Follow us:
DR. BICKMORE'S YA WEDNESDAY
  • Weekly Posts
  • WEEKEND PICKS 2023
  • Monday Motivators 2023
  • Weekend Picks 2021
  • Contributors
  • Bickmore's Posts
  • Lesley Roessing's Posts
  • Weekend Picks 2020
  • Weekend Picks 2019
  • Weekend Picks old
  • 2021 UNLV online Summit
  • UNLV online Summit 2020
  • 2019 Summit on Teaching YA
  • 2018 Summit
  • Contact
  • About
  • WEEKEND PICKS 2023

Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday has a new Feature-- A YouTube Channel

Don't worry, it is easy to find.  Just go to YouTube and search for Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday.

Check Out the YouTube Channel

World Literature for Young Adults by Kelly Bull

6/18/2019

1 Comment

 
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.

​World Literature for Young Adults

Picture
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.

Picture
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:
​
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
Picture
Picture
Picture
Of course, we have some favorite authors, as well:
Margarita Engle
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Padma Venkatraman
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Marc Aronson
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Marina Budhos
Picture
Picture
Picture

​ Join Us at NCTE

​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: 
​
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.
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment
Shelly Shaffer
6/20/2019 08:24:47 pm

Kelly, I am interested in hearing how you balance the difficult topics in some of these texts when using them with students. I teach a world literature course, and often, students find it difficult because our explorations often deal with such harsh realities. I try to balance the stories, but some of my students are reluctant to explore the harder topics that impact world culture. -Shelly

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Dr. Gretchen Rumohr
    Chief Curator
    Gretchen Rumohr is a professor of English and department chair at Aquinas College, where she teaches writing and language arts methods.   She is also a Co-Director of the UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. She lives with her four girls and a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier in west Michigan.

    Dr. Steve Bickmore
    ​Creator and Curator

    Dr. Bickmore is a Professor of English Education at UNLV. He is a scholar of Young Adult Literature and past editor of The ALAN Review and a past president of ALAN. He is a available for speaking engagements at schools, conferences, book festivals, and parent organizations. More information can be found on the Contact page and the About page.

    Co-Edited Books

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Chris-lynch

    Blogs to Follow

    Ethical ELA
    nerdybookclub
    NCTE Blog
    yalsa.ala.org/blog/

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly