Young Adult Literature and Adolescent Identity Across Cultures and Classrooms

Janet Alsup is Associate Professor of English Education at Purdue University with a joint appointment in the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Education.

• 1 Introduction: Identification, Actualization, or Education: Why Teach YA?, Janet Alsup Part I: Who are the Teens Reading YA? 2 African American Young Adult Literature and Black Adolescent Identity: Developing a Sense of Self and Society Through Narrative, Joy Dangora 3 Depictions of Chinese Americans in Young Adult Literature: American Born Chinese and Beyond, Nai- Hua Kuo 4 Composing Themselves: The Discursive (De) Construction of Queer Identity in 6 Young Adult Novels, James R. Gilligan 5 Teaching Through the Conflict: Examining the Value of Culturally Authentic Arabic Young Adult Literature, Nisreen Anati 6 Culture and Language: The Two Tongues of Mexican-American Young Adult Literature, William J. Broz and René Saldaña Jr. Part II: Why Should Teachers Teach YA? 7 Developing the Moral Identity Through Young Adult Fantasy Literature, Aliel Cunningham 8 Beyond the Comics Page: Pedagogical Opportunities and Challenges in Teaching Graphic Novels, Lisa Schade Eckert 9 Pedagogues and Demigods: Captivity, Pedagogy, and Young Adult Literature in an Age of Diminished Expectations, Jeff Spanke 10 Perspective Giving and Taking in the Secondary English Class: Considering the Case of Erin Gruwell, Jeanne Smith Muzzillo Part III: Why Are Teens Reading YA? 11 The Appeal of Young Adult Literature in Late Adolescence: College Freshmen Read, Gail Zdilla 12 Female Reader Reading YA: Understanding Norman Holland’s Identity Themes Thirty Years Later, Janet Alsup