Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, only 23 Queer literary works have been published for children and adolescents in Hebrew. This paper examines the characteristics of these works in light of the ambivalent and controversial status of the LGBTQ+ community in Israel. The findings show that the few works that have been published…

Acts of sexual violence and rape, as well as the ensuing treatment of survivors and those who perpetuate the crimes, are pervasive in canonical texts that populate mandated reading lists in secondary English classrooms. Given the outsized role the literary canon places in English curriculum, we believe English teachers must develop practices that…

Where and how do I belong? As Erin Spring (2016a) notes in her examination of space, place, and youth engagement with literature, "young adult fiction is fraught with implications for identity, of which place often takes center stage" (p. 432). Yet despite the ubiquity of adolescent characters' negotiations within and across physical and…

The early reception of D.B.C. Pierre's "Vernon God Little" (2003) has been characterized by comparisons with two canonical literary antecedents: J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" (1991/1951) and, at a greater remove, Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884). The three novels capitalize on the…

An African American teacher and students engaged in meaningful reading and writing that included African American literature. These literacy experiences allowed the development of cultural models through exploring identity, questioning dominant narratives, and building capacity for literary analysis. This study shows how meaningful literacy…

This content analysis used a critical lens to analyze the portrayal of characters victimized by abuse in adolescent literature. Child abuse is an issue prevalent around the globe (Berkowitz, 2017). The study analyzed ten adolescent novels published over a period of sixteen years to determine character traits and themes. The analysis was conducted…

With the challenges and revolutionary changes in the world, it is essential that the sources of social power direct the communities towards the right path that leads to a brighter future, especially when it comes to young adults. Young adults represent a critical social group that needs special attention. Therefore, the present paper tackles one…

Purpose: In an era when engagement in public spaces and places is increasingly regulated and constrained, we argue for the use of literary analytic tools to enable younger generations to critically examine and reenvision everyday spatialities (Rogers, 2016; Rogers et al., 2015). The purpose of this paper is to consider how spatial analyses of…

LGBTQ+ identities complicate the ways in which #OwnVoices can be deployed in literary analysis and author studies. Recognizing LGBTQ+ identities in literature is about more than just the text; it is about the visibility and success of LGBTQ+ authors as well. Through a discussion of reader response theory and politics of recognition, the author…

School stories in contemporary China, which target a pre- and early-adolescent readership, frequently evoke representations of girlhood and boyhood in normative gender terms. The present article considers issues of femininity and gender in "Tomboy Dai An" ("Jia Xiaozi Dai An"), one among a series of commercially successful…

The authors used a youth lens to interrogate representations of adolescent characters and experiences that reinforce or contradict social constructions of youths across young adult novels commonly read in secondary classrooms. The authors found examples across all 10 examined novels of adolescent characters taking on adult-like roles, exercising…

Characters with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have become increasingly popular in young adult literature. Using a case-study format, this article describes the communication, sensory, and social characteristics of eight protagonists in award-winning young adult novels. All told in the first person, these novels provide insight for young readers…

Authors for young adult literature often present their tales directly through the voice of the story narrators. However, Kashmira Sheth, in her "Boys without Names," seeks to present her tale, specifically the issue of child labor, through the use of frame stories which are recounted by two or more narrators. Through frame stories, the…

Adapting and rebranding general market memoirs for the young adult literature market is a growing trend in the publishing world. Grounded in Critical Youth Scholarship, this study explores this trend through an analysis of two general market memoirs of Navy SEALs and their revised and repackaged youth market counterparts. Using a systematic…

Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series (2005-2008) and Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" series (2008-2010) have been hugely successful and influential texts, both as best-selling literary works and as action movie franchises. (To avoid confusion, "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" in this essay refer to the…