Katniss Everdeen, the narrator and protagonist of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy, survives the grueling ordeal of forced participation in two games to the death through both physical prowess and mental agility. Both within and outside of the Games, she demonstrates information and media literacies. By becoming adept at interpreting and…

In "Skellig," "Kit's Wilderness," and "Clay", David Almond employs various types of intertextuality to enrich his narratives. Through the use of allusion, adaptation, collage, and mise-en-abyme, he encourages his adolescent readers to seek out precursor texts and to consider the interrelationships between these texts and his own. By so doing, he…

Magical realism as a literary mode is often subversive and transgressive, questioning the values and assumptions of the dominant society that it depicts. Young adult literature, by contrast, is typically thought to serve a socializing function, helping to integrate young readers into adult society. What then is the cultural work of magical realism…

Examines five picture books by author/illustrator Peter Sis, and how they deal explicitly with people who through extraordinary journeys develop extraordinary ways of seeing the world. Discusses use of paratextual elements, multiple formats, multiple layers of narrative, and a merging of texts and pictures. Suggests ways these books might be used…