Category: adolescent literature
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The Printz Award
This week in Adolescent Lit, I asked my students to take a look at the list of Printz winners and honor books to see how many they’ve read. I think the Printz committee gets it right more than maybe any other literary prize committee. I also think the Printz is the hardest award to predict. […]
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Diversity in Adolescent Literature
A few weeks ago, one of my students, Rachel, wrote a provocative post called “Diversity Please Speak Up.” She recounts an experience in a different class where the students were asked to construct a reading list of books everyone needs to read by the time they graduate from high school. The list ended up consisting of […]
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Code Name Verity
My favorite quote about this book, from Presenting Lenore: ‘It’s the kind of book that induces ugly sobbing in the fetal position, even in a “never crier” like me.’ I just finished Code Name Verity, and I am metaphorically peeling myself off the floor. This book is devastating. But ohsogood. It’s been sitting in my […]
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Seriously! No More Reading Lists! For Real This Time
Just when I thought I was getting a handle on my ever-exploding TBR list (and ever-growing Amazon debt), the finalists for the 25th annual Lambda Literary Awards were announced–and just in time for our upcoming discussion of LGBT YA lit in Adolescent Lit! Here are the finalists for the children’s/YA category. Luckily, three of these books–Aristotle and Dante, […]
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On Reading Nonfiction
A couple of weeks ago, the students in my Adolescent Lit class confessed that they don’t read nonfiction. I can’t imagine a fulfilling literate life without nonfiction: I would guess that around half of the books I read each year are nonfiction. If I include the essays, magazines, articles, reviews, tweets, blogs, newspapers, and cookbooks […]
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No Teens Were Harmed in the Making of These Books
Nikki Highfill (@nikkijh24) 1/23/13, 10:35 AM Tired of reading depressing stories about dying kids. Looking for happy feel-good YA lit recommendations. Please and thank you. #eng438 As promised, a very idiosyncratic list of YA novels that have made me happy over the past few years. Enjoy! The entire Casson family series by Hilary McKay: Saffy’s […]
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The History of Young Adult Literature
To go along with our exploration of early YA novels this week in ENG 438, you might enjoy YA author David Lubar’s very short humorous piece on The History of Young Adult Novels in which angst and double initials reign supreme. For a more serious look at the genre’s history, read librarian Gretchen Kolderup’s excellent post, The […]
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Reading the Hunger Games: A Post That Has Very Little to Do With The Hunger Games
In her post “Why Dystopias Matter,” Wendy Daughdrill offers several reasons for the current popularity of dystopian fiction in YA lit. My favorite? High school is a lot like a dystopia! I have reflected more than once on the irony of growing up to become a high school teacher: I HATED high school! I could […]
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How to Find Great YA Lit to Read and Share
Here are some of my favorite resources for identifying young adult books I want to read: Blogs written by teachers, librarians, and lovers of YA lit. I especially like Leila’s bookshelves of doom and Colleen’s Chasing Ray. Booksmugglers features thorough reviews as well. Liz Burns’s A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy (a line from Buffy!!) is a […]
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The “Whys” Behind the New Adolescent Lit Syllabus
This is the letter I’m posting to students in Adolescent Literature to explain the philosophy of the course: Most English teachers say their number one goal is to help their students become better readers, but most of our classroom practices don’t reflect that goal. (Think about what you do in your real life as a […]
the dirigible plum 