Sunday, August 3, 2008

YA Lit for Lifelong Readers

“The removal of a novel also cost students a unique opportunity for exploring the causes and consequences of bullying within the safety of a fictional account.” (Lent, 2008, p. 62)

“What we want is to excite them about reading while they are in school, help them share our love of it, so that they will remain readers when they are adults.” (Hipple, 1996, p. 17)

It wasn’t until this semester that my view of how to teach literature expanded to include YA novels not just as independent reading in my classroom library, but as core novels to be taught and studied. Although I did not rigidly adhere to the “traditional” literary canon of only the classics, I did not fully accept that contemporary YA novels could serve as valuable a purpose in the classroom as To Kill a Mockingbird or The Outsiders. Furthermore, I did not realize that my view of teen lit was so narrow.

I had several aha moments—when I caught myself impatient to get back to my apartment to rejoin Collin’s road trip (in Green’s An Abundance of Katherines), or when I sat on the edge of my seat as Lakshmi hid in the closet (in McCormick’s Sold), or when the gruesome imagery of Myers’ Exit Here kept me up half the night. Each time I was sucked into another well-crafted novel written for young adults, it sunk it a bit more that these books had literary merit, engaging characters, and relevancy. I admit that before I familiarized myself with YA fiction, teaching—or even recommending—books with mature language and content seemed dicey. As Hipple (1996, p. 16) notes, though, “adolescent literature typically focuses on adolescents’ problems and in their language, a language that often features epithets stronger than ‘oh my goodness’ or ‘shucks.’” I understood Lent’s warnings against self-censorship: the temptation to remove a book from a classroom library can be strong, as it might mean avoiding a confrontation with school leadership or parents. Similarly, as I read some of the YA novels I thought to myself, I could put this in my classroom in the Bronx, but what about back in Texas? The cultural, political, and religious climates of New York City and Magnolia, Texas are starkly different. While I could envision teaching Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy to my public school students in New York, I would probably leave it on the independent reading shelves if I had a classroom in some places south. The book is well-written; it addresses themes of friendship, love, loyalty, community, and coming of age; the story is engaging and preaches tolerance. I think kids could connect to it, and it could serve as a gateway to further literary and personal exploration: it has the potential to be one of those books that Hipple (1996, p. 17) says “could excite them about reading.” As a Humanities teacher, I hope that I can balance my role as a teacher and my role as a community member, to avoid harmful self-censorship that would deprive students of a valuable literary and life experience.

By writing about real issues facing teens, by connecting with them through their language and their scene, skilled YA authors are able to speak to young readers in ways that Austen, Dickens, and Hawthorne may not at this time in their lives. Because students can learn about good writing—masterful characterization, effective literary elements, a variety of techniques—and can be excited about reading through connecting with a YA novel, I have gained a great appreciation for the genre’s place in the middle and high school classroom.

References
Hipple, T. (1996). It’s the THAT, teacher. English Journal, 86(3), pp. 15-17.

Lent, R.C. (2008). Facing the issues: Challenges, censorship, and reflection through dialogue. English Journal, 97(3), pp. 61-66.

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