Why YA Lit?: YA Lit in the Secondary Language Arts Classroom

1
Why YA Lit? YA Lit in the Secondary Language
Arts Classroom

• Anna Nero Shannon Perry
• Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School

2
Perceptions and Misconceptions

• Remedial texts
• Lacking literary merit
• Entertainment
• Sentimental
• Poorly written

3
So what is Young Adult Literature?

• Brief History
• Before 1960s Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tom Swift
• Avoided serious/controversial issues
• White middle-class audience
• 1967 The Outsiders, The Contender, The Chosen,
  Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones

4
Big, Broad Definitions

• Any literature that teens read without prodding,
  poking and threatening by means of quizzes, tests
  and public humiliation in the form of class
  discussion
• Books with teenage protagonists
• Books written for teenagers
• Includes books for adults, but read by teens

5
Don Gallos List o Characteristics

• Focus on teenage characters
• Average length of 200 pages
• Point of view often first person, usually a
  teenager
• Narrator most often the main character
• Usually told in voice of teenager, not adult (as
  in To Kill a Mockingbird or A Separate Peace)
• Contemporary language
• Usually contemporary setting (fantasy, science
  fiction)

6
Gallos List (cont.)

• Relatable characters and issues
• Minor role of parents
• Outcome dependent on decisions and actions of
  main character
• Tone and outcome usually positive/happy
• Plot and literary style uncomplicated, not
  simplistic
• Possess all traditional literary elements
• As able to appeal to adults as teens

(Herz and Gallo, From Hinton to Hamlet)
7
What our students are saying

• Carlsen and Sherril (1989) study
• Dissection and over analysis of literature
• Reviewing same material for days
• Lack of fun / sense of wonder
• Meaning without feeling
• Lack of experience and/or maturity
• Comprehension difficulty
• Disconnect for everyday teenage life
• Unfamiliar words

8
What our students are reading . . .

• Lack of YA Lit titles in required AND pleasure
  reading categories
• Applebees frequent required reading study
  (1992)
• Four Shakespeare plays
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Scarlet Letter
• Of Mice and Men
• The Great Gatsby
• Lord of the Flies

9
What our students are reading

• Several studies (Hale Crowe, Applebee)
• Little change in required texts
• Shakespeare dominates
• Other canonical texts follow
• Favorite genres
• Romance/love stories
• Fantasy
• Mystery
• Sports
• Science Fiction

10
Students want . . .

• To read about relatable and relevant topics and
  situations
• To read works written in the language that they
  speak
• To read about characters who look, sound and feel
  like them

11
Theoretical Support

• G. Robert Carlsen Stages of Reading Development
• Unconscious delight
• Living vicariously
• Seeing oneself
• Philosophical speculations
• Aesthetic delight
• Louise Rosenblatt Reader-response theory
• No meaning in text itself
• Readers bring meaning to text
• Ability to relate to text important

12
So, why Not YA Lit?

• Many teachers cling to the notion of canonical
  literature being necessary to a quality ELA
  curriculum
• Must be difficult in order to be studied
• Students can read without a teacher, then not
  worth reading
• The test of time
• Cultural indoctrination

13
So, why not YA Lit?

• Teacher perceptions have changed little
• inferior form of literature
• Most have never taken a YA Lit class
• Conference sessions
• Comfort and familiarity
• Teachers reading bias
• Experience
• Expertise

14
YA Lit in the Classroom

• Thematic Links
• Archetypal Links
• Writing Links
• Research Links
• Miscellaneous Links
• Dialogue
• Inferencing Lessons

15
Bibliography

• Asher, Sandy. What About Now? What About Here?
  What About Me? Reading Their World The Young
  Adult Novel in the Classroom. Eds. Virginia R.
  Monseau Gary M. Salvner. Portsmouth, NH
  Heinemann, 1992. 77-82.
• Bridgers, Sue Ellen. Creating a Bond Between
  Writer and Reader. Reading Their World The
  Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. Eds.
  Virginia R. Monseau Gary M. Salvner.
  Portsmouth, NH Heinemann, 1992. 65-70.
• Bushman, John H. Young Adult Literature in the
  ClassroomOr Is It? English Journal 86.3 (1997)
  35-40.
• Gallo, Donald R. How Classics Create an
  Alliterate Society. English Journal 90.3 (2001)
  33-39.

16
Bibliography (cont.)

• Gallo, Donald R. Listening to Readers
  Attitudes Toward the Young Adult Novel. Reading
  Their World The Young Adult Novel in the
  Classroom. Eds. Virginia R. Monseau Gary M.
  Salvner. Portsmouth, NH Heinemann, 1992. 17-27.
• Herz, Sarah K. and Donald R. Gallo. From Hinton
  to Hamlet Building Bridges between Young Adult
  Literature and the Classics. 2nd ed. Westport
  Greenwood Press, 2005.
• Monseau, Virginia R. Students and Teachers as a
  Community of Readers. Reading Their World The
  Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. Eds.
  Virginia R. Monseau Gary M. Salvner.
  Portsmouth, NH Heinemann, 1992. 85-98.
• Peck, Richard. Problem Novels for Readers
  Without Any. Reading Their World The Young
  Adult Novel in the Classroom. Eds. Virginia R.
  Monseau Gary M. Salvner. Portsmouth, NH
  Heinemann, 1992. 71-76.

17
Bibliography (cont.)

• Salvner, Gary M. Young Adult Novels in the
  Traditional Literature Class. Reading Their
  World The Young Adult Novel in the Classroom.
  Eds. Virginia R. Monseau Gary M. Salvner.
  Portsmouth, NH Heinemann, 1992. 99-112.
• Santoli, Susan P. and Mary Elaine Wagner.
  Promoting Young Adult Literature The Other
  Real Literature. American Secondary Education
  33.1 (2004) 65-75.