This article explores how undergraduate students enrolled in a postsecondary course centering LGBTQ+ young adult literature came to discursively construct notions of queer youth. Braiding postdevelopmental and poststructural theories of childhood with queer theory, we interrogated how what we name as the (il)logics of adolescence shaped who and…

The five young adult "Honor List" books of 2023 are all visual texts. These award-winning books offer tremendous stories in both pictures and words in the genres of realistic fiction, memoir, and historical nonfiction.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how narrative is constructed to create connections with fat readers, how books function to envision spaces of fat liberation for young readers and to highlight the incredible importance of providing bigger mirrors (Bishop, 1990) for fat representation in children's literature. Design/methodology/approach:…

This qualitative study examines the consequential evasive discourse moves 23 PSTs made during critical conversations about a young adult novel. Findings illustrated how PSTs engaged in a constellation of discourse moves--what we've theorized as "shielding"--that disrupted PSTs' critical engagement with sociopolitical content and…

Book banning and censorship in the U.S. prompts necessary conversations on how critical literacy, dialogue, and inquiry are used in various school and library settings. We share guiding questions alongside three examples of textual analyses centering on gender fluidity with three young adult novels. We believe that English language arts teachers…

Linda Zagzebski's theory of moral exemplarity emphasizes the importance of admiration in developing ethical behavior. This essay argues that admiration involves wonder and distance and is best evoked by mixed or flawed characters; it demonstrates this through discussion of the characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and…

The current study explored both the extent to which representation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) exists in young adult literature, as well as qualitative characteristics of that representation. A systematic search of multiple databases was conducted using standardized keywords and inclusion criteria. Descriptive statistics…

This ethnographic study interrogates youth understandings of the concept of "monstrosity" as presented in young adult speculative fiction novels and as it pertains to contemporary U.S. politics. The monster is a popular figure in fiction for adolescents, and it often serves a metaphorical political function within its narratives. This…

The framework of visual grammar (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, via Serafini, 2014) is used to examine the artwork of Laurie Halse Anderson and Emily Carroll's "Speak: The Graphic Novel," which tells through words and pictures the story of Melinda Sordino, a girl who is raped just prior to beginning her freshman year in high school. Three…

We advocate for the reading of young adult literature (YAL) as a means for justice-oriented education, and we also recognize how the recent surge in challenges to youth-centered texts in the U.S. attempts to limit such work in classrooms. In response, we wondered about the ways in which YAL offers pathways for critically framing and situating…

This three-article dissertation examines the role of comics as a medium for developing anti-oppressive pedagogies with teacher educators and teacher candidates in English language Arts (ELA) and literacy education. Using methods of critical content analysis (Johnson et al, 2016), descriptive qualitative research (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), and…

This case study utilized poetic inquiry, a qualitative research methodology, to explore the reading experiences of 13 postgraduate high school students from various North Texas high schools. After selecting and reading young adult novels featuring protagonists who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex,…

Drawing on cognitive criticism, and using Theory of Mind, transportation, and imaginative resistance as a framework, this essay analyzes the ways in which Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows Duology, can build understanding of and empathy for people with living with mental illnesses. Maria Nikolajeva's germinal work on cognitive approaches to literature…

Recently, the public outcry after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police revealed a disconnect among some Americans between historical events (slavery, the Civil Rights movement) and the present day. That is, many Americans--particularly White Americans--had believed racism to be a mostly historical construct and failed to…

The purpose of this study was to gauge the effects of offering LGBTQIA+ novels to students in an English Language Arts and Reading high school setting. Most novel options for students come from old books available in the school's book closet consisting of antiquated stories offering little in the way of diversity. Students are more likely to be…