This is the week! As most people in the world of Children’s and Young Adult Literature know, Meg Medina (Oh! and she has a new webpage) won the Newbery Award and this week she delivered her Newbery acceptance speech at ALA 2019 conference. I was not fortunate enough to attend the convention this year, but I got to witnesses Meg present at our 2019 UNLV Summit just a few weeks ago.
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While Meg was in Las Vegas, she was remarkable. She was kind and generous with her time, her intellect, and her wit. Her keynote for us was fantastic. I knew she would be wonderful during her ALA appearance. Indeed, she was. Her speech reminded me of my own adventures with bikes. 

Bikes for me have always been symbols of freedom and mobility. I learned on a large bike, I could barely reach the pedals, even after we had added blocks to the pedals. I pushed off from a curb headed down hill to gather momentum. To afraid not to be successful because the asphalt of the road looked too far away. Stopping became another adventure altogether.

I road them on paper routes, learning to balance bags and throw to the left and right as I road down the street. I quickly learned to appreciate what Meg called ape-hanger handlebars over the traditional low slung affairs that left the bags full of papers banging against my knees. I rode a bike not only to deliver the papers but to go back through the neighbor collecting the money that my customers owed. I rode them with my pockets full of money to the corner store.

I rode them to the swimming pool, to my friends’ houses, and through the neighborhood.
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I road them through them through a divorce.

I rode them loaded with panniers across northern Nevada, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, California, Western Canada, Mexico, and from Boston to New York. I always carried loads of novels, but always a copy of Leaves of Grass. It felt right to ride slowly and deliberately across the country knowing that when I stopped I could read There was a Child went Forth, Song of the Broad-Axe, Song of the Open Road, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, When I read the Book, A March in the Ranks, Hard-prest, Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field, and When I head the Learn’d Astronomer.
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As a teacher. I frequently rode my bike to work. I would take the direct route on my way there, but I often added a couple of miles going home. One year I rode all but four days; the snow was just too deep. Andrew Smith talks about doing a large majority of his writing while running. I can’t claim that level of productivity. I do claim to the calming influence of the solitary ride, the time to think, to wind down and be ready to be more present when I finally rode up the driveway.
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Finally, and still, I ride to libraries. Like bikes, books take us on journeys. Journeys that let us look into the voyages of others. Those who may be very much like us and those who may be radically different. As we journey with the characters in books we build empathy about their situations. As we ride around with Merci  we begin to understand her relationship with her grandfather, her school mates, the rest of her family, and with her own desires.

While keeping up with ALA and Meg’s comings and goings on Facebook. I found another post about ALA that caught my attention. Jason Reynolds was the keynote speaker for the ALA convention.

No, Jason Reynolds didn’t talk about bikes, but he did talk about libraries. The segment of his speech that was post by ALA was titled ALA Annual 2019 – Jason Reynolds on Libraries. Just as Meg’s speech is not only about bikes, but about family and relationships. Jason’s keynote is not only about libraries, but about family and relationships and the libraries we might carry within.
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His message rang true to my own experience. As he shared his emotional libraries that he created and shared with his childhood friend, I reflected on my own self-created libraries and the emotions and memories I have gathered in from books. I have been blessed to live in a world of books and a world of friends. 

In a small way, my weekend picks are a glimpse into the books that are wiggling their way into the libraries of my mind and of my heart.

Until next week.

Once again Kelly Bull is providing a blog post. Kelly provided a wonderful blog post about a year and half ago about book by Lita Judge. It was a great find for me. Lita Judge's book was an exploration of Mary Shelly and the story of her creation Frankenstein. The book has a ton of original art work. If you didn't catch that blog post you can check it out at this link. Kelly is another YA scholar who has a wealth of knowledge. I look forward to seeing her at the NCTE convention every year. In fact, her post this week foreshadows one of the topics she is working on for this years convention, YA world literature. Below she share some of her favorites.

A reminder, all of the book covers are linked to a place that will let you buy the book. If you don't know the authors that Kelly is recommending you should add a few of these to your shelves.

Reading world literature invites adolescents to learn cultures, customs, and traditions different from their own, opening doors to meaningful inquiry and discussion. Exploring culturally diverse texts written for young adults provides opportunities for students to unmask stereotypes and misconceptions, as well. Readers learn how they are both alike and different from characters on the page, deepening empathy for and understanding of others. This is especially important in our increasingly interconnected and global world where our students will need to understand one another outside of national borders. Reading world literature is “a fantastic way into the DNA of different cultures,” according to Martin Pucher.  ​Reading world literature deepens students’ understandings of cultures and builds their global competence.

Growing global citizens who confidently and competently read the word and the world is possible for English teachers who are conscious of the curricular decisions regarding text selection and instruction. James Banks argues that “Literate citizens in a diverse democratic society should be reflective, moral, and active citizens in an interconnected global world. They should have the knowledge, skills, and commitment needed to change the world to make it more just and democratic.” Without knowing more about the world, its countries, cultures, and citizens, our students would be ill-equipped to change it. This is why our students should be reading world literature: to both broaden and deepen their understandings of cultures and recognize that social issues such as poverty, inequality, injustice, violence, terrorism, and oppression require global solutions, according to Tom Bean, Judith Dunkerly-Bean, and Helen Harper. 

​World literature prompts readers to question, consider, and reflect on cultures and identities.  Which stories are being told, and who are the storytellers? In what ways are identities, geographies, and cultures privileged or stigmatized? And how do young adults connect with, critically reflect on, and carry forward stories from around the globe?  

Some FavoritesI’ve been reading more globally and gathering titles that I share with my students who are teachers. Many are thankful to have found new, engaging, diverse books and authors to bring into their classrooms. A few of our favorite titles are:
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The Astonishing Color of After, Emily X. R. Pan 

From the Kirkus review: Grief, regret, and loneliness form the backdrop of a family’s life following a suicide, but a path for healing reveals itself in the form of a magical red bird.
here is a link to the Kirkus Review

Balcony on The Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine, Ibtisam Barakat

From the Kirkus review: This intense memoir paints a dark picture of growing up in Israeli-occupied Palestine, where “we are made to live with no land, no country, no rights, no safety, and no respect for our dignity.”
here is a link to the Kirkus Review

Diamond Boy, Michael Williams

From the Kirkus review: In this sprawling, messy but compelling epic, a teenager and his family join other desperate Zimbabweans seeking a future in Marange’s diamond mines.
​here is a link to the Kirkus Review

​This November at NCTE annual convention in Baltimore, I’m fortunate to be presenting alongside dear colleagues, Lois Stover and Cheryl North at our world literature-centered session: 
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Eastern Literature for Middle Grade and Young Adult Readers: Inquiry into Cultural Knowledge & Experience. ​

Acclaimed authors Cynthia Kadohata (A Place to Belong), Padma Venkatrama (The Bridge Home), and S.K. Ali (Love from A to Z) will be discussing their new MG and YA books. We hope that you’ll join us for great discussions on heritage, culture, family, and belonging.

The Summit for 2019 is in the books. I wish I could tell you that I have taken a break, but that is certainly not the case. I have some writing deadlines to take care off. So, I hope to finish those before I head off to the ELATE conference in July. 

I do want to take a small break and give you a glimpse of what happened during the summit. In many ways this is just a photo essay. Noah Schaffer was the official summit photographer and all photos in this post were taken by him. By all means this isn't all of the photos he took, but it is a good sample.  You can follow him on Facebook.

My hope this week is to show you the keynote authors, the academics who presented the breakout sessions, and the attendees. So, if you attended look for your photo and share it with your friends.

​More about the Librarians who presented with come in a later post.

YA for All: Using YA Literature in the AP and Honors Class to Explore Similar Literary Quality
This session will discuss how many quality young adult literature can be used in honors and AP literature and language courses. Many books stand on their own or can be used as companion texts with many frequently used books within English Language Arts Classroom. One example is how the standard text Pride and Prejudice can be paired with Ibi Zoboi’s new text Pride. Often neglected are a host of quality nonfiction text that may be used to expand contemporary understanding of social justice issues. For example, Most Dangerous by Steve Sheinkin can be used to expand a student’s understanding of the Vietnam era politics. In similar manner, Blood Brother by Rich and Sandra Neil Wallace can shed light on the contribution and sacrifice of a white ally during the civil rights movement in the 1960s.    

​The Best Book I Ever Read: The Power of Young Adult Literature in the Classroom
Whether used for whole-class reads, student selected literature circles, or independent reading, YA texts have great power for engaging teen readers deeply in their reading, listening, thinking, writing, and meaning making processes. In this session, we will examine specific YA texts identified by students as lifesaving and pair them with instructional approaches that go beyond what Arthur Applebee and cohort called the IRE (initiation, response, evaluation) method. Teachers will receive materials and coaching on instructional methods and their delivery that will maximize students’ engagement with texts and heighten literacy skills.  

​Reimagining the English Classroom with Student Choice and Voice
Reimagining the English Classroom with Student Choice and Voice: In this workshop, teacher and author Sarah Donovan will discuss the need for curriculum design that centers students’ lives. She will highlight reading and writing workshop research, and then using examples of plans, book lists, project instructions, and student work samples, she will assist teachers in immediately designing curriculum maps that integrate student interests in a workshop model. Participants can expect to experience the workshop style with poetry reading, quick writes, and book talks so that they will witness, firsthand (and possibilities) of choice and voice in the English classroom. As a bonus, Donovan will show how this shift in planning will minimize time spent grading and maximize student engagement (and joy).

​Using Critical Theory to Engage Diversity in YA Literature
In this workshop, participants will learn about critical theories they can use with secondary students to engage diverse perspectives in young adult (YA) texts. Pairing critical theory with young adult literature supports rigorous reading, discussing, and writing about literature using high interest texts. Participants will be receive a sample unit plan that includes a list of recommended YA texts and an instructional plan to guide students through reading and discussing YA texts with diverse characters. The workshop will focus on using intersectionality as a lens for analyzing YA texts with diverse characters through two activities: 1) reading and discussing an excerpt from a YA text through an intersectional lens, and 2) adapting the provided unit plan to participants’ social and instructional contexts. An additional digital packet with research articles and research-based instructional practices using a variety of critical theories (e.g. a Youth Lens and Postcolonial Theory) will be provided.

​Examining, Discussing, and Writing About the Angry or Peaceful Mob Through YA Literature
In this workshop, Rumohr-Voskuil will share resources and activities that help students to examine and discuss the psychological reasons for the mob mentality.  She will then provide process-based writing activities that will help students further consider this issue.  Finally, related YA texts--and accompanying teaching materials--will tie it all together, suggesting ways that students can arrive at additional connections and consider positive social impacts in their own communities.

​Diverse Fantastic Characters and Where to Find Them: Decolonizing the Imagination in ELA Classrooms
In this workshop, Toliver will discuss the need for speculative stories that represent diverse characters. She will highlight the social justice informed origins of speculative fiction, and she will also include resources that teachers can use to find science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories that center diverse populations as protagonists. Lastly, using excerpts from speculative fiction texts, she will assist teachers in helping students to analyze the social justice metaphors present within speculative stories written by diverse populations.

One parting note. The events and photos of the summit will be archived at this link. Over the next few week's I will be adding photos of the summit taken by Noah Schaffer. The presenters will be providing some powerpoints, summarizes of events and links to their blogs or websites. Be sure to return frequently.

Of course, it is impossible to give you a complete view of the experience. There were too many moving pieces, too many conversations, and too many wonder moments to capture everything. The best things to do is plan now to come next year. The dates are set, so take a minute and put June 11, 12, and 13 of 2020 on your calendar. Please plan to join us. Our three author keynotes will be Ashley Hope Perez, Chris Crowe, and Steve Sheinkin.

Until next week!

Too often adults plan literacy events for adolescents without consulting them. Write X. Read Y. Think about Z. In reality, they might already be writing A, reading B, and thinking about C. They might even wish that someone else thought it was important. It was important for Phil Bildner to listen to what Elizabeth Acevedo wanted to write about. I listened to Sarah Donovan explain how her seventh graders selected their own reading. and how they liked sharing with her and each other. Adolescents are thinking deeply. Their thoughts are often not shared and under appreciated.

This week, Jason Griffith and a graduate student at Penn State University, Jocelyn Amevuvor, discuss student generated writing. They talk about a couple of projects and provide some wonderful resources. Enjoy.

“I’m so tired of this sensitive generation because all these little teen boys coming up and
talking about, ‘Oh my god, you get cramps? Well, have you have been kicked in the
nuts?’ Like, I don’t care that you were kicked in the nuts. You don’t get kicked in the
nuts for hours a day for like five days a week and every single month.” 

This quote, in which a middle school girl from Bronx Prep Middle School shares how she describes the extreme and cyclic pain of menstrual cramps to her male classmates, is one of my favorites from the recent winning middle school entry in NPR’s first-ever Student Podcast Challenge, which announced its winners last month. In just four-and-a-half minutes, Bronx Prep’s “Sssh! Periods” effectively challenges the societal taboo around discussing periods and issues related to menstruation. While the student podcasters use experiential anecdotes to well-establish why such a taboo is a specific problem at their middle school, they also go-beyond to explore why the stunted conversation is a problem in broader society. Specifically, this podcast taught me about “period poverty,” or the lack of access to menstrual supplies for low-income women. “Sssh! Periods!” is nothing short of a youth-driven call to action to bring this topic to public light for the benefit of “these little teen boys,” the squeamish aunts, and the teachers policing bathroom access, who are mentioned in the podcast, but also for the rest of its potentially broad audience.

The high school winner, though different in narrative approach, was no less impressive. In “Murderous Mary & the RISE of Erwin,” a student team from Elizabethton High School reclaim and reframe a 100-year-old notorious piece of local lore, the public hanging (via crane) of a circus elephant named Mary after she trampled an abusive handler. The student podcasters draw upon interviews with local politicians, archivists, community members, and citizens to first tell how public pressure, somewhat reminiscent of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant,” led to the grisly event, as well as how the execution saddled the town of Erwin with a nasty reputation for decades. However, the student podcasters flip the script by featuring the conservation work of The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, an organization that developed in the historical shadow of Mary’s execution to provide a safe haven for captive elephants to receive care, live out their lives with the companionship of a herd, and raise public awareness about issues related to elephants both in captivity and in the wild.   

To that end, I’ve been working with Jocelyn Amevuvor, a PhD Candidate at Penn State University, to examine critics’ claim that young writers haven’t had enough life experience to write valuable and compelling memoir. We’ve been examining a decade-long sample of youth memoir as published in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards’ yearly The Best Teen Writing volumes to showcase some of their national contest winners. 
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In the next section, Jocelyn highlights the literary value of two recent youth memoirs to demonstrate the curricular value of youth-generated text and media. 

Several personal essays from the 2018 edition of The Best Teen Writing exhibit youth speaking to issues that define them. Two essays that do this particularly well are “Under the Shade of the Apple Tree” by Myra Kamal, who was 13 years old when she wrote it, and “Truths I’m Trying to Ignore” by Sophya Giudici-Juarez, who was 17. Both of these youth memoirs present children of immigrant families who are directly affected by larger social issues common in present-day America. 
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In Kamal’s Under the Shade of the Apple Tree we see, through a youth’s eyes, the ways xenophobia and Islamophobia impact Muslim immigrant families in America. Kamal’s writing demonstrates beautiful symbolism through her father’s apple tree. She explains how he carefully planted and tended to the tree until it bore fruit. When a friend comes to visit, Myra’s family give her some apples to take home, but things take a turn for the worse when her friend’s family finds out her family is Muslim. Myra slows down the moment in which her neighbors come to pick their daughter up and hear Adhan, the call to prayer. She writes: 

“We didn’t know you were Muslim,” the mom explained to my mother. The tension in the air was thick and choppy.
“Yes, we are,” replied my mother with her head held high. (pp. 180-181)

Then, Kamal moves the narrative to the next morning when her family received a letter of complaint regarding her father’s apple tree and a request to tear it down. She takes a moment to reflect on that moment, writing, “However, the sad thing was that I automatically knew the reason for my neighbors’ actions. When did my innocence leave me?” (p. 181). Her reflection demonstrates her youth perspective as she considers the way she has become more keenly aware of the Islamophobic undertones of her neighbors’ actions. This short moment of reflection is a powerful example of the way youths are uniquely situated to convey a present glimpse into a moment that they likely would convey differently if they were an adult looking back.

​Giudici-Juarez also powerfully conveys her feelings as a Latin American immigrant trying to apply for college. Her essay begins at the start of her educational journey, and she uses short vignettes to take us through keystones of her journey. She describes first struggling with English in her American school and her own parents’ embarrassment in being unable to assist her with her homework. Her journey continues as she excels at both English and school in general. She provides a window into the home life of a bilingual immigrant youth. She described, “I am eight years old…My mother needs me to help my brother in school. I talk to his teachers and translate his reading questions for my parents. I show up to every open house with them, sit in on important conversations, and translate our mail. I know more about taxes than I need to,” (p. 174).  Her perspective redefines childhood experience, and highlights the way, as a child, she is participating in very adult things.  

As a high school student, Guidici-Juarez comes out on top, and yet, one of the most powerful moments in the essay is towards the end as she prepares to apply for college.  She writes, “I stare at blank applications until the Social Security number fills itself in,” (p. 174) demonstrating, without saying, that, as an immigrant, she does not have a number.  She goes on to describe her feelings, writing “I have never known a world where I was not less than or equal to. My future feels like an unfinished math equation,” (pp. 174-175). The evaluation of her story is implied, that all of her hard work is not enough. As a youth likely applying for schools as she is writing the essay, this part of the essay is particularly raw. 

Interestingly, both Guidici-Juarez and Kamal’s essay end in the unknown. There is no sure resolution. While Kamal’s father says he will refuse to tear down the apple tree, the reader does not know how this impacted the family’s life in their community. Similarly, Guidici-Juarez story is unfinished, as readers are left wondering whether she will be able to go to college or not. Other youths will likely identify with these feelings of uncertainty and appreciate reading about other young people who are struggling with their identities in the community or fulfilling their personal goals in the near future.  

​As Jocelyn’s analysis demonstrates, youth are able, in some cases perhaps more potently than adult voices, to effectively write about complex and pressing social issues like immigration and religious discrimination. These essays, the podcasts featured in the introduction, and much more quality, student-generated literature would make for valuable inclusion in our curricula and engaging discussion among our students. As readers consider the inclusion of student-generated literature in your classrooms, here are some resources to consider: 

Drummond, S. (2019, May 1). Here are the winners of the NPR student podcast challenge. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2019/05/01/713654812/here-are-the-winners-of-the-npr-student-podcast-challenge

Giudici-Juarez, S. (2018). Truths I’m trying to ignore. In Benzizoune, R. (Ed.) The best teen writing of 2018. New York, NY: Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Jennings, L. B., Parra-Medina, D.M., Messina, D.K.S., McLoughlin, K. (2006). Toward a critical social theory of youth empowerment. Journal of community practice, 14(1): 31-55.

Kamal, M. (2018). Under the shade of the apple tree. In Benzizoune, R. (Ed.) The best teen writing of 2018. New York, NY: Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Petrone, R., Sarigianides, S.T., & Lewis, M.A. (2015). The youth lens: Analyzing adolescence/ts in literary texts. Journal of Literacy Research, 46(4): 506–533.

Saragianides, S. T., Petrone, R., & Lewis, M.A. (2017). Rethinking the “adolescent” in adolescent literacy. Urbana, Il: NCTE. 

Until next time.