Young+Adult+Literature

toc **What are some trends in Young Adult Literature?** The trends in Young Adult Literature revolve around teenage characters who struggle to find their identities.

Trends in Genre
Explorations of realistic problems, sports stories, science fiction, and historical novels dominated young adult fiction in the early years of its publication, beginning with S.E. Hinton's //The Outsiders// in 1967. In the 1970s, young adult literature focused on "the problem novel", in which young adults had to deal with social realities of alcoholism, drug abuse, and social issues. The early 1980s, then changed to the romance genre. By the late 1980s, horror (led by author R.L. Stein), suspense, the occult, and mystery (led by Joan Lowry Nixon) came into being and then took pride of place in young adult fiction. Also coming into being in the 80s and 90s, the novel in verse is a genre entirely unique to teen literature. Ushered in by J.K Rowling's //Harry Potter//, followed hard by Stephanie Meyer's //Twilight// series, fantasy is rapidly growing to be the dominant genre. Recently, too, graphic novels in all genres have become increasingly popular among teens, and short story compilations--virtually unknown before the 80s--are also quite prevalent.

Anime, Manga, and the Graphic Novel
One significant, but often overlooked genre of Young Adult Literature is the graphic novel. In their article, "Using Graphic Novels, Anime, and the Internet in an Urban High School," Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher recount an experiment performed in an urban high school in San Diego. Teachers realized that many students were engrossed in graphic novels and began seeking out ways to encorporate it into the classroom. They found acceptable novels and asked students to scribe what they felt the story would say if it were written with words. In this way, they were able to brainstorm vocabulary words and work on their proficiency of the English Language (which was also an issue for many of the students). 

Trends in Length
In the 70s and 80s, publishing companies had an unwritten rule that young adult fiction could be no longer than 200 pages. However, in 1998, J.K. Rowling's //Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone// was published with 309 pages. Each successive book of the series increased in length (//Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix//, published in 2003, was the longest at 870 pages). Now, young adult writers are writing longer works, to the point where "dozens of books for teens published in the last few years are 300 pages and longer."



Concerns With Length
Don Gallo expressed concern with the rising length of young adult fiction in his 2010 essay "Ice Cream/I Scream for YA Books". With limited time, how many 400 page books can one read in comparison to shorter books, he asks, and his concern is mostly for teachers reading enough to recommend to their students. "If you read only 200-page books during that same time period, you would have twice as many titles to recommend to your students." <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Don Gallo, also expressed in this article that some longer books are still able to hold kids' attention spans (i.e. Harry Potter and Twilight). He ultimately recommended that teachers read a combination of the longer, 400 page books, and the shorter, 200 page books, in order to get an all-encompassing view of young adult literature. "The smart choice, of course, is for us to read some short books and some long books." This would allow for teachers to be able to be familiar with both less challenging and more challenging novels for young adults. This would also enable them to make more concrete recommendations to students of all levels. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However, this mention was only a secondary question, considering he devoted an entire essay, titled "Why Not Short?" to his recommendation of reading young a dult short stories in 2006. He explains, "if you talk to less-able and less-avid teen readers—most often boys—you’ll find that they prefer short stories to novels." He explains that it was not until the 80s that anyone thought to put together an anthology of short stories specifically for teens--Gallo, in fact, was the first, editing Sixteen in 1984--and even though there are now many anthologies directed at young adults, there is still a dearth of teen short stories used in the classroom.

Why should Young Adult Literature be included in the curriculum?
Young Adult Literature helps students cope with the physiological and physical changes and helps them come to know themselves. At a crucial time in their lives, young adult literature helps students discover their own identities. An adolescent can better relate to the characters and plot of a Young Adult novel. In his article, "Young Adult Literature in the Classroom--Or is it?" John H. Bushman questions whether classics like Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Illiad meet the "n<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">eeds, interests, and abilities of young people in the middle and high schools" (Bushman 35). He suggests that a youthful protagonist with a adolescent point of view encourages students to connect with the literature. Bushman notes that Young Adult novels offer "hope to the young reader--hope that things can change, improve, succeed, and give hope to be able to cope with all that seems wrong with being a young adult" (Bushman 39).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Inserting Young Adult Literature into the classroom also becomes imperative in the long run for students. Bushman notes that as students are introduced to Classics they do not choose those works for their own pleasurable reading. Statistics from the "1993 National Adult Literacy Survey show that students are not carrying the reading habit into adulthood" (Bushman 38). Young Adult Literature keeps students involved and engaged with the literature, encouraging them to pursue reading past their adolescence.Once students get to the high school level Bushman explains that most students do not feel as though they have time to read, so they stop reading all together. A friend of Bushman's Joan Cone shares the advice given to her about teaching reading, “You’re having your kids read the wrong books. They’re never going to read Dickens when they get out of school. You need to introduce them to authors they will read” (Bushman, 38). If we want students to be lifelong readers, than teachers must show them that reading can be fun and enlightening. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">G. Robert Carlsen, an early believer in young adult literature, states: "Consequently, understanding of self--the real self--is probably as crucial and secretive during adolescence as at any other period of human life" (as cited in Bird & Giles, 2010)

Young Adult Literature can be used to promote the love of reading. Beers truly seeks to challenge and encourage teachers to show students the power and beauty of the written word. This can be done through introducing students to literature that they are interested in. Students will be more likely to enjoy reading if they are interested in what they are reading about.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">YA Literature can be used as a means for adolescents to become familiar with their social responsibility. As long as what they are reading demonstrates a specific purpose, such as staying informed about current events and shaping moral and cultural identities, adolescents can look on reading as a necessary skill to understand the world around them. Steven Wolk pleads that "all schools and teachers [need] to awaken their students' consciousness to the world and help them develop the knowledge and inspiration to make a better world, from local to global." YA Literature brings up difficult issues in a way that is relevant to the student. Susan L. Groenke, Joellen Maples, and Jill Henderson explain in their article, "Raising 'Hot Topics' in Young Adult Literature" that students engage and learn more from YA Literature; therefore it is prudent to bring in YA books that incorporate difficult issues. They give a list of three books for example: //Freak the Mighty// by Rodman Philbrick deals with the issue of disabilities, //Seedfolks// by Paul Fleischman discusses immigration and citizenship, and Walter Dean Myers's //Monster// racism and the perceived perception of the black youth. More important than the books themselves is the the acknowledgment of the authors that when students are more interested and enjoying a text, they are more willing to continue reading. With this knowledge and the selection of an appropriate text, teachers can engage students in discussions about Social Justice issues in the world. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This article also describes how YA Literature allows students to explore topics that pertain to the real world, since school is in fact supposed to be preparing these youth for the real world. It also helps them deal with the situations that are going on in their lives at the current moment. The article goes on to say, "YA Literature provides a medium through which adolescents and their teachers can confront and grapple with the social contradictions and complexities that compose adolescents' lives." During this time, especially for middle schoolers, students are going through changes and questioning who they are and what they represent. By using YA Literature to introduce these topics, it makes it more open and easier for students to begin a dialogue with difficult topics, such as disabilities, immigration, and racism. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">In Donald R. Gallo’s “How Classics Create an Aliterate Society”, he argues against the teaching of classical literature in high schools and the middle grades because the literature is not meant for those grades. He argues that if students are given the opportunity to enjoy literature in high school and the middle grades, they will become life long readers and eventually get to the classics if they desire to. He advocates that the love of reading should be the top goal of all teachers of English. He also says that those people that do not approve of the classroom status of young adult literature are “ignorant elitists who haven’t done their homework”. Finally, he concludes that he is not against the teaching of classical literature, but he suggests a better more age appropriate balance of young adult literature with the classics. He suggests the ALAN Workshop for obtaining possible works and ideas for literature to introduce into the classroom.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">In John H. Bushman’s “Young Adult Literature in the Classroom – Or Is It?”, he explains that he conducted a survey across the sixth grade to the twelfth grade concerning their reading habits in and outside of school. Bushman says, “What was once considered literature for grades eleven and twelve has now filtered down to grades eight, nine, and ten.” He states that about half of the students enjoyed these classic works while a few disliked them and less than half had mixed reactions to their readings. Bushman says that he was shocked to learn that the amount of reading from ninth to twelfth grades decreases. He suggests broadening the curriculum and cites Applebee: “he found the most successful classrooms for students were led by teachers willing to look beyond the classics. In these classrooms, comic books, rap songs, and young adult literature were as acceptable for study as Shakespeare’s King Lear.” He says that the characters of young adult literature give students hope for change and exemplify independence. He concludes that although adults may not find that the characters of young adult literature are not alive for them, those same characters are alive for young adults.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">In Ted Hipple’s “It’s the That, Teacher”, he argues much the same ideas about Young Adult literature that Bushman and Gallo argue; They all seem to encourage its acceptance into high school and middle school curriculum. Hipple states that he met a bookstore worker who told him that she saw students buying the cliff notes for and in the same swipe along with their assigned classic literature. Their intentions seem not to be to enjoy the classic literature, but to endure it and finish with it. Hipple states, “Adolescent literature permits the same pedagogical tools classic literature affords: analyses of character, theme, language.” Hipple suggests simply that the main purpose of young adult literature is that the students will read it, that they will enjoy it and that we, as educators, can pass along that enjoyment of reading to them.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Bushman's article, many issues were discussed about young adult literature, especially about having these works into the classroom. One of his main points that stood out to me was as students get older, their pleasure reading decreases dramatically. This can lead to a decrease in enjoyment of reading, which is a problem for youth today. As teachers, this is something we need to constantly evaluate as well as focusing on promoting the enjoyment of reading.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">**How can Young Adult Literature be incorporated in the classroom?**

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Guidelines for Teachers
<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In a nutshell, Kylene Beers advises that teachers should do the following:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. “Keep high expectations,” but help the students be successful (Beers, 2002, p. 260). Provide students with the tools (such as Smart Words) in order to competently work with a text.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. “Create a classroom that encourages risk” (Beers, 2002, p. 263). Because students will avoid embarrassment at all costs, the teacher must create a safe environment to invite student participation. To help create a welcoming environment, have students learns each other’s names.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Help students “embrace difference,” “celebrate diversity,” and do not allow negative, alienating or demeaning comments in the classroom (Beers, 2002, pp. 265-266).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Provide various options for the students to participate, such as a personal response log, response notes, small group discussions, larger literature circles, classroom discussion, online discussions, or reflections to teacher. When students are active members, they invest in the class; their learning experiences become meaningful and valued.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. Encourage an aesthetic stance—that is, appreciating or “living through” the text—and an efferent stance—gleaning knowledge from the text. Provide the students with opportunities to responded using both stances (Beers, 2002, pp. 268-270).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Help students move through the reader stages to develop an appreciation of literature by providing then with many opportunities to read. Keep the students’ stages and corresponding purposes for reading when preparing lessons. Teachers cannot force the students to progress from one stage to the next.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. “Use appropriate literature.” That is, use texts that properly challenge the reading levels of the students, and choose young adult literature over classics.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. Provide time for silent reading in class.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">9. Aliterates—people who know how to read but choose not to read—often struggle with finding time to read, motivating themselves to search for new books, developing a value for or enjoyment with texts, and maintaining positive attitudes towards reading because of textual difficulty.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teachers can offer several selections and ask students to pick their top three choices then put those students in groups for book clubs. Some teachers suggest that the clubs meet once or twice a week for thirty minutes for a consecutive three week period. This time frame encourages the students to hustle through the novels and not get bored with the material.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Book Club format allows for students to actively discuss their reading and allowing each student to involve themselves in the process. Using the Adult Literature in this format will speak to the students interest level keeping the excited about the work and the processes of anyalizing the novel. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Interacting with t he text is a primary way for students to learn the material rather than simply memorizing it. Wolk provides examples of open-ended questions, class or small group discussions, role-play, critical writing of essays, letters, poetry and interaction with other textual and non-textual sources relevant to the classroom text. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the article "Let's Not Leave Advanced and Gifted Readers 'Behind,' Christine Weber and Wanda Hedrik highlight that due to No Child Left Behind, several times gifted and talented students are actually being left behind. Teachers are having to cater to the lower performing students and thus gifted and talented students are losing interest and stopping their reading advancement all together, which in several cases causes them to fall behind. They advocated for different strategies within the classroom in order to allow for students of all abilities to flourish: book talks, read-alouds, independent reading and study projects, self-selection of texts, use of technology, reading conferences, and paired reading were among their suggestions. I think the use of a combination of the different strategies allows for different students to find their niche within literature and it also allows for students to develop different methods of learning. Technology is becoming more and more important in today's society and by allowing students to incorporate technology into their reading experience can enhance their sense of understanding.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Helping Students Select Texts
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As often teachers are avid readers, the teachers should not use themselves as guides in selecting which books will appeal to their students. Instead, teachers should ask their students (especially their reluctant readers): “If you absolutely had to read a book, what would it need to be like for you to enjoy it?” (Beers, 2002, p. 285).

One of the issues with helping students choose what they want to read is based on getting them to look past the cover. Crowe states that often times students will judge a book by its cover and childish or sloppy cover art on a young adult novel will cause a student to not want to read it.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teachers should be aware of the appealing characteristics of fiction books for reluctant readers: books should be thin in length with short chapters, adorned with plenty of white space, include some illustrations, portray well-defined characters in direct action-filled plots, contain characters who are similar in age of the students and face tough life choices, and use realistic and simple language. Mysteries and humor novels are always popular.

Beers presents creative ways to sell books to students, such as reading excerpts aloud which hook the students, displaying book jackets on bulletin boards, taking a trip to the library, etc.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Helping Students Interact with the Text
<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A method that Jen nifer Buehler recommends in her article, "Ways to Join the Living Conversation about Young Adult Literature," is considering the author and their intent in writing the literature. She suggests going to author websites, reading blogs, and writing letters to the authors in order to enter into the conversation about literature.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While this seems to be a useful idea for teachers, Buehler is careful to remind readers that there are many lines that ought not to be crossed. It is important that students are reminded that authors are oftentimes very busy individuals who are not able to personally answer every blog comment or email they receive. It is also important that a teacher gives the students the freedom to respond to the author without being confined to a formulaic response.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In their texts, "Blending Multiple Genres into Theme Baskets," authors Richardson, Hernandez, and Carter discuss the use of an idea called "Theme Baskets". Basically, the idea is to make difficult adult literature more relevant to youth by focusing on the themes presented and how they could apply them to their own lives. This idea can be used at any age and with any genre of literature, but is especially useful for more difficult western-canon type texts in the high school or middle school classrooms. By focusing on themes, literature becomes more relatable to the students' lives and they are able to connect better with it.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Young Adult Literature Reviews
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">