Literature for Today’s Young Adults

Description

Long respected as the number one book in the field, Literature for Today’s Young Adults gives teachers, librarians, parents, counselors, and other group leaders—as well as instructors and students in college courses in Adolescent/Young Adult Literature—a comprehensive look at YA literature framed within a literary, historical, and social context as a means to motivating teens to become life-long readers. Included is helpful information on evaluating YA books of all genres, using YA literature effectively with English Language Learners, incorporating digital and other new literacies into classroom teaching, and dealing with today’s increasingly diverse and challenging censorship issues.

Pre- and in-service teachers see how to motivate teenagers to become life-long readers. The book presents a current look at Young Adult Literature framed within a literary, historical, and social context.

Readers see how to evaluate books of all genres, from poetry and nonfiction to fantasies, drama, the supernatural, adventure, sports, mysteries, science fiction, graphic novels, and more.

The challenges and opportunities of using Young Adult Literature with English Language Learners are explored throughout the book.

Readers are brought up to date on using computers and the latest digital technologies and literacies in their classrooms.

The issues of censorship in today’s young adult scene are explored and made clear for teachers.

Wide-ranging pedagogy helps teachers improve student learning, including 

• An Honor List highlighting the best books of each year since 1980
• Focus Boxes providing annotated bibliographies on such important new topics as “Bullies in All Their Disguises,” “Going Beyond Dick and Jane,” and “Literal Journeys/Figurative Quests.”
• Additional Focus Boxes organized by time periods, e.g. “A Sampling of Good Books from the Seventies” and “100 Years of Accessible Adult Mysteries”
• Issues and concerns about ethnicity worked into practically every chapter
• Nonfiction books incorporated in many chapters
• A glossary of literary terms, recommended Internet resources, and charts and tables to help with evaluation.
• Recommended readings of scholarly work allowing students–ranging from beginners in the field to doctoral students–to move beyond the text and further explore the concepts being presented

Part One: Understanding Young Adults and Books

Chapter 1           Young Adults and Their Reading

Chapter 2         A Brief History of Young Adult Literature

Chapter 3         Digital and Other New Literacies for Teachers and Librarians

Part Two: Modern Young Adult Reading

Chapter 4         Contemporary Realistic Fiction: From Romances to Tragedies to Magical Realism

Chapter 5           Fantasy, Supernatural, Science Fiction, Utopias, and Dystopias

Chapter 6         Poetry, Drama, Humor, and New Media

Chapter 7           Adventure, Westerns, Sports, and Mysteries

Chapter 8         Historical Fiction: Of People and Places

Chapter 9           Nonfiction: Information, Literary Nonfiction, Biographies, and Self-Help Books

Part Three: Adults and the Literature of Young Adults

Chapter 10        Evaluating, Promoting, and Using Young Adult Books

Chapter 11          Young Adult Literature in the English Class

Chapter 12        Censorship: Of Worrying and Wondering        

Alleen Pace Nilsen has been a co-author of Literature for Today’s Young Adults since the very first edition in 1980.  She and Ken Donelson were also co-editors of the English Journal and founding editors of The ALAN Review.  They both served as Presidents of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE (ALAN) and as Directors of English Education at Arizona State University.  Dr. Donelson retired  from ASU in 2002 and Alleen retired in 2011.  She is the author of two editions of Presenting M. E. Kerr as part of the Twayne United States Authors Series, 1986 and 1997, and of Joan Bauer: Teen Reads: Student Companions to Young Adult Literature, Greenwillow, 2007.   She edited Living Language: Reading, Thinking, and Writing, Allyn and Bacon, 1999, and with her colleague and husband, Don L. F. Nilsen, she co-authored the Encyclopedia of 20^th-Century American Humor, Greenwood Press, 2000, and Vocabulary Plus: A Source Based Approach: K through 8 and High School and Up, Pearson, 2004.   She has published widely in such journals as School Library Journal, English Journal, The ALAN Review, College English, and Humor.

James Blasingame is an associate professor of English at Arizona State University and Director of the English Education program.  He is Past-President of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English and was the editor of The ALAN Review, a professional journal devoted to young adult literature, from 2003-2009.  He is the editor of the Books for Adolescents pages of the International Reading Association’s Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy and winner of the International Reading Association’s Arbuthnot Award for the 2008 outstanding university professor of young adult literature.  He was named the ASU Parents Association Professor of the Year in 2008.  He has published over 100 interviews with authors of young adult literature and over 300 book reviews.  Dr. Blasingame was a high school English teacher, coach, and administrator for 21 years in Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and Kansas before completing his doctorate at the University of Kansas in 2000.  He has been at ASU for 12 years, teaching courses in young adult literature and methods of teaching writing, as well as supervising student teachers.  He is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  

Don L. F. Nilsen is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at Arizona State University, but as an “extra” to his regular job, he also worked with young adult literature and with English Education students.  With his wife, Alleen, he is the co-founder of the International Society for Humor Studies.  The two of them also were co-presidents in 2009 of the American Name Society.  Together they wrote Pronunciation Contrasts in English, which recently came out in a new edition (Waveland Press, 2010) and the Encyclopedia of 20^th-Century American Humor, (Greenwood) which was chosen by the American Library Association as an “Outstanding Reference Book for 2000.”  Both his interest in humor and in the teaching of English as a second language are reflected in his contributions to the ninth edition of Literature for Today’s Young Adults. He and Alleen have also been co-presidents of the American Name Society and in 2007 they published the well-received Names and Naming in Young Adult Literature, Scarecrow Studies in YA Literature No. 27.   

The Ninth Edition of Literature for Today’s Young Adults is updated throughout with the voices of two new co-authors and ten of the authors’ own doctoral students; new information on using digital and other literacies; a fresh look at contemporary poetry; and information on connecting young adult literature to real-life events, understanding the significance of fantasy and supernatural literature, using children’s picture books, working with English Language Learners, dealing with new kinds of censorship issues, and more.

Readers are inspired to think and write about their own special interests through the original ideas and opinions of some of the authors’ own students in new sections called “Young Scholars Speak Out.” This edition brings the voices of ten of the authors’ doctoral or recently graduated students to readers, while the two new authors—Dr. James Blasingame, perhaps the most respected new scholar in the field, and linguistics professor Don L. F. Nilsen—add their own respected work.

Teachers and librarians are kept up to date on how to use digital and other new literacies effectively with students in an almost completely new Chapter 3, rewritten with the help of several teachers experienced in the use of today’s ever-changing technology.

The inclusion of actual poems by two contemporary poets keeps readers informed about this area of tremendous change in Chapter 6. It includes information on poetry, such as hip-hop, gangsta rap, poetry slams, and Brave New Voices. New and old web-based sources for poems and activities are also included.

Students see how to connect young adult literature to significant real-life events over the past 20 years through new artwork, new visualizations, and more in Chapter 2 and throughout the book.

The significance of fantasy and supernatural literature is explored to show teachers how this new phenomenon reflects and shapes popular culture—and how it has brought many adult readers to young adult books. Chapter 5 explores these genres’ overwhelming growth in popularity.

How to use children’s picture books to teach sophisticated literary concepts to teens is presented in Chapter 11, Young Adult Literature in the English Class.

Teachers see how to lead students into understanding the shifts between genres In Chapters 4 and 5 that explore what happens when authors drop magical realism into books that had originally appeared to be serious realistic fiction.

Using young adult books with English Language Learners is presented in a new section in Chapter 10 to help teachers deal effectively with these students in their classrooms.

A better awareness of the issue of bullying and other topics connected to LGBTQ issues—and the many books that are related to these topics—is enhanced in Chapter 9 under Teenagers Emotional and Physical Health.

The authors cross old boundaries to show readers how to help students go beyond self, family, and group identity to interact with other kids in other groups, without segregating characters by race and social class. (Throughout the book and in sections in chapters 3, 4, and 9.)

What students write, what they send online, and what they read is presented in a discussion of recent types of censorship. (See Chapter 12 in particular.)

The number one book in the field, now thoroughly updated to include new topics of critical interest to pre- and in-service teachers in today’s increasingly challenging young adult literature scene.

Long respected as the leader in the field, this guide gives teachers, librarians, parents, counselors, and other group leaders a comprehensive, reader-friendly look at Young Adult literature framed within a literary, historical, and social context—as a means to motivating teens to become life-long readers. Updated throughout with the voices of two new co-authors and ten of the authors’ own doctoral and recently graduated students, the Ninth Edition features:

• new information on using digital and other literacies
• a fresh look at contemporary poetry
• helpful information on connecting young adult literature to real-life events
• a guide for understanding the significance of fantasy and supernatural literature
• suggestions for using children’s picture books
• practical help for working with English Language Learners
• ways of dealing with censorship issues
• and much more

The number one book in the field, Literature for Today’s Young Adults, helps teachers learn how to motivate teenagers to become life-long readers and now features the voices of two new co-authors and ten of the authors’  Ph.D. students in a thorough update of critical topics and ideas.

A comprehensive, reader-friendly introduction to young adult literature, this book provides a look at YA literature framed within a literary, historical, and social context. Using this guide, teachers see how to evaluate books of all genres, from poetry and nonfiction to fantasies, drama, the supernatural, adventure, sports, mysteries, science fiction, graphic novels, and more.

Long respected as the leading textbook in university English departments, colleges of education, and schools of library science, this new edition is even more accessible than its predecessors and includes a number of updated topics of interest to a variety of audiences: teachers of English, reading, social studies, and ESL; as well as librarians, parents, counselors, and other group leaders. The challenges of using Young Adult literature with English Language Learners is explored, while one full chapter deals with Digital and Other New Literacies for Teachers and Librarians (new Ch. 3), and the final chapter (12) focuses on the increasingly important topic of censorship.

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