This week’s YA Wednesday features Bryan Gillis. Bryan is an Associate Professor of English Education and Literacy at Kennesaw State University in the Bagwell College of Education. He is also very involved with the KSU Conference on Children’s and Young Adult Literature. The topic for the conference this year focuses on Interdisplinary/Cross-Curricular Teaching. The Young Adult authors for the KSU conference this year are two of my personal favorites: Chris Lynch and Chris Crowe. Bryan, however, is going talk about “SEX” in YA literature. If this topic doesn’t helps see a rise in readership, I don’t know what will.

How I Became Addicted to YAL
My career in education began in 1983 in Phoenix, Arizona as a teacher and counselor in a residential treatment center. Many of these kids were the products of abusive homes, some had prison records, and others had simply been abandoned by their parents. I taught high school academics during the day, and depending on who had quit that day, often became a counselor and surrogate parent at night. Because of their ages and perhaps due to their limited exposure to what would be considered normal relationships, many of the topics we discussed in the evenings focused on sex and relationships.
 
After three years, I moved to a nearby inner-city public school district, and for the next twenty-two years, I taught every grade level from K-8--my final eight as a junior high school English teacher and academic coach. Many of these students also came from dysfunctional families in which positive role models were not present. Once again, my role of teacher expanded to include counselor and part-time parent. Questions about sex and relationships were asked and answered with care, not wanting to run the risk of being accused of holding impromptu sex education classes. There had to be a better way, I thought. I soon discovered that through activities designed around a few of the young adult novels that I had in my possession- e.g., The Giver, The Outsiders, Speak, as well as a few of the classics, e.g., Romeo and Juliet, my students and I could engage in meaningful discussions that centered on character relationships. We talked about "the yearnings," and we analyzed what the Montague and Capulet men meant while proclaiming, "My naked sword is out." I had no idea, however, how much more was out there in the world of YAL. My true appreciation and respect–some might call it an addiction–for young adult literature didn't begin until 2004 when I decided to pursue my Ph.D. in English Education at Arizona State University. 

​How My Addiction Led to Writing a Book about Sex
I was a teacher by day, and a doctoral student by night. It was during this three-year period that my two most influential mentors, and rock stars of the YAL world, Drs. Jim Blasingame and Alleen Nilsen, shared their knowledge and wisdom with me. They helped me understand the power of YAL to motivate and engage students through verisimilitude- the degree to which a story creates the appearance of truth. What I learned was that this verisimilitude not only motivated students to read but also improved comprehension skills by allowing them to make critical text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self connections.
 
In 2008, I accepted a position at Kennesaw State University (KSU) and immediately made it my mission to ensure that each and every one of my teacher candidates understood the power of YAL to transform their future students' lives. I wanted them to know that well-written YAL, stories that contain a young adult protagonist, a young adult perspective, relatable young adult language and issues relevant to adolescents, have the potential to make positive and enduring impacts on both the cognitive and socio-emotional development of middle and high school students.
 
Soon after arriving at KSU, I was blessed with a third mentor in Pam Cole, the co-author of my first book, Chris Crutcher: A Stotan for Young Adults. As I was writing the last chapter of the book, which includes a discussion of how Crutcher addresses sexual content in his most recent novel, Period 8, my editor Patty Campbell suggested that I consider writing an entire book on sexual content in young adult literature. Motivated by a fascination with and respect for the genuine way in which Crutcher handled sexual content in his novels and short stories, the possibility that other YA authors also dealt with sex and relationships in the same manner, and a hope that the book might give classroom teachers the courage to engage their students in conversations about sex, I set out to write _Sexual Content in Young Adult Literature: Reading between the Sheets. 

Why the New Book is Important
Adolescence is a difficult time for students. Beginning in middle school and continuing into high school, the central focus of an adolescent's world shifts from home and parents to school, friends, and peers, manifested in an increase in social interactions both inside and outside of school. Adolescents manage the social circumstances that arise in their lives with less assistance from parents and significant adults and are more capable of making moral and ethical choices, choices that often guide their actions. Relationship building is an important part of adolescence and the nurturing of these relationships plays a crucial role in the development of adolescents' identity. However, the characteristic that is arguably the most often associated with adolescence is an intense curiosity about and interest in sex, and although sexual images and messages abound in the media, there is controversy in the United States about how much and what kinds of exposure to formal sexuality information teens and preteens should have.
 
As a classroom teacher, I recognized early on that having discussions about sex with adolescent students was not an easy thing to do. The most significant adults in a teen's life are typically the most credible sources for accurate information about sex; unfortunately, I soon discovered that neither the adults nor the teens for whom they are responsible were comfortable having these conversations. Thus, the adolescents in my charge acquired most of their sexual "knowledge" from peers. Their questions were never about basic biological facts. Students had questions about emotions and relationships, and because discussions about sex in a school setting has always been and continues to be taboo, a teacher's only recourse is to conduct discussions that take place in the context of a sex education program.
 
Young adult literature with sexual content provides teachers with opportunities to introduce and discuss fictional relationships that sometimes involve sexual situations. Because these stories possess verisimilitude, authentic, yet safe discussions can take place. And as a bonus, language arts skills such as tone, mood, characterization, plot, setting, theme, and figurative language elements can also be introduced and reinforced because the sexual situations in which authors place their characters are often inextricably linked to these key story elements.
 
Sexual Content in Young Adult Literature: Reading between the Sheets examines sexual material in canonical, historical, dystopian, romantic, and realistic contemporary fiction for
teens. The book explores sexual identity development and discusses the constructive influence that realistic representations of teen sexual behavior through YAL can have on that development. A myriad of texts and examples are provided to help parents, teachers, and librarians better understand the positive role that sexual content in YAL can play in the socio-emotional and academic development of adolescents. The book concludes with an overview and analysis of censorship in YAL. 

Five Favorite Recent YA Novels that Include Sexual Content
Konigsberg, Bill. Openly Straight. New York: Arthur Levine, 2013.
The protagonist moves to a new school and decides not to tell anyone he is gay in order to determine if people will treat him any differently. Brilliant premise and truly authentic portrayal of some pretty awkward sexual moments. The connection between love and sex is an important theme.
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Leveen, Tom. manicpixiedreamgirl. New York: Random House, 2013.
A realistic look at first love through the eyes of an extremely likeable and relatable teenage male protagonist. The dialogue, especially when expressing sexual tension, is brilliant. The message that love and sex are inextricably linked, however, is what makes this story great.
 
Mesrobian, Carrie. Sex and Violence. Minneapolis: Carolrholda Books, 2013.
Initially unlikeable sexual predator becomes the victim. The sex scenes paint the main character as a young man who is confused. He comes across as respectful and caring in most situations, but when it comes to relationships, especially ones with the opposite sex, he has learned that intimacy can be harmful, resulting in his inability to make any meaningful connections between sex and love.
 
Rowell, Rainbow. Eleanor and Park. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013.
This atypical romance, told through dual narratives, enables readers to gain unique insights into the minds of both the male and female protagonists. The author does not include what most readers would consider sexually explicit descriptions, but what she does describe is extremely intense.
 
Smith, Andrew. Grasshopper Jungle. New York: Dutton, 2014.
The sex in is not limited to humans. If giant praying mantises are going to take over the world, they will need to procreate. This insect sex serves as a grim reminder that sex has consequences. However, even as the world is coming to an end, the three teen protagonists’ sexual decisions are informed and motivated by love, passion, and even a mild sense of purpose amidst the chaos. 

When Sharon Kane speaks people listen. Last week on the YA Wednesday Blog, Sharon introduced readers to how she uses the announcement of the National Book Award long list as a way to have her students engage with Young Adult Literature. Her posting generated more visitors in a single day than we have had for a long time. More importantly, I think she had many of us thinking about all of the great books that are nominated and how we interact with them. While I read a large number of YA novels each year, I am not always familiar with the books on the long list when they are first announced. I often head to the library to see if the books are on the shelves.  Sharon’s ideas were so good I found myself lamenting that I wasn’t currently teaching a YA literature class. I identified with the feeling of having a favorite book only to see another title win and then reading the winner, recognizing that the winner had a level of literary merit that could easily make it a classic. 

I found myself thinking about past years and past collections of nominees.  One of my favorite winners is Kimberly Willis Holt’s When Zachary Beaver Came to Town in 1999. It is a wonderful book and continues to draw my attention. I frequently teach it and often recommend it to students, family, and friends. However, a quick look back at the rest of the final five reminds us of the quality of literature that might be found in a group of finalists. The finalists that year included: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich, The Tolls, by Polly Horvath, and Monster, by Walter Dean Myers. I suggest that is a list full of quality literature. No one associated with the teaching and research of Young Adult Literature can deny the impact of both Speak and Monster. Both books had an immediate impact and continue to be frequently taught*.  Louise Edrich has a tremendous repertoire that includes Love Medicine in 1984 and The Round House in 2012 that won the National Book award for Fiction. I am least familiar with the work of Polly Horvath. After browsing her website and reading some reviews, I began to wonder what is wrong with me. It is clear that I have been missing out. Her books are included on many award lists and she won the National Book Award for Young People for The Canning Season in 2003. It seems to me that we could pick a year and have a great experience revisiting the nominees. That might even be another great class assignment. Why not let each student select a year, read the five finalists, and make a new evaluation. Which books survive the test of time? Which ones have been embraced and for which reasons? Which titles have we neglected that we should reintroduce to our students and our classrooms?

Even while I was captivated by revisiting 1999, I was especially intrigued by the idea of a great read off. What would happen if I looked at all of the winners since 1996 and tried to pick a “Meta-Gold Medal” winner? I hope others were intrigued by the notion. I have collected all of the winners in two groups. If you bookmark this page, you will have at your finger tips the past 19 winners with a cover photo, the date, and a web link. It beats going to Google or Wikipedia. Here they are with a few brief comments about some of my favorites.  

I continue to find Pete Hautman’s Godless an intriguing read.  The book conjures up questions of belief and how adolescents embrace or reject the beliefs of their parents.  How committed are we to allowing adolescents to think critically? Virginia Euwer Wolff won me over from the very beginning with Probably Still Nick Swansen, but her winning book, True Believer, in 2001 is a masterpiece. I generally find award speeches very interesting, and I was revisiting them after reading Sharon’s offering.  Wolff’s speech given just a few short months after the 9/11 catastrophe took my breath away. I was taken aback by the grace and power of her simple words that suggest what writing and teaching literature is about.  Finally, in this section I can’t stop without mentioning Holes by Louis Sachar.  When I talk with either pre-service or in-service English teachers, I state that if I were teaching an AP Literature class again I would start with Holes. It is a fantastic novel to introduce all kinds of themes, a fractured timeline, a story within a story, magical realism, race relationships, gender issues, and interesting dialogue. Let’s face it; there isn’t a good reason not to use a book like this as a touchstone text for AP students. They need to think critically, provide evidence, and demonstrate the literary quality as they answer the question.  We are often too hung up on lexile scores or books that are too far removed from our student’s interests.

In the next group of nine, it is just as hard to pick only a few to talk about. I settled on the three that I am currently using in graduate course that focuses on young adult multicultural literature.  Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian* continues to capture imaginations. My students responded to the text with empathy and perhaps a bit of anger or, if not anger impatience. Consider the following response from one of the students.

     So, if it’s ‘absolutely true’ that there are young people who experience this every day, what makes this the most banned book?  I started researching to see why, and found the same tired justifications for banning other books:  violence, sexually explicit, etc., etc.  What I found interesting was this from the Guardian:

     "Announcing the top 10 titles most frequently “challenged” in the US in 2014, the American Libraries Association said that it had been “tracking a significant number of challenges to diverse titles”, and that “authors of colour, as well as books with diverse content, are disproportionately challenged and banned." 
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Yes, Alexie's book evokes a strong response and it should. If we have reached the point where we are too callused to response to the desperate situations of others what have we become?
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I just finished my fourth reading of Kathryn Erksine’s Mockingbird. I am quite sure I could turnaround and read it again tomorrow and find something new that demonstrates a command of language, symbolism, craftsmanship, and a number of other characteristics that demonstrate the novel’s literary quality. However, for me, the power of the book exists in the way it captures emotion.  Every time I read how the loss of a child has brought Caitlyn’s father to his last reserve of strength, I am moved. Not only does Erskine capture the emotions of Caitlyn as she struggles to understand the world and her loss through the lens of Asperger syndrome; she captures the emotions of many of the characters throughout the novel. 

​To end, I will briefly comment on Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming. My class is just over a week from discussing this novel.  This book soars. The poetry, the imagery, the history, and the connective tissue of family elevate this book to a level of beauty that is hard to explain. Reading this memoir not only introduced me to a life experience that I can only imagine, but it reminded me of my own roots and neglected family stories that need to be captured.
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Please, browse through titles and read some award speeches. Make a list of books that you should discover for the first time and those you ought to revisit. Leave a comment and take me to task for not citing your favorite novel from this list of winners.
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*I am in the midst of a large of Young Adult Literature syllabi. Speak, Monster, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian are clearly among the top ten books included in syllabi across the country. 

I think most readers of Dr. Bickmore’s YA Wednesday blog would have no trouble naming the winner of last year’s National Book Award winner in the Young People’s Literature category.  Brown Girl Dreaming is so great on so many levels; it’s really a teacher’s dream.  But how many readers remember the four finalists that Jacqueline Woodson’s memoir in verse beat out?  How about the five other nominees on the Longlist that was announced last September?  Who were the members of the committee that made the decisions?  And where are we in terms of the 2015 process? 

​I like to get the students in my Young Adult Literature classes participating during the months leading up to the live ceremony honoring the winners.  This year, when the Longlist was announced by The New Yorker on the morning of September 14, I showed the titles and cover images  and gave some book talks. I pointed out that there are debuts; there is a graphic novel; there are nonfiction selections. I introduced my students to the committee: Joseph Adams, Teri Lesesne, Laura McNeal, G. Neri, and Eliot Schrefer. I mentioned that I had worked with Teri Lesesne at the LSU YA Literature Conference & Seminar in 2014. I told them that 294 books were submitted for consideration, and asked them to imagine what the committee members went through to come to consensus on the ten books we saw before us.  I told them of my disappointment that two of my favorite books published this year, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War that Saved my Life and Thanhha Lai’s Listen, Slowly were not on the list.  How could that possibly be?  

​Some students immediately and enthusiastically said they wanted Neal Shusterman’s Challenger Deep to win.  They admitted that they couldn’t guarantee it was the best book out of the ten; but it was the book we had read two weeks ago, and the only book on the list that they knew. A few were intrigued by This Side of Wild, since they had fond memories of reading Gary Paulsen’s work back in middle school.  I was able to point out that familiarity is a strong factor as we try to get our students engaged; it can also influence our judgments. I told the story of being in Oswego’s wonderful independent bookstore, The River’s End, in the fall of 2008. Laurie Halse Anderson’s Chains was a finalist for the National Book Award, and there was a lot of hype. Laurie lives in Oswego County; she often speaks in our schools; she writes in a special chair in the bookstore.  She belongs to us—of course Chains was the best of the five finalists! We in Oswego were deflated when Judy Blundell’s What I Saw and How I Lied won the gold; though later, when I actually read that book with a somewhat more open mind, I agreed that it is a masterpiece.
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​In the weeks following this year’s Longlist announcement, I have shown my students the book talks I have written for my website as I’ve tried to work my way through the list. I will include one example at the end of this post, and you can find others as I continue to post them on www.hhpcommunities.com/youngadultlit).

After the finalists are announced on October 14  (Yeah!! That is the day the blog posted. Please look here for more descriptions.), I will ask my students to choose one to read for the following week.  During that class, they will meet in literature circles with others who read the same book.  Then they will choose another of the five to read for the week after that.  At this point, they will be listening closely to what their classmates are saying, choosing the ones their peers are raving about, perhaps shunning options that others found lacking.  I can step back; I will no longer be needed. 
           
​Next, I will give a writing exercise:

“Which of the two finalists you have read is more worthy of the gold medal?  Tell what criteria you used as you made your decision (quality of writing, appeal of characters, appropriateness for target audience, etc.) and use details from the texts to support your points. Imagine that we in this class are on the NBA committee, and you want to convince the rest of us to concur with your judgment.”
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Some will try to say they’ve declared a tie, or that they can’t compare two books that represent such different genres or styles.  No, I tell them, you must choose. Real committees face these same challenges. I show models of what their writing might look like from last spring’s Battle of the Kids’ Books competition, sponsored by School Library Journal. The judges write fantastic rationales for their decisions regarding which of a pair of books proceeds to the next bracket, but that’s a subject for another day’s post. 

I know from past years that some of my students will go on to read all the finalists by mid-November, and will tune in on the evening of November 17 to hear the authors read from their works.  On November 18, when the winners are announced live, there will be both cheers and cries of dismay and consternation.  These readers have become invested, and have earned the right to agree or disagree with the committee’s decision.
 
Will there be a letdown after the exciting competition we have been a part of?  Will the rest of my semester be anticlimactic?  Not at all. First, I will bring to class all the past winners of the National Book Award.  (The Young People’s Literature category was established in 1996.)  I will invite interested readers to join me in an online book discussion club over semester break; our goal will be to determine a “Meta-Gold Medal” recipient from the 20 winners. 

​ Second, I will introduce my class to the Michael L. Printz Award and have them mark January 11, 2016 on their calendars. That’s when the American Library Association will announce what the Printz Committee has determined to be the best YA book published during the past year.  Will the winner match the NBA winner? (That’s not likely, based on the results of past years. There are opportunities for research and the creation of Venn diagrams and charts and debates here.) I will get them involved in a lively mock Printz online group, “Someday My Printz Will Come”. They, along with teens they know, can comment on posts, adding their voices to the conversation. 

​There are so many ways we teachers and librarians can involve our students at all levels in authentic activities involving literary awards that can lead to wide reading and purposeful discussion and writing. I hope you’ll let me know which one of the worthy contenders you are rooting for to get the gold National Book Award medal on its cover.  May the best book win! Or is it, “May your choice win?” Or, “Let’s have a class vote?” Or, “My choice is better than your choice?” Or “Maybe we should be critiquing the existence of, purposes of, and results of giving medals to books?”  Enjoy your reading and arguing—it’s all good.  

Book Talk: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda 

Seventeen-year-old Simon is gay, though no one knows it yet except his secret crush, “Blue,” whom he writes to online. He wants to come out to other people in his own time and his own way, as soon as he figures out what that is. Too bad he forgot to log out of the school computer; now classmate Martin also knows, and Martin is not above blackmailing him.  Martin is also not above posting the news on social media.

I would call this debut novel by Becky Albertalli (2015, Balzer + Bray) a mystery.  I was trying right along with Simon to figure out who Blue might be.  We know it’s someone in the same high school, but he isn’t ready to disclose his identity, and isn’t ready to meet Simon in person. Is it Cal, who is at daily rehearsals for the school play with Simon? Is it Nick, who has been Simon’s best friend forever, but who seems to be quite happy in his developing relationship with Abby?  Oh, heavens, could it be Martin?  Please don’t let it be Martin! 

We get to know Simon’s parents, sisters, and friends a bit as events unfold.  We get to see both the anguish that cyberbullying can cause and the support that the wider school community can provide that can lead to healing. Mostly, we get a good story that has the power to absorb our imaginations as well as evoke empathy and hope. 
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda made the 2015 National Book Awards Longlist in the Young People’s Literature category. We can find out on October 14 if it is chosen as an NBA Finalist.
 
-Appropriate for high school (English Language Arts, psychology)

This book talk is posted here.

I try to stop by the UNLV Curriculum Materials Library (CML) once or twice a week. They are located in the same build as the College of Education and they do a great job of –well, everything. My favorite part is that they highlight new arrivals and set up new displays—banned books, award winners, etc. Last week, they had received a new copy of Gordon Korman’s Ungifted. I had to smile. Every time I see his name I am reminded of several of his books. Most of you probably think of No More Dead Dogs; a great book without a doubt, but I think of two others--Born to Rock and _Son of the Mob.  Every time I think of Korman’s work, I think of Son of the Mob, I think of Shakespeare and I think of how many students that I taught struggled with Shakespeare, but would have gotten a kick out Vince Luca’s (Romeo) sarcastic appraisal of his situation as the son of a gangster in relationship with the daughter of an FBI agent.

​Don’t get me wrong. I love Shakespeare and I loved teaching Shakespeare. I liked those units so much I usually had my students read two plays each year. Not surprisingly, they seemed to always appreciate the second one more. They knew the five act format, they were better with the language, they knew they would survive, and, hopefully, it turned out to be fun. I also tried to use at least one play they didn’t know well as a result of popular media. I have used King Lear followed by Troilus and Cressida, Othello and The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew, and As You Like It and The Tempest. No doubt there is great deal to talk about with all of these great works.  Shakespeare borrowed plots and we praise his name. We shouldn’t look askance at other authors who work with a variation on a theme. Especially if those authors are doing quality work and engaging young readers with themes, plots, situations and symbols that lead them to more “adult*” books. In short, if you don’t know The Son of the Mob and you love Romeo and Juliet. Give yourself a treat, read the book and then book talk it for your students.

After pondering this YA and Shakespeare connection, I thought of three more books right away that deserve our attention, Othello by Julius Lester, Romeitte and Julio by Sharon Draper, and We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I know, there are many more. I can’t name them all, but a comment mentioning a couple at the end of this posting would help me and many others who are new to the idea or who are trying to build class libraries.
Julius Lester is a prolific author who has a considerable contribution to children’s and young adult literature. He has several awards, including a Newbery Honor, Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, Coretta Scott King Award, and a Coretta Scott King Honor for a complete list look here. He is a major contributor to the ongoing dialogue about race and social justice. An interesting interview is included on the scholastic website. Early on in graduate school, a colleague introduced me to Julius Lester. It was a tremendous gift. I quickly found his re-imaging of Shakespeare’s Othello. It would be hard to imagine a better introduction to the bard’s classic play. Not only does this book lead students through a pre-reading of a classic play, it guides students to rest of Lester’s books. 

The next book is written by one of my favorite authors, Sharon Draper. It is hard to imagine an educator who has contributed more than Sharon Draper; she was the National Teacher of the Year in 1997 , a Milken Educator Award winner, and stayed in the classroom for over 25 years. In the midst of being a fantastic classroom teacher, she decided to become a writer. She has produced the Hazelwood Trilogy, the Jericho Trilogy and along the way she has racked up five Coretta Scott King Awards.  Romiette and Julio is one of the first novels that pre-service teachers introduced me to as I began to focus on young adult literature. This retelling of a Romeo and Juliet use race as the point of contention between the two families. Julio is a Latino from south Texas who has moved with family to Cincinnati. Romiette is an African American native of the city. They meet online in a chat room and the attraction with its accompanying complications ensue. Again, this is not a novel that intends to replace Shakespeare in the classroom. It can stand on its own as an engaging adolescent novel. Nevertheless, students who read it can begin to discuss family conflict, gang violence, and prejudice as they move through the events of the plot in preparation for a more complex engagement with Shakespeare. Draper provides Latino and American-African students a perfect bridges to one of the most commonly used Shakespearian plays.

I would love to hear about adolescent versions of Shakespeare’s plays that you think belong on the shelves of our classrooms. Please leave your comments.

*I use “adult” here loosely, I might just as well say books from the canon or books that are  written that assume a cultural context or levels of life experience beyond that which most adolescents have acquired. I think the term is a loose dividing line. Many adolescents can read “adult” books, but others need more nurturing in the skill of reading by trying out how their responses to a plot, a character, a theme, or symbol might be altered or amplified by a closer analysis. I love Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, but I am not sure I would teach it as a whole class novel or offer it to every kid. They might need exposure to Huck Finn, Brave New World, The Lord of the Flies, or The Things They Carried before they are ready for the bleak apocalyptic journey of a father and a son.