On Monday, YA literature expert Jennifer Buehler was interviewed on . 聽The interview, representing the theme of this year鈥檚 , focused on teaching students with diverse young adult literature.
After defining young adult literature,
[It鈥檚]鈥渘ot useful to say YA is any book with a teenager in it. A YA book is told from this limited adolescent perspective, the work of the story is to watch the character figuring out his/her place in the world, usually through some kind of epiphany鈥攃oming to consciousness of who they are in the world and what they鈥檙e going to do about it (from YA lit. expert ). 聽Publishers also play a big part in books labeled as YA.鈥�
Jennifer pointed out why kids need to read diverse young adult literature–diversity broadly defined as by 听.
鈥淲e live in a diverse world鈥t鈥檚 much safer to teach what we鈥檝e always taught and to stick with the old canon鈥But] Not only do kids of color need to see themselves represented in story so do kids of the dominant culture need to see a broader swath of the world we live in鈥�it鈥檚 good for everyone.鈥�
Teachers and librarians are key:
鈥淭eachers being readers themselves is a critical element. Teachers need to bring books to their classrooms that they believe in, to introduce books and conversations to their students that they believe in鈥and] librarians are so important; they鈥檙e people who can remind us of why reading is so important in the first place, a more generous view of why kids want to read certain books.鈥�
And, curricular mandates needn鈥檛 stand in the way of teaching YA lit instead of / or along with a canonical classic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 never about the books themselves when it comes to state standards it鈥檚 what we do with the books. You can take a complex, rich, and nuanced approach on any book. 鈥�
起点传媒member Jennifer Buehler, Associate Professor of Educational Studies at St. Louis University in Missouri, is author of the forthcoming 起点传媒book , host of dozens of ReadWriteThink podcasts about YA books.
Find her on Twitter @ProfBuehler.