This manuscript explores the trends of the American Library Association's (ALA's) Rainbow Book List Top Ten Titles for Young Readers for 2023. It provides an overview of the titles and curricular connections. The authors discuss how the 2023 Rainbow Book List offers a diversity of genres and topics and also delves deeply into portrayals of queer…

In this article, the authors work to illustrate how "Miles Morales Suspended" by Jason Reynolds, an author whose work has been targeted by book ban efforts (Knight, 2022), can be positioned in English classrooms to teach about contemporary attacks on Black literature through book bans. The teaching outlined in this article is part of a…

Recent political excursions into classroom text selections by local and national politicians and pundits have made teaching canonical texts more appealing to many school districts and teachers. In this study, we used conceptions of Derridean hospitality alongside monster theory to examine what common canonical texts teach students about who is…

This large-scale survey study examined how teachers select and integrate global and culturally diverse children's and young adult literature for their classrooms. Results from the survey captured self-reports of the selection process, suggesting if and how teachers were selecting and integrating this literature and reflecting possible influence…

This article contributes to research on equity in award-winning and honor books by offering a paratextual analysis of 14 immigration-themed young adult books that were included on the USBBY Outstanding International Books list between 2006 and 2019. Findings reveal that paratexts--all parts of a book excluding the narrative--frame authors who are…

Despite long-standing acknowledgement that U.S. adolescents of color are disproportionately deemed "struggling readers," various iterations of supposedly neutral neoliberal literacy reform legitimized by quantitative data systemically deny access and opportunity through labeling and sorting and perpetuate educator deficit ideologies.…

Previous research has established relationships between reading fiction and increased empathy levels, an effect amplified by reading young adult fiction and by feeling transported by, or wholly immersed within, one's reading. Given the established correlation between increased empathy and decreased intolerance levels, reading fiction may decrease…

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…

In this article, the author explores why a school librarian's value should be wrapped up in books. First, reading is a foundational skill, and memories are built around who people are before and who they are after reading a book. School librarians get to be a part of that transformation. Second, books still make up the heart of a physical library,…

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…

Drawing from theories of visual culture, social semiotics, and multimodality, the researchers conducted a qualitative multimodal content analysis of the covers of 21 young adult (YA) books that had been adapted as graphic novels (GNs). This study showed that the GN covers emphasized character and that the ages of the represented characters seemed…

Using critical theories of dominant-and counter-narratives, this study analyzed the texts of selected young adult books that focused on an underrepresented population of working-class rural youth in Appalachia. We explored how the dominant deficit narratives of these communities shaped the identity construction and choices of the books'…

Celebrating books published in 2023, now finishing its fifth award cycle, the Whippoorwill Award continues to recognize quality rural literature for young people. Each year, the award committee selects books that portray and honor the complex experiences of rural culture and communities. The award serves to help highlight the diversity of rurality…

This study sought to describe secondary English teachers' experiences with text selection. Its first aim was to determine how secondary English teachers perceive the use of young adult literature (YAL) with adolescent students. The study also details factors that influenced teachers' text selections. Finally, the study describes how teachers'…

Recognizing the determination of a canon as an ongoing process of discussion and debate, which helps us to better understand the concept of meaningful and important literature, this edited collection turns a critical spotlight on young adult literature (YAL) to explore some of the most read, taught, and discussed books of our time. By considering…