Purpose: This paper aims to argue for the curricular inclusion of youth-generated young adult literature (YAL) alongside canonical literature and adult-generated YAL. The authors support this argument with the results of a qualitative analysis of youth memoir published in "The Best Teen Writing." They strive to inform the debate between…

The number of children with incarcerated parents has grown in recent years. Many of these children are being raised by another family member or are part of the foster care system. This adverse childhood experience can affect the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral development of children. To support them through this life experience,…

Surveillance technologies are proliferating at an astonishing rate powered by practices that normalize surveillance. Children and young adults are especially prone to being surveilled since few people challenge the idea that protecting young people is a valuable goal. Yet, both E. Lockhart in "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau…

Social emotional learning (SEL) is an important field of education, and has been for the past 25 years, although the majority of SEL programs are designed for elementary ages, some for middle school, and only a few designated for high school ages. With a weakening of community organizations, an increase in stressors, and higher occurrences of…

This paper draws on Bakhtin's (1981) notions of discourse and ideological becoming to investigate how adolescents' experiences with young adult literature and other texts might inform their thinking around issues of social justice. We engaged in a number of activities with the young adolescent participants: thought maps, illustrations of poignant…

By tracing Katniss Everdeen's character development from gender-bending ersatz Robin Hood to revisionist historian to star-crossed lover playing the role of Juliet, we can see how she reveals conflict and history as essential elements of this saga of adolescent rebellion.

There has been an increase in research regarding the use of virtual platforms as a means of collaboration between middle level learners and preservice teachers. However, little attention has been given to the role of asynchronous collaborations in the form of virtual literature discussions and the preservice teacher experience. Through a…

Shifting the Conversation around Teaching Sensitive Topics: Critical Colleagueship in a Teacher Discourse Community Abstract: In this book club study designed to examine practicing teachers' perspectives on a young adult book dealing with identity, mental health, sexuality, and family, researchers describe the tensions that arose in participants'…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to challenge pre-service teachers' (PSTs) assumptions about youth readers, the researcher in this study invited a group of three seventh-grade students to attend a multicultural young adult (YA) literature class designed for PSTs at a large mid-western university. Design/methodology/approach: Using…

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…

This narrative ethnographic research study focused on the personal and schooling stories and counter-stories of three Latina teachers living and teaching in the Deep South. Using three contemporary young adult literature texts written by Latina authors, this three-month short term narrative ethnographic study sought to explore the lived…

Context: Research notes the repeated existence of a disconnect between teachers' aims and practices, particularly when their work is done in communities with significant numbers of students who are minoritized by dominant societal norms. Simply wanting to do this work is not enough and can result in harm to students and the communities they…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine youth literacy and writing practices in select, contemporary young adult literature (YAL), especially how and why literate activity is sponsored, negotiated or occluded by teachers and schools. Design/methodology/approach: The authors position young adult fiction as case studies of youth composing…

The problem addressed in this quantitative ex-post facto study was that African American, Latino, and Native American students have lower reading fluency than Caucasian counterparts. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent incorporating more literature written by African American, Latino, and Native American authors had on the…

Inspired by the work of Muhammad (2020) and building upon the previous work of Hays (2021) in using young adolescent literature as a tool for social change, the authors highlight the ways in which educators such as Amardeep Bajwa can cultivate students' intellect through literature circle-based activities. More specifically, Hays worked with local…