When critics consider young people's practices within cyberspace, the focus is often on negative aspects, namely cyber-bullying, obsessive behaviour, and the lack of a balanced life. Such analyses, however, may miss the agency and empowerment young people experience not only to make decisions but to have some degree of control over their lives…

The author discusses five novels with characters on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and integrates her readings with her brothers' experiences with autism and Asperger's syndrome. Diverse in scope and approach, each of the books surveyed offers unique insights on facets of the autistic perspective. Lord's "Rules," Stork's "Marcelo in the Real…

In the selection of multicultural literature for children and young adults, educators and researchers focus on two main controversial issues--authority and authenticity--that the authors portray in their writing. What type of author can accurately portray realistic pictures of minority cultures in multicultural literature for young adults? Must it…

Anti-bullying experts employ trade books in dealing with contemporary issues facing young people, including bullying. At least three conceptual strands underpin the application of young adult literature (YAL) in such enterprises: (1) reliance on tested voices appealing to young readers; (2) the potential effect of quality YAL on literacy…

In this column, the author reviews books and other resources that address issues related to teaching tolerance for those of other religions, races, gender orientations, and cultures. It reviews titles related to Jewish oppression, including Doreen Rappaport's (2012) "Beyond Courage, the Untold Story of Jewish Resistance during the…

State and national education initiatives provide American students with opportunities to engage in close readings of complex texts from diverse perspectives as they actively construct complicated understandings as they explore complex texts. Opportunities for interdisciplinary units emerge as the role of non-fiction in English/language arts and…

This paper discusses potential strategies and sources for approaching uncomfortable topics and reviews the challenges facing teachers who choose to do so with the topic of genocide as an example. Using a variety of techniques, including graphic organizers, political cartoons, comic books and graphic novels, films, children's and young adult…

In summer 2015, Scholastic, in conjunction with YouGov, conducted a survey to explore family attitudes and behaviours in the United Kingdom around reading books for fun. The key findings of this research, based on a nationally representative sample of 1,755 parents and children, including 349 parents of children ages 0-5; 703 parents of children…

This paper takes the grotesque as a model of subjectivity that offers compelling inroads to understanding adolescence. Bakhtin notes that the grotesque "seeks to grasp in its imagery the very act of becoming and growth, the eternal, incomplete, unfinished nature of being". I argue that Carson McCullers' novel, "The Member of the…

The young adult novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is the author's autobiographical story of a poor reservation Indian boy and his desperate and humorous attempts to find a better life. In this article, the author answers critics who want to X-rate his young adult fiction as too violent.

Donna E. Alvermann, Distinguished Research Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia in Athens, received recognitions and honors as a scholar/leader in adolescent literacy. Her thoughts about contexts for literacy learning challenge that the divide between in- and out-of-school literacy learning is real and needs…

The study of young adult literature (YAL) as both an art form and teaching tool is in its infancy. Barely 50 years old, this emerging genre began to establish a presence in the canon of both classical and popular literature. As a developing field of inquiry, however, YAL struggles for legitimacy and prestige. The purpose of this article is to…

Since the publication of the first young adult novel to deal with issues of sexual identity, John Donovan's ("1969") "I'll Get There, It Better Be Worth the Trip", over 200 novels have been published centered around gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) characters and conflicts (Cart and Jenkins, "2006", "The Heart has…

In searching for a way of teaching American history as something that truly belongs to women, and men, to the powerful as well as to those who lack power in a formal sense, as something that is not the story of white people with an interesting person of color charitably thrown in for good measure, Boisseau writes that while many influential…

This article explores the nature of young adult texts as complementary sources of informal queer sex and sexuality education, along with a close reading of a sample of this young adult (YA) literature. LGBT teens are often left out of discussions in sex education classrooms in the United States because of discriminatory curricula, ignorance on the…