I discuss White American students' experiences of reading racism-themed young adult literature (YAL), addressing the issue of police brutality, and using the concept of intersectionality to promote social justice awareness. Based on analysis of their written reflections and classroom discussions, I argue reading racism-themed YAL with an…

In order to better understand how young adult literature (YAL) is used in secondary English teacher education, this study examines course syllabi submitted by researchers recently published in "The ALAN Review." Using a framework built on Bakhtin's work, this article analyzes course objectives and goals for inherent social discourses to…

This article considers the power of approaching young adult literature from a critical literacy perspective in teacher education and how that affects emerging teachers' ability to consider its role in their future teaching. Specifically, the authors explore how critical literacy--the exposure to a variety of texts, ways of approaching texts, and…

One place to start understanding how pre-service teachers learn about contemporary young adult (YA) literature, especially those works that feature lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) and gender identity themes and characters, is through an examination of the YA literature course--a course many pre-service teachers take as…

In teaching young adult literature in a teacher education programme at the undergraduate level, I pose the question of how I can best introduce my personal theoretical stances into the formal curriculum and syllabi, without unintentionally conveying such theories to my students as necessary postures. I first outline the theoretical underpinnings…

This case study research investigated preservice and in-service teachers' (N = 23) experiences and understandings as they participated in a multicultural children and young adults' literature course that incorporates visits to a Holocaust museum. A graduate level course was redesigned within a framework of social justice pedagogy by focusing on…

This study examined uses of adolescent literature included secondary teacher preparation in English, math, science, and social studies education at 12 institutions. Analyses revealed programs emphasized adolescent literature in a variety of ways and most often in courses for English majors. Only two institutions required that prospective math,…

Describes an elective course for at-risk ninth-grade students that focuses on sports literature--articles and columns in the daily newspaper, young adult novels, and a sports anthology. (SR)

This handbook presents course information, reading materials, and application/research projects for a distance education course that provides an introduction to the genre of texts targeted for adolescent/young adult readers. The first section of the handbook discusses the goals, structure, assessment scheme, readings, and resources for the course.…

This handbook presents two core units for a distance education course that provides an introduction to the genre of texts targeted for adolescent/young adult readers. The first core unit in the handbook discusses the teaching of literary aspects of using adolescent/young adult literature. The second core unit addresses alternative approaches to…

As an introduction to "Cover to Cover," a 32-program educational television series designed to encourage fifth and sixth graders to read for pleasure, this text provides a variety of background materials for each book featured in the series. Each unit focuses on one book and includes a sampling of reviews and a synopsis of the plot, and additional…

This language arts minicourse guide for Lampeter-Strasburg (Pennsylvania) High School contains a topical outline of a course on literature for the adolescent years. The guide includes a list of thirteen course objectives; an outline of the motifs to be studied in two novels characteristic of adolescent literature; a description of the course…

Offers a discussion of and suggests activities for an eight-week elective course on the themes of alienation and love in adolescent literature. (HOD)

Discusses the importance of research on young adult literature and its potential for making a difference in every classroom. Presents a report on the ALAN Foundation Award for Research in Young Adult Literature; and offers a report on a study regarding college-level young adult literature courses. (SR)

This paper describes a one-semester high school course which introduces students to well-written contemporary novels in which the main character is an adolescent. Eight novels are read, and five of these are the core of the course: "The Catcher in the Rye,""A Separate Peace,""The Temple of Gold,""The Man Without a Face," and "Night." The students…