Ashley S. Boyd is an Assistant Professor of English Education at Washington State University where she teaches courses on English methods, young adult literature, and critical theories and pedagogies. A former secondary English teacher, Ashley’s research focuses on practicing teachers’ social justice pedagogies and their critical content knowledge and explores how young adult literature is an avenue for cultivating students’ critical literacies. Janine J. Darragh is an Associate Professor of Literacy and English as a Second Language at University of Idaho where she teaches courses on secondary literacy, young adult literature, and ESL. Her research focuses on sociocultural and social justice issues in teaching and learning.

Boyd (Washington State Univ.) and Darragh (Univ. of Idaho), experts in the field of young adult literature, have created a text enabling readers to uncover social justice themes in young adult literature, a rare accomplishment for the discipline. Each of the book's 12 chapters is devoted to a different social justice issue, including bullying, poverty, mental health, police brutality, sexual orientations and stigmas, and ecojustice, relating the given topic to a specific novel that treats the same issue. Each chapter also incorporates suggested teaching strategies, ideas for social action, supplemental resources, and substantial references. This reader-friendly volume supports the notion that what is taught in the classroom should be applied outside school as well and encourages action, by teachers and others, to tear down barriers to inclusiveness in the classroom. Reading for Action offers teaching techniques designed to resist and disrupt the status quo while remaining within the accepted boundaries of contemporary classrooms, making it a valuable resource for both current teachers and those preparing to become teachers.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.

• Foreword PrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: BullyingChapter 2: Global PovertyChapter 3: Mental HealthChapter 4: GenderChapter 5: Human TraffickingChapter 6: Refugee CrisisChapter 7: Women’s RightsChapter 8: Social Class Disparities in the United StatesChapter 9: Police BrutalityChapter 10: Immigration ReformChapter 11: Social Acceptance of Diverse Sexual OrientationsChapter 12: Environmental Protection and EcojusticeConclusionAbout the AuthorsIndex

Ashley S. Boyd is an Assistant Professor of English Education at Washington State University where she teaches courses on English methods, young adult literature, and critical theories and pedagogies. A former secondary English teacher, Ashley’s research focuses on practicing teachers’ social justice pedagogies and their critical content knowledge and explores how young adult literature is an avenue for cultivating students’ critical literacies. Janine J. Darragh is an Associate Professor of Literacy and English as a Second Language at University of Idaho where she teaches courses on secondary literacy, young adult literature, and ESL. Her research focuses on sociocultural and social justice issues in teaching and learning.

Boyd (Washington State Univ.) and Darragh (Univ. of Idaho), experts in the field of young adult literature, have created a text enabling readers to uncover social justice themes in young adult literature, a rare accomplishment for the discipline. Each of the book's 12 chapters is devoted to a different social justice issue, including bullying, poverty, mental health, police brutality, sexual orientations and stigmas, and ecojustice, relating the given topic to a specific novel that treats the same issue. Each chapter also incorporates suggested teaching strategies, ideas for social action, supplemental resources, and substantial references. This reader-friendly volume supports the notion that what is taught in the classroom should be applied outside school as well and encourages action, by teachers and others, to tear down barriers to inclusiveness in the classroom. Reading for Action offers teaching techniques designed to resist and disrupt the status quo while remaining within the accepted boundaries of contemporary classrooms, making it a valuable resource for both current teachers and those preparing to become teachers.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.

• Foreword PrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: BullyingChapter 2: Global PovertyChapter 3: Mental HealthChapter 4: GenderChapter 5: Human TraffickingChapter 6: Refugee CrisisChapter 7: Women’s RightsChapter 8: Social Class Disparities in the United StatesChapter 9: Police BrutalityChapter 10: Immigration ReformChapter 11: Social Acceptance of Diverse Sexual OrientationsChapter 12: Environmental Protection and EcojusticeConclusionAbout the AuthorsIndex