent at the Kennesaw State University Conference on LIterature for Children and Young Adults. This is really a great event for teachers and librarians in the Kennesaw area and the entire region. ​

Paul and I have been thinking about integrated activities between Social Studies (SS) and English Language Arts (ELA) curricula for several years now. Our work has resulted in several presentations and some papers and book chapters. Gretchen joined the endeavor as a result of a conversation the two of us had with Brendan Kiely at NCTE 2016. Gretchen and I both admire All American Boys. It is a great story from more than one point of view. However, what we like most is the collaborative work that Jason and Brendan represent. We love that these two authors worked together to discuss, wrestle with, and contemplate a difficult subject--racism and the violence that surrounds it in the United States. 

It is important to know that for Paul, Gretchen, and I, we see the work of our presentation as collaborative, inquiry based, and on going. As of yet, we do not have a fixed product even though we have presented and held conversations. In this presentation we focused on the Seeds of America trilogy, March trilogy, and All American Boys. We, as panelists, suggested middle school and secondary cross-curricular, interdisciplinary, and integrated teaching objectives, classroom activities, and supporting texts that encourage historical and textual understanding and meaningful social action.

The first handout is designed to illustrate what a cross curricular unit might include. In a traditional unit or course designed to connect three groups of texts, most teachers would focus on the blue band. This approach would focus on the primary text with, perhaps, only a nod to other sources. On the document we add three more bands: activities, informational text, and additional fiction and nonfiction. In the activities band we suggest teaching activities that are both traditional and innovative within a Social Studies or English Language Arts classroom. We'd love to have others add to the list. The informational text band represents the best instructional push within the common core movement. We agree that ELA teachers can enhance their instruction of literature and literary periods through the incorporation of informational texts including primary documents, newspapers and magazines, and online sources in a variety of formats. In fact, it is worth arguing that while English teachers have added more history to their curriculum, Social Studies classes have been neglected and marginalized in our unabated rush to assessing ELA and Math. In the fourth band, we provide a list of titles that connect to the core text of each column.  Some of these texts are young adult and some are not, but all would be useful if the teaching of the core text was follow-up by a literature circle activity or by independent reading that allowed students to follow their interests related to themes or incidents related to the first text. 

In the rest of this post,  we offer links to the main texts we used to outline our process of an integrated curriculum and we provide copies of our power point presentations and handouts. In addition, we each offer a small statement that explains a portion of independent thinking about the project.  

To begin, Paul gives his perspective: Both adolescent historical fiction and history illustrate and illuminate the human experience.  High quality historical fiction inhabits this intersection of human drama and historical reality, while offering glimpses of truth, beauty, and meaning. Ironically, Chains—a book about the experiences of human “property”—is just such a novel providing the reader with a clear and well-researched historical infrastructure, but also a compelling story.  Each chapter includes a primary source epigram and illustrative examples of the experiences of enslaved persons as told through the eyes of Isabel, the story’s main character.  This book (and others of similar merit) is fertile territory for teaching ELA and Social Studies content, if teachers will but remove their disciplinary shackles. 

I, Steve, am finding more and more satisfaction studying the pedagogical possibilities of young adult historical fiction in the classroom. These books offer dynamic portrayals of moments in history that students are often not familiar with at a deep level. Through an explanation of primary sources, historical reports, and other young adult fiction and nonfiction texts student can conduct I-search projects that enhance their understanding of the period and the real people that inhabit those historical moments. Students can develop critical thinking skills that help then compare the past and the present. Ideas and issues of the past are evident in the present. The ideologies that helped frame the struggle for liberty and independence during the American Revolution are evident in the Civil Rights struggle that is depicted in the three volumes of March and continue to inform the racial unrest that Reynolds and Kiely discuss through their narrative exploration in All American Boys

In Chains, the two minor characters are early adolescents who are slaves in the midst of the nations fight for freedom. During the course of the narration, it is often easy to forget that they are doing the work of adults. Paul began our conversation by illustrating a Social Studies strategy that we believe can be very useful in the English Language Arts classroom. The documents below show the steps and the source of the strategy. We also provide a photograph of a moment in US history that also shows a moment of child labor. 

Paul also created the next document. This is a table that shows excerpts from Chains, the page number, and the historical significance of the passage. The table has only a small sample of the number of historical details that Anderson has researched and included in the narrative. Just as these details exist throughout Chains, similar tables can be built the text and allusions from March and from All American Boys.  Paul has done this work to create table, but we believe that students can do similar work individually and in small groups.  

The following power point is in many ways an expansion of the first chart. During the course of a presentation a power point, at best, provides a visual source for the conversation that is taking place. It has our contact information, links to a variety of supplemental texts for each main text, and a few links to some primary source information. We hope you find it useful. We also wish to thank Laurie Halse Anderson, who attended the session, responded to our ideas, and enlightened us about her research process.

I am visiting and presenting at the Kennesaw Children's and Young Adult Literature Conference. What a great day! The day focusing on Young Adult Literature has been fantastic. The two author keynotes are Laurie Halse Anderson and Ashley Hope Perez. I was part of a presentation about the teaching of Anderson's Seeds of America Trilogy, March, and All American Boys through a combined Social Studies and English Language Arts lens using primary sources. We will post the resources for that presentation on Friday, March 24, 2017. I also gave a brief presentation about web sources for Young Adult Literature. I selected only ten, of course, there are great many more. I selected ten that I think are anchors, webpages that honor young adult literature and the work of teachers, librarians, researchers, and readers without being overly commercial or controlled by marketing. 

This week's contribution is from Dr. Robert Prickett. He has posted before and you can read it again here. This time he adds to the blog helping us celebrated Women's History Month and especially to today, March 8, 2017 which is International Women's Day. Thanks Robert. I look forward to reading some these suggestions that are new to me.

My oldest child, my daughter, Madelyn, just turned 13 years old this week. I’ve worked with adolescents most of my professional life – as a high school English teacher, as an English middle-level and secondary teacher educator – but this – this is different – this is my first teenager in my house (gulp). Now, the subconscious is an interesting beast, and as I am writing this blog entry, it occurs to me – I may have been “investigating” my daughter’s teen years in advance of them. I had – months ago – become interested in and working on creating a special topics English course at Winthrop University for the upcoming summer session. I knew that I wanted it centered around graphic novels – an area of interest for a while now for me both personally and professionally. 

I used a graphic novel, The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media written by Brooke Gladstone and illustrated by Josh Neufeld, several times as the key non-fiction text for a critical thinking course that is part of Winthrop’s general education core. Additionally, I have been incorporating graphic novels in my annual Adolescent Literature course for the last few years. For my students in Adolescent Literature, graphic novels seem to be an area lacking – a blind spot in their education, if you will. A note: my Adolescent Literature course is currently filled with about a third to a half English Education undergrads and grads (a required course for them); a third to a half undergrad and grad English majors (taking it as an English elective for their degree); and a third to a half (Wait! My math! Well, you get the idea anyway . . . ) Winthrop University undergrad students (who are interested in the topic and needing an elective). If my undergraduate and graduate English students look down their noses (and yes, some do – at least, in the beginning) at adolescent literature as being popular “fluff”; then the majority look down their noses, chests, stomachs, legs, toes at graphic novels equating them to “silly” superhero or Archie comic books. In response (and because this intellectual snobbery seemed to only increase my interest in the value and relevance of the genre), I taught an undergrad/grad writing course last summer focused exclusively on graphic novels – where students read, studied the medium, and ultimately, wrote and illustrated their own graphic memoir short stories. 

There is a wealth of different voices, different visual stylings for this rich medium and this rich subject matter – there are middle level books; there are older teen books; there are international books; there are bunnies; there are shapeshifters; there are memoirs; and there is coming-of-age. As I continue to prepare for this course (and my daughter’s teen years), here are some of my recommended titles to check out (in case, you, too, need some introduction to the topic). In alphabetical order:

Awkward written and illustrated by Svetlana Chmakova
She’s the new girl at the middle school, just trying to not get noticed, when Penelope “Peppi” Torres runs into the quiet boy in the hall, knocking him and his books to the ground. When the kids start teasing her about being his girlfriend, Peppi shoves the quiet boy and runs off. Thus, starts Peppi’s first day. This graphic novel follows Peppi as she navigates a new school, new friends, making good choices, and battling the Art Club’s arch-nemesis, the Science Club. 

​Aya: Life in Yop City written by Marguerite Abouet and illustrated by Clement Oubrerie
 
Aya: Life in Yop City is a graphic novel loosely based on Abouet’s life. The protagonist, Aya, is a 19-year-old girl whose interactions with her friends and their families are chronicled in this series about growing up in the Ivory Coast working class suburb of Yopougon-Koute (or Yop City for short) in the 1970’s. Translated from the original French, this graphic novel deals with everyday life, college dreams, the status of women in the Ivory Coast, teenage pregnancies, and social class, gender, and cultural differences.

​The Color of Earth written and illustrated by Kim Dong Hwa
 
The Color of Earth is the first graphic novel in a trilogy by Kim Dong Hwa telling the story of Ehwa growing up in a rural Korean village with her widowed mother who runs the local tavern. As her mother begins to fall in love again, Ehwa, too, starts to explore what it means to love. This graphic novel has been named to YALSA’s 2010 Great Graphic Novels for Teens and 2009 Booklist’s Top 10 Romances for Youth. 

​Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
 
Callie loves the theatre. Though she can’t sing, she is the set designer for her middle school’s production of Moon over Mississippi. Between the crew members not working together, the arrival of two brothers, and keeping up with old and new friendships, there is as much drama off-stage as on-stage that Callie must navigate.

​El Deafo written and illustrated by Cece Bell
 
This graphic novel tells the story of Cece’s childhood wearing a Phonic Ear hearing aid around her neck which allows Cece to hear but also somewhat ostracizes her as “different.”  Drawn as bunnies, Cece tells how she comes to accept and open up about her hearing abilities while gaining new friends. The graphic novel won a Newberry Honor and an Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids in 2015. 

​Flutter, Vol. 1: Hell Can Wait written by Jennie Wood and illustrated by Jeff McComsey
 
Fifteen-year-old loner Lily can shape-shift into a boy to get the girl. While dating the “straight” girl that she likes, as well as being involved with government conspiracies, KGB agents, and her parents, Lily struggles to figure out who exactly she is and where exactly she fits in the world.  

​Ghost World written and illustrated by Daniel Clowes
 
This novel follows the lives of Enid and Rebecca, two cynical, pseudo-intellectual, recent high school graduates in the early 1990’s. As they drift through the days after high school, Enid and Rebecca slowly develop tensions between each other and drift apart. The graphic novel was adapted into a movie in 2001 starring Scarlett Johansson. The graphic novel and film have become a cult classic. 

Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir written and illustrated by Maggie Thrash
 
Set at the one-hundred-year-old Camp Bellflower for Girls, deep in the heart of Appalachia, Maggie Thrash tells the story of her first love, an older female counselor named Erin. Surprised at falling in love with Erin and the possibility that Erin maybe feels the same, Maggie focuses on developing her amazing skills with a rifle at the camp’s rifle range, as she tries (as does Camp Bellflower) to understand this relationship. Honor Girl was a finalist for the 2016 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Graphic Novel/Comics category. 

​Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal written by G. Willow Wilson and drawn by Adrian Alphona
 
Collecting the comic books Ms. Marvel #1-5 into one graphic novel, Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal tells the story of Kamala Khan, a teenage Pakistani American Muslim from Jersey City, New Jersey, who discovers that she has Inhuman genes which provide her with her shapeshifting abilities. She assumes the role of Ms. Marvel. The storyline follows Khan’s life as she navigates new powers, supervillains, her family, and her religion. Kamala Khan is the first Muslim character to headline her own comic series at Marvel Comics.

​The Complete Persepolis written and illustrated by Marjane Satrapi
 
One of the more famous graphic novels, Persepolis tells the story of Satrapi’s childhood through early adulthood in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution, as well as the war between Iran and Iraq. Part memoir; part bildungsroman – the story goes from Tehran to Vienna (where Satrapi went to high school) back to Iran (where she studied college) to France (where she landed at the time of publishing the book).   

Roller Girl written and illustrated by Victoria Jamieson
 
Astrid and Nicole are best friends. But when Astrid signs up for roller derby camp, and Nicole decides to go to dance camp, the most difficult summer of twelve-year-old Astrid’s life begins. As the summer progresses, transitions occur, friendships change, and new skills emerge. As the summer end nears, Astrid has to confront the changes ahead (including junior high) head on. This debut graphic novel earned the 2016 Newberry Honor for real-life roller derby girl (and author) Victoria Jamieson. 

​Sisters written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
 
Told in both present-day and flashback and framed through the lens of a road trip from their home in San Francisco to a family reunion in Colorado, Sisters is the autobiography of big sister Raina’s relationship with her little sister Amara.

​Skim written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
 
Kimberly Keiko Cameron, “Skim”, is a sixteen-year-old Japanese-Canadian girl who attends an all-girls Catholic school. She is a “Goth,” who practices Wicca, and falls for her teacher. When a popular male athlete dumps his girlfriend, and kills himself a couple of days later, the school goes into major mourning with Skim somehow in the middle of it all. The graphic novel was a YALSA 2009 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Award winner.

Smile written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
 
In this semi-autobiographical graphic novel, sixth grader Raina trips and falls severely injuring her front two teeth. The graphic novel depicts the aftermath of the fall following Raina through multiple surgeries, braces, headgears, retainers, fake teeth, boys, an earthquake, and friend troubles. The graphic novel won 2010 Boston Globe – Horn Book Honor Book for Nonfiction and 2011 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens. 

​This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
 
Every summer, Rose goes with her mom and dad to a lake house at Awago Beach. This year, however, Rose’s mom and dad won’t stop fighting; thus, she and Windy (Rose’s friend at the beach) try to get away from her parents. This one summer, the girls start hanging out with some local teens and have some issues – some bad; some serious. This graphic novel was a New York Times bestseller, a 2015 Caldecott Honor Book, and a 2015 Printz Honor Book.

​Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir written and illustrated by Liz Prince
 
Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir tells the story of Liz Prince growing up and her struggles with and exploration of gender issues. From how she dressed to how she played to who her friends were, Prince describes growing up from early childhood to teenager as a “tomboy.”  This graphic novel was a 2015 YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens pick.

. . . And, please, as I continue to design this course (in those rare free moments here and there before summer classes start), do not hesitate to contact me (prickettr@winthrop.edu) with your own recommendations and suggestions. My teenage (gulp) daughter and I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
​
Robert Prickett
Associate Professor of English Education
Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina 

Every once in awhile you have the opportunity to contribute to a great project. When I was first introduced to the YA research Committee, Jeff Kaplan was one of the very first people to welcome me. I felt his genuine concern for my projects and he has never failed to support my efforts along the way. Shortly after, Judy Hayn welcomed me while she was chairing the CEE Commission on the study and teaching of Young Adult Literature. Together, with Karina Clemmons they have put together a second edition of Teaching Young Adult Literature Today: Insights, Considerations, and Perspectives for the Classroom Teacher. The book was well received the first time around and the new edition is more than just a reworking of the first. It has new chapters and insights that will help us navigate a new decade of research into the teaching of young adult literature. If you love YA and want more help considering the variety of ways it can be introduced into the classroom, this book is a must have addition to your shelf. Who knows, it might help you frame a chapter for the 3rd edition in a few years. Below Jeff and Judy provide and overview of the book.

When Judy Hayn and I, Jeff Kaplan, were first asked to submit a second edition of Teaching Young Adult Literature Today: Insights, Considerations, and Perspectives for the Classroom Teacher (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016), we were thrilled that this book was being used in enough college adolescent literature courses to warrant a re-examination and re-issue. Adding a third editor, Karina Clemmons, we then asked previous authors for their interest in contributing a new chapter to this second installment. To our surprise, everyone agreed. We were off and running.

We have long believed – as educators, as readers, and as lover of good books for kids – in the validity of young adult literature as a force for good, but also as a vital and vibrant power in changing teen lives, literacy and learning. Today, with our political establishment more bent than ever on destroying every social norm that we believe to be just and right, the time is now to introduce books that deal with issues of social justice – and to discuss them with growing and impressionable adolescent minds.
​
For today – the efficacy and popularity of young adult/adolescent literature is apparent – in the emerging teen read sections in bookstores; the expansion of young adult libraries; the growing of number of websites and blogs devoted to the discussion and review of young adult literature; to the proliferation of adolescent literature – in television shows, movies, and streaming online platforms – in social media.
Thus, the purpose of this welcoming second edition – is to review, recognize and reimagine this genre – young adult literature, in all its variations – so no matter its name, books for teens become part and parcel of the lexicon of what matters most for helping young people understand and become part of the 21st century

​In Section II, young adult literature experts review the current landscape of young adult literature – as a popular and ever-present element in today’s culture.
 
We begin with Kelly Byrne Bull and Juliann Dupuis’ “Young Adult Literature as the Sustaining Force: An Interdisciplinary Force in Teaching Environmentalism,” – an intriguing and engaging read about how young adult books are perfect for engaging and motivating young minds to becoming increasingly aware of today’s world – and how they can be agents of environmental change. Complete with lessons on group inquiry projects – with young adult books about scientific issues – as the basis, this is a smart read for advocates of interdisciplinary teaching.

Next, Nance S. Wilson and Michelle Kelley ask the perennial question, “Avid Readers in High School: Are They Reading for Pleasure?”. In this detailed review, they conclude that ‘yes, kids are reading less,” but, with smart and perceptive teaching – teaching that allows students to self-select what they would like to read – more and more students will reap the benefits of being an engaged reader. A sharp and pointed reading inventory questionnaire for adolescents is included in this good chapter.

Crag Hill and Janine Darragh follow with a most poignant essay – “Is Poverty the Result of Poor Decisions: What Young Adult Literature Contributes to the Conversation,” – where they carefully outline how young adult books are ripe for helping adolescents learn decision-making skills by focusing on issues of poverty and neglect – in their own lives and in the lives of the characters they are reading. Books and activities to raise awareness about issues of social justice make this a most provocative and intriguing read.

Sexuality and gender are found in Laura J. Renzi, Mark Letcher and Kristin Miraglia’s “Crossing Boundaries: Exploring the Fluidity of Sexuality and Gender in Young Adult Literature,” a bracing chapter about how young adult literature continues to challenge sexual norms – by introducing characters and stories that reflect the changing mores of today’s society – particularly in the ever-evolving and more pronounced world of LGBTQ teens.

Liza Hazlett and William J. Sweeney follow this illuminating read with their own version of today’s changing young adult literature scene – “The Literary Community’s Definition: Balancing, Creating and Updating Young Adult Literature Reading Lists while Retaining Quality Titles,” – where once again, they challenge the misconception that haunts YAL – that adolescent literature simply lacks the quality of classics in the canon. They applaud the use of young adult books as valid literary works in and of itself – that do not need ‘literary masterpieces’ as a tool to justify their use in the secondary classroom.

“Civil Rights and Social Justice: Then and Now – How Much Progress Have We Made?” – penned by Barbara A. Ward, Deanna Day-Wiff and Terrell A. Young – argue that teaching civil rights and social justice in schools – receives little or no attention – and that using young adult books, can do much to make these notions and discussions prevalent among our classroom teachers and their lessons. Suggested YA titles and teaching suggestions make this a most worthwhile read.

Our own Steve Bickmore and his son, Isaac, bring us “Music and the Young Adult Novel: Assessing How Adolescents “Read” the Music of Their Lives,” – a thoughtful, reflective and informative thesis about how connecting music and books – both through the eyes of teens – can do much to engage young people in the two worlds that often mean the most to them – music and lyrics. YA books, contemporary music selections, and class projects – demonstrate the power of merging adolescent’s musical and literary lives.

Community-service is on the mind of Lois T. Stover, Jacqueline Bach and C. J. Carver in their social conscience driven chapter “Activism, Service-Learning, Social Awareness, and Young Adult Literature.” In clear, crisp and detailed language they call for teachers to help their students become social activists for awareness and change – a call that is rooted in young adult literature – and through examples, texts, and action plans, they demonstrate how students can be motivated to serve through reading young adult books.

“Fat Female Protagonists in YAL and in Classrooms: Exploring the Impact of Anti-Fat Bias on Identity” is a provocative and revealing piece by Linda T. Parsons. Examining the often under-examined and under-reported world of fat female characters in teen literature and how their obesity challenges female body concept – is a topic that deserves every teacher – and teenager’s – attention.

Kristina R. Clemmons and Laura Langley’s “YAL and English Learners: Activating Funds of Knowledge” explores the potential and powerful impact that English Learners – and our immigrant population – have on the growth and appeal of young adult books – and how their lives – as revealed through literary creations – are more relevant today than ever before.

​In “Celebrating All Voices: Assuming Diversity in Young Adult Literature,” Wendy Williams and James Blasingame close out Section Two with a rich discussion on the myriad of circumstances that today comprise the world multiculturalism in books specifically targeting adolescent readers. Their long, detailed lists of young adult books, online resources and refrences on the teaching of multicultural literature are most welcome.

​In the concluding section, Melanie Hundley and Teri Holbrook write about the growing use of technology in increasing the frequency and use of books for young adults. Their prescient words in “Exploding the Page: Digital, Multimodal and Transmedia Young Adult Literature,” will help even the novice technology neophyte find comfort in this advanced and futuristic world.

Colleen Sheehy Mulholland’s “Pushing the Edge of Possibility: A New Look at Integrating Technologies with Young Adult Literature Across Content Areas,” urges readers – and ultimately teachers and educational leaders – to revisit their definition of literacy – to include technology – and all that it implies – and means for the reading, reviewing and disseminating of literature for young adults.

Finally, Melanie D. Koss describes in vivid detail the intersection of social media with the lives of teenagers – always plugged in (literally and figuratively) – to the latest fad, fashion and pop culture phenomena. In “The Influence of the Internet and Social Media on Teens’ Engagement with Young Adult Literature,” she demonstrates how teachers can utilize adolescent social media involvement in teaching adolescent literature and literacy.

Thus, with great joy and pride, we present this latest edition - Teaching Young Adult Literature Today: Insights, Considerations, and Perspectives for the Classroom Teacher (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016) – the growing audience of young adult literature teachers, readers and ‘just plain enthusiasts’ – in the hopes that you will use good books for teens as a tool and a technique to instill in young people everywhere – a passion for reading and a desire for social justice.