Meet the YA Wednesday Curators!

1/12/2022

Hi, all! Gretchen here with some updates and introductions. As Dr. Bickmore has stepped back from blog work for now in order to serve the Uganda Kampala Mission, we welcome some new blog curators for YA Wednesday. These curators will be helping with our Monday Motivator posts as well as our Weekend Picks, rollling up their sleeves to send contributor reminders, provide book cover pictures, insert hyperlinks, and copyedit submissions. Widening our curator community widens our overall YA circle, spreading our admiration for YA literature farther and wider--our own mission of sorts. Below are our curators.

Dr. Gretchen Rumohr, YA Wednesday Chief Curator

I am preparing a future YA Wednesday post for a more developed introduction, but at the very least, I'd like to say that I am delighted to work as YA Wednesday's chief curator. I have worked with Dr. Bickmore on many projects, but this very big project takes the cake! Since last spring, Steve has provided hours of blog-related instruction and explanation, preparing me for this transition. I am certain that I will make mistakes, but I am grateful for a stellar team of co-curators who will help things along.
A bit about me: I serve as a professor of English and department chair at Aquinas College, where I teach writing and language arts methods. I am also a Co-Director of the UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. At Aquinas, I find tremendous joy and purpose in matching each of my students with the right YA books, and I am an absentminded professor when it comes to which books my students borrow and return. At home, I find tremendous joy and purpose in my four girls--all YA lovers--as well as running, hiking, and canning. I should also mention Gracie, my five-pound Yorkshire Terrier, who serves as a steady lap-dog whenever I read a book.

Monday Motivator Curators

We are excited to share Monday Motivator posts, which will describe pedagogical ideas that can be done that very day or week. Below are our Monday Motivator curators.

Abbey Bachman

Abbey hopes to share her knowledge as well as learn more resources for teaching YA lit and reading new and relevant YA picks. She was a secondary English teacher for 11 years before earning my PhD in Curriculum & Instruction. Her research centers around student choice in texts and the classroom, so staying relevant on new YA books is a passion that she shares with others.

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.

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.

Emily Pendergrass

Emily loves reading, students, and teachers! And her favorite thing is connecting texts with students and teachers. She hopes that the Monday Motivation page is helpful to teachers interested in building lifelong readers and writers!

Weekend Picks Curators

Our Weekend Picks feature returns for 2022! In these posts, guest contributors take book selfies with their perfect weekend read. Below are our Weekend Picks curators.

Nikki Bylina-Streets

Nikki is a elementary librarian who just keeps reading YA literature. She is a constant advocate for reading at every level. You can also follow her through her Instagram account dedicated to my school library work. @thislibraryrocks

Cammie Jo Lawton

Cammie is especially interested in how YA can affect readers, create empathy and possibly shift thinking. I think it could be interesting to incorporate interviews or choice picks by scholars in the field of YA texts that are promoting/have promoted growth and change in connection to self or others.

Leilya Pitre

Leilya taught English as a foreign language in the Ukraine and ELA/English in public schools in the US. Her research interests include teacher preparation, clinical experiences, secondary school teaching, and teaching and research of Young Adult and multicultural literature. Together with her friend and colleague, Mike Cook, she co-authored a two-volume edition of Teaching Universal Themes Through Young Adult Novels (2021).

Moving Foward

Kudos to these new curators! Together we will bring exciting new YA content for 2022.

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

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.

Blogs to Follow

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9/2/2023 10:21:40 pm

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11/7/2023 02:41:52 am

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