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Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday's 
Monday Motivators

This blog page hosts posts some Mondays. The intent and purpose of a Monday Motivator is to provide teachers or readers with an idea they can share or an activity they can conduct right away.

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Vulnerability in Young Adult Literature by Lisa Hazlett

4/29/2024

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Adolescent vulnerability, and that represented in young adult literature (YAL), largely focused on common social or relationship concerns. Today, however, more teens and novels describe those literally unsafe in America and facing harassment, physical assaults, denigration, or worse, all due to family situations.

The protagonists from the titles below represent being undocumented, the working poor, an immigrant, and homelessness. None of these conditions (several unexpected and shocking) are of the teens’ own doing, with all initially unequipped to handle them.

While these protagonists must find ways to cope and move forward, they also experience being an outsider, some for the first time, and now vilified by society, friends, teachers, and perhaps even themselves in the past. Many, like contemporary readers, judged and blamed quickly, having naïve views of situations and issues rather than understanding complexities and aware of individual circumstances. Still, these novels end with hope, their solutions ones readers with
similar issues could emulate.

Educators can assist all students, and those most vulnerable, by using or recommending YAL featuring characters in the above situations and others, along with providing accurate, non-biased information about them. Likewise, their classrooms should be safe for all students, regardless of situation, whether known, or not. Adolescents also need to learn, understand, and discuss these issues as well as others’ responses and views.

This discussion can be difficult, as some students may be experiencing these circumstances, others terrified of their probable appearance, and some contemptuous of them. By considering characters (rather than particular individuals) objectively in novels, their entire story can be heard, surely resulting in greater comprehension and compassion, along with providing hope and sense of commonality to those likewise vulnerable.

The following four novels depict vulnerable teens and were used for the activity below:
  • de la Cruz, M. (2016). Something in between. Harlequin Teen.
Jasmine has worked and studied hard, wanting to make her immigrant parents proud while eager for college and a career. After receiving a full scholarship to her dream school, she learns her parents let their visas expire and they are all undocumented, her ambitions replaced by fears.
  • Evison, J. (2018). Lawn boy. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
Mike is a stellar gardener but can only find menial work. He knows he must make immense changes for a better life, but as a member of the working poor, he has neither the resources nor connections needed, his life beginning to seem hopeless.
  • Nayeri, D. (2020). Everything sad is untrue (A true story). Levine Querido.
Khosrou (called Daniel for teacher/peer convenience) relays his dangerous trek from Iran to Oklahoma to his new middle school classmates. His harrowing, yet fascinating, narrative is met with disdain and suspicion from his largely unaccepting peers.
  • Strasser, T. (2014). No place. Simon & Schuster.
Dan is a popular baseball star and dating the hottest girl in school, so when his family suddenly falls from middle class to homeless, his entire world changes.

The following chart may be used to describe emotions/situations (many may be selected) experienced by these protagonists, which can be used for discussion of both individual treatments and comparing/connecting titles. Of course, a single novel could be examined or other combinations; students may enter multiple examples under each category, perhaps the three, or one, felt most important, etc., with its classroom talk surely perceptive and valuable. For space issues, table content is summarized, another format fitting whole class discussion.
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Today's post was written by Lisa A. Hazlett. Dr. Hazlett is a professor of secondary education at the University of South Dakota, where she teaches middle/secondary English language arts education courses and specializes in young adult literature regarding presentations and publications; special interests include gender issues and rural education. Her 2023 text, Teaching Diversity in Rural Schools: Attaining Understanding, Tolerance, and Respect Through Young Adult Literature, was published by Rowman & Littlefield, among numerous other publications centered on young adult literature.
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She also serves and provides leadership for numerous NCTE assemblies, special interest groups, and committees, especially ELATE, and as an avid reviewer she regularly evaluates young adult literature novels and manuscripts for various journals and publishing houses.

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    Curators

    Melanie Hundley
    ​Melanie is a voracious reader and loves working with students, teachers, and authors.  As a former middle and high school teacher, she knows the value of getting good young adult books in kids' hands. She teaches young adult literature and writing methods classes.  She hopes that the Monday Motivator page will introduce teachers to great books and to possible ways to use those books in classrooms.
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    Emily Pendergrass
    Emily loves reading, students, and teachers! And her favorite thing is connecting texts with students and teachers. She hopes that this Monday Motivation page is helpful to teachers interested in building lifelong readers and writers! 
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    Jason DeHart
    In all of his work, Jason hopes to point teachers to quality resources and books that they can use. He strives to empower others and not make his work only about him or his interests. He is a also an advocate of using comics/graphic novels and media in classrooms, as well as curating a wide range of authors.
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