Follow us:
DR. BICKMORE'S YA WEDNESDAY
  • Wed Posts
  • PICKS 2025
  • Con.
  • Mon. Motivators 2025
  • WEEKEND PICKS 2024
  • 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
    • WEEKEND PICKS 2023
  • Bickmore Books for Summit 2024

 

Check out our weekly posts!

Stay Current

Lessons for Writers & Lessons for Life: Stellar YA Nonfiction by Angie Beumer Johnson & Stefanie Wilcox

2/9/2022

 
Picture
Picture

​Angie Beumer Johnson is a professor of English Language and Literatures at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where she holds a joint appointment in the Teacher Education Department. She founded WORDBridge Now, LLC, to offer a live online community of authors, speakers, educators, and all committed to diversity and social justice. She enjoys researching, writing, and presenting with her students. Contact her at [email protected].

​


​Stefanie Wilcox is currently a secondary preservice English teacher at Wright State University. Teaching is her second career, and she can already see how her first career adds value and perspective to this new adventure. She enjoys reading, writing, and traveling with her husband and children. Contact her at [email protected].
Lessons for Writers & Lessons for Life: Stellar YA Nonfiction by Angie Beumer Johnson & Stefanie Wilcox

Over the years I (Angie) have learned so much from reading YA nonfiction. I learned of 12th-century Japan from Pamela S. Turner and Gareth Hinds’ biography Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune, and of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in Ji Li Jiang’s memoir Red Scarf Girl. The adage holds true: The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. 
Picture
Picture
Picture

​In addition to all we can learn from YA nonfiction, the craft of award-winning authors offers readers moments to feel deeply as well as models for our own writing. As it can be hard to “see the forest for the trees,” here we shine a spotlight on snippets of YA nonfiction writers’ craft. 


Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Lessons for Writers

One such book that deserves a close reading is Boston Globe-Horn Book nonfiction winner and National Book Award long-lister Paula Yoo’s From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement. (How is it possible that I–Angie–as a young teen at the time of Chin’s brutal murder by Ronald Ebens, a white man, had never heard of this tragedy and travesty of justice–one even that the White House had commemorated decades later?)

Yoo deftly draws the reader in with poetic style, juxtaposition and suspense. She shares a comment from Ebens regarding the outcome of the trial: “I told my wife that morning she might as well put a stamp on my ass ‘cause they were going to be sending me away,” and when the sentence was announced, he commented, “[Y]ou could have knocked me over with a feather” (Yoo, 2021, p. 62.) While the tone of the comments can’t be determined with certainty, the everyday colloquialisms reinforce the lightness of the sentence:

“Probation. Three thousand dollars. 
That was it. 
[…] 
They were free…for now (Yoo, 2021, p. 62). 

Yoo’s simple but highly effective use of short sentences, italics, and paragraph breaks pack a punch, particularly as juxtaposed against the longer sentences and seemingly light tone of Ebens’ words. 

The remainder of the book details the suspenseful “for now”–reinforced by the ellipsis–and immerses the reader in the unspeakable heartache of Chin’s family and  fianceé, and the battle for a sentence commensurate with the horrific beating resulting in his death. 
​
Lessons for Life

​My (Stefanie’s) 9th-grader recently came home from school with the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You; intrigued by the title, I felt compelled to read it. In this “not a history book” (Reynolds, 2020, p. 1), Jason Reynolds uses short, concise sentences to retell Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning in a way that engages YA readers.

Language is powerful, and choosing the right word or phrase draws the reader in. Reading Stamped felt like a one-on-one conversation with Jason Reynolds. Arriving at the Afterword of the book, Reynolds (2020) asks, “How do you feel? I mean, I hope after reading this not history book, you’re left with some answers” (p. 245). It took me a minute to realize that I had been reading a book and not personally conversing with the author.

As a teenager, I dreaded reading nonfiction because it was dry, boring, and overly academic. Reading YA nonfiction is the complete opposite experience. In the introduction of Stamped, Ibram Kendi describes Reynolds as “one of the most gifted writers of our time. I don’t know of anyone who would have been better at connecting the past to the present” (Reynolds, 2020, p. x). Both Yoo and Reynolds are conversational and write in a way that engages teens and young adults.

Many writers are stepping away from “Standard” English and using their natural voice to converse with their readers. Encouraging our students to use their voices in their writing celebrates diversity and invites inclusion. 

The class I am student teaching in recently wrote about the theme of their unit text. We told the kids not to worry about grammar and just write. That authentic voice helped us gauge their understanding of the text and allowed us to have unique conversations with them about their ideas. Reynolds acknowledges the contributions that the youth of today are making and will make in the fight against social injustices “that [they] have not caused but surely have the potential to cure” (Reynolds, 2020, p. 252), and giving them a voice through their writing will help them examine solutions to today’s problems.

Intentionally choosing words to enhance meaning and being deliberate with punctuation and writing structure allows the authors of YA nonfiction to tell a story and take readers on a journey that enhances knowledge. The magic of YA nonfiction is that it engages readers while modeling how to write to draw readers into an authentic conversation.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Excellent YA Nonfiction
Anschel’s Story: Determined to Survive, by Renate Frydman (Holocaust survivor account based on audiotapes of interviews from the author’s husband)

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion and the Fall of Imperial Russia, by Candace Fleming 

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World, by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick

Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice, Bryan Stevenson

The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege, by Brendan Kiely 

Positive: Surviving My Bullies, Finding Hope, and Changing the World, by Paige Rawl with Ali Benjamin (memoir of bullying based on HIV status)

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, by Ji Li Jiang

Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition, by Katie Rain Hill 

Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitusne, by Pamela S. Turner, ilus. Gareth Hinds

Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen, by Arin Andrews

This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work, by Tiffany Jewell

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World, by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
References
Reynolds, J., & Kendi, I. X. (2020). Stamped: Racism, antiracism, and you: A remix of 
the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning. Little, Brown 
Books for Young Readers. 

Yoo, P. (2021). From a whisper to a rallying cry: The killing of Vincent Chin and the trial 
that galvanized the Asian American Movement. Norton Young Readers.

Showbox link
10/27/2022 10:54:18 pm

They might not want you to move on, or they could be bored and looking for a hookup.

Jason Bennett
10/31/2022 09:45:52 am

Omg I Finally Got Helped !! I'm so excited right now, I just have to share my testimony on this Forum.. The feeling of being loved takes away so much burden from our shoulders. I had all this but I made a big mistake when I cheated on my wife with another woman and my wife left me for over 4 months after she found out.. I was lonely, sad and devastated. Luckily I was directed to a very powerful spell caster Dr Emu who helped me cast a spell of reconciliation on our Relationship and he brought back my wife and now she loves me far more than ever.. I'm so happy with life now. Thank you so much Dr Emu, kindly Contact Dr Emu Today and get any kind of help you want.. Via Email [email protected] or Call/WhatsApp cell number +2347012841542
Https://web.facebook.com/Emu-Temple-104891335203341

Kathleen Decker
9/2/2023 10:14:05 pm

I want to use this opportunity to share the good works of Dr. Odunga who brought my husband back to me from another woman in 2 days. His email is [email protected] and his WhatsApp contact is +2348167159012.
The day my husband left me, things appeared bleak, and the atmosphere was heavy with uncertainties. Everything seemed pale and so I decided to look for help in spell casters who have the capability to bring my ex husband back to me. As envisaged, I went on the internet and as you too have seen in your search for a reliable spell caster, I saw a lot of testimonies of spell casters in the recovery of ex husbands and loved ones. Driven by belief in Doctor Odunga, I contacted him and after explaining things to him, he accepted to face the challenges on ground. He did brilliantly well. My ex husband came back to me within 2 days of contact with more care and affection and promised never to leave me. I will therefore like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to him and share this testimony to enable others in need to contact him for his selfless service to situations and problems. Commendable, he shows great courage at taking on the daunting task of finding solutions to practically any given problem. Contact him at [email protected] and I believe he will help you as he did to me.

Clara Smith
11/7/2023 02:35:37 am

Contact Dr Ozigidon if you have been trying to conceive, I never thought I'd be writing this message but after 5 years of infertility and nearly lost my marriage due to not being able to have a child after suffering from PCOS and my TUBES ARE TIED, and severe endometriosis and scanning, I was told that IVF was the only option. This was something we could not afford and had almost given up hope of becoming a parent. A friend of mine recommended Dr Ozigidon to me and persuaded me to contact him, I finally contacted him and he made a spiritual breakthrough to get me pregnant with his powerful spell, within 2 weeks I was pregnant (naturally!!!) and my tube was untied as instructed by this powerful sorcerer. Now! I gave birth to healthy twins in February. I am writing this testimony for those women who are facing the same challenges or even more, depressed with no light at the end of the tunnel. Give Dr Ozigidon a try to help you solve your problem, and hopefully you'll have the same success that I have had. His email address ([email protected]) . Call or Whats-App him +2349054750112. I wish you all happiness in your marriages.


Comments are closed.

    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.
    Dr. Gretchen Rumohr
    Co-Curator
    Gretchen Rumohr is a professor of English and writing program administrator 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.

    Bickmore's
    ​Co-Edited Books

    Picture
    Meet
    Evangile Dufitumukiza!
    Evangile is a native of Kigali, Rwanda. He is a college student that Steve meet while working in Rwanda as a missionary. In fact, Evangile was one of the first people who translated his English into Kinyarwanda. 

    Steve recruited him to help promote Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media while Steve is doing his mission work. 

    He helps Dr. Bickmore promote his academic books and sometimes send out emails in his behalf. 

    You will notice that while he speaks fluent English, it often does look like an "American" version of English. That is because it isn't. His English is heavily influence by British English and different versions of Eastern and Central African English that is prominent in his home country of Rwanda.

    Welcome Evangile into the YA Wednesday community as he learns about Young Adult Literature and all of the wild slang of American English vs the slang and language of the English he has mastered in his beautiful country of Rwanda.  

    While in Rwanda, Steve has learned that it is a poor English speaker who can only master one dialect and/or set of idioms in this complicated language.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    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