Teaching Young Adult Literature Today: Insights, Considerations, and Perspectives for the Classroom Teacher

by Judith A. Hayn (Contributor), Jeffrey S. Kaplan, Karina R. Clemmons

Teaching Young Adult Literature Today introduces the reader to what is current and relevant in the plethora of good books available for adolescents. More importantly, literary experts illustrate how teachers everywhere can help their students become lifelong readers by simply introducing them to great reads smart, insightful, and engaging books that are specifically written for adolescents. Hayn, Kaplan, and their contributors address a wide range of topics: how to avoid common obstacles to using YAL; selecting quality YAL for classrooms while balancing these with curriculum requirements; engaging disenfranchised readers; pairing YAL with technology as an innovative way to teach curriculum standards across all content areas. Contributors also discuss more theoretical subjects, such as the absence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young adult literature in secondary classrooms; and contemporary YAL that responds to the changing expectations of digital generation readers who want to blur the boundaries between page and screen. This book has been updated to reflect the wealth of new YA literature that has been published since the first edition appeared in March 2012, and to reflect new trends in technology that influences how adolescents are reading and responding to literature."

Genres: Nonfiction, Teaching, Education, Adult, Textbooks

355 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Ringo The Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Some chapters are really good, but the 'insights' in the others are very obvious (esp. in the first part). I would definitely recommend this to teachers who don't know anything about YA and don't really know where to start if they want to use some of it in the classroom.

However, preaching to the converted here that if you want a kid to enjoy reading and make them into lifelong readers, you need to find reading material that they will connect with, and YA is definitely the way to go then... so from that perspective, I could have used even more practical tips on how to weave everything into the curriculum of teachers who're already asked to be supermen/women all in the limited amount of time and space they're getting.

But overall very good collections of papers regarding the topic and I loved the little lists of all the available books per topic.

[Jessica Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was assigned to read this book as part of a graduate course on YA literature. I would probably not have picked this up on my own otherwise. It is a typical book of academic articles on various issues related to YA literature. Some of the articles were interesting and insightful and some were not. If you are looking for a general overview of issues related to YA literature, this is the book for you. If you are looking for a more practical book focused on implementation in the classroom, I would suggest looking somewhere else.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edited volume was simply too hit or miss. Some chapters seemed dated, despite the claim to revision, while others were unevenly written, caught between book review and pedagogical suggestion. Other chapters were thought-provoking and timely, addressing YAL through the lens of current complex issues. As a whole, not my favorite; in pieces, some interesting work.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good insights on teaching YA lit. Practical suggestions. Lots of good research.

[Ricki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This informative text is divided into the sections, "Where Has YAL Been?," "Where is YAL Now?" and "Where is YAL Going?" I very much appreciated the expertise of the scholars who wrote each chapter.

While each chapter was organized a bit differently, the research is solid. In one chapter, Laura A. Renzi, Mark Letcher, and Kristen Miraglia discuss LGBTQ Young Adult Literature in the Language Arts Classroom. I appreciated their recommendations for infusing LGBTQ texts into the school setting with recommendations tailored to the range of community environments: hostile, ignorant/open, open/accepting, and open. The texts were well-matched with the aims of bringing LGBTQ texts into focus.

Another chapter I loved was "Crossing Boundaries: Genre-Blurring in Books for Young Adults" by Barbara A. Ward, Terrell A. Young, and Deanna Day. They give solid examples of authors who blur genres, making readers question genre classifications as a whole. These authors show the awesomely innovative authorship within the field of YAL.

Steven T. Bickmore writes a well-informed chapter about best-selling adult novelists who write YA fiction. He divides his piece into two sections--writers of adult best-sellers or pulp fiction and writers with literary accolades in adult fiction. I very much enjoyed his insight about this phenomenon.

While I only highlight three chapters in this review, I must say that each chapter was special in its own way. The book begins with the history and background of YAL, and it ends with chapters about where the field is heading. As a researcher of this field, some of the information was not new to me, yet I learned much from the scholars of the text, whose extensive research is reflected in each chapter.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

In general I found the test useful but I have some reservations on this text in the context of teaching African American YA literature and creating a young adult appreciation of the "parallel culture", a term used by Virginia Hamilton.
There is exactly one references to Virginia Hamilton although there are multiple references to Jacqueline Woodson. I plan to reread the text for another evaluation.
I would appreciate any comments on the resource text from the community. I found chapter 8, "Multicultural Adolescent Literature" as the most useful in my interest area.

Text description from Amazon.com follows:
Teaching Young Adult Literature Today introduces the reader to what is current and relevant in the plethora of good books available for adolescents. More importantly, literary experts illustrate how teachers everywhere can help their students become lifelong readers by simply introducing them to great reads—smart, insightful, and engaging books that are specifically written for adolescents. Hayn, Kaplan, and their contributors address a wide range of topics: how to avoid common obstacles to using YAL; selecting quality YAL for classrooms while balancing these with curriculum requirements; engaging disenfranchised readers; pairing YAL with technology as an innovative way to teach curriculum standards across all content areas.

[bjneary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the many chapters in this 2012 book that HJayn and Kaplan compiled concerning young adult lit in the classroom today. One of the concerns is that reading teachers and classroom teachers are not being taught that it is of prime importance to connect with students by ACTUALLY READING the latest literature their students are reading, rather than killing reading by having teachers teach reading to succeed in passing the standardized test. You need to talk about books with students and have them see you are a "habitual" reader and model knowledge that will effectively ensure the literature gets into the students' hands. Techers must effectively integrate technology was a way to motivate and create students response to reading needs to be widely practiced, while supporting them to make text-to-world connections and think critically about the world. With many different authors of each article, many with research to back up their assertions, this book is key for the classroom teacher. Highly recommended.

[LouD · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, so I had to mark this as read to write any reviews in it. SO I will review chapter 1 and then make responses I guess for each additional chapter. I got the book tonight read through chapter 1, and then re-read chapter 1. At this time of night qualitative and quantitative research do not soak into my brain. I found a couple passages I got. We had a staff meeting today on the text to text, text to self, and text to world connections and how to make them in the classroom. I got that the research shows that we must do this. Adolescents being the self centered creatures that they are, need books about other adolescents and what adolescents go through. They need to be able to make those text to self connections. I may have misinterpreted this chapter. I will probably read it again this weekend to make sure.

[Nadine Caudle]

I love reading about all the great books that my Literacy text books suggest! I have wanted to read "the House on Mango Street" for a while, and am excited Dr. Dryden is having us read a book of our choice! I have read one verse book ("Out of the Dust Bowl), and thought it was a brilliant piece of art!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for anyone interested in YA Literature. Topics discussed were contemporary and timely (multiliteracies, diverse literature genres and themes, etc) and I found it contained a great diversity of perspectives. It also incorporated useful links and resources for further study. Even better, there was a chapter dedicated to dystopian fiction!

[Mr. Stoner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for a class and it was truly enlightening. I enjoyed reading it even though it seemed a little like a text book I was forced to read. There were many valuable tips and tools to learn from reading it. This would be a good read for teachers.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an informative text, this wasn't a bad read. There were some chapters that were extremely beneficial and I will absolutely implement in my classroom. There were also chapters that were pretty lackluster that I skimmed and regret nothing. All in all, add it to the shelf and move on!

[Benetric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.

[Lovina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas for units and novels to use, but a bit outdated and repetitive at times.