Breaking the Taboo with Young Adult Literature

Victor Malo-Juvera is a former middle school teacher and current associate professor of English Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he teaches courses in young adult literature and multicultural young adult literature. Paula Greathouse is associate professor of secondary English Education at Tennessee Tech where she teaches English methods and literacy courses. She was a secondary English and Reading teacher for sixteen years.

Breaking the Taboo with Young Adult Literature offers practical suggestions for teachers wanting to bring demanding topics into their classrooms. The strength of the text resides in its presentation of varied instructional approaches that invite students and their teachers to learn and think critically about topics that defy easy understanding. Across the volume, contributors share ideas for incorporating explorations of genre and author’s craft, connections to historical events and moments, analyses of legal precedents and policies, classroom research into local and global communities, theories of intersectionality that invite examination of oppression and privilege, and student-led advocacy and action research projects, each of which creates space for complex learning and engagement.

• PREFACEINTRODUCTION: Breaking the Taboo Victor Malo-Juvera and Paula GreathouseCHAPTER 1: Date Rape in Speak: Teaching for Justice Using the Graphic NovelShelly Shaffer CHAPTER 2: Speak! Shout! Hearing from and Advocating for Victims of Sexual Violence and Sexual HarassmentMarshall A. GeorgeCHAPTER 3: Exploring Women’s Rights and Sexual Assault through Blood Water Paint: How far have we come anyway? Alice HaysCHAPTER 4: Examining Mental Illness in John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down: OCD - More than Just Attention to DetailElsie Lindy Olan & Kia Jane RichmondCHAPTER 5: Putting the Pieces Together: Destigmatizing Self-Harm through Kathleen Glasgow’s Girl in PiecesJanine J. Darragh and Ashley S. BoydCHAPTER 6: When Home is Traumatic: David Small’s Graphic Memoir, StitchesEmily WenderCHAPTER 7: Choosing Love over Hate: Raising Students Who Understand Bullying and Its Dangerous Consequences – Hate ListLeilya PitreCHAPTER 8: Far from Simple: Addressing the Complexities of Equity and Justice in Robin Benway’s Far from the TreeSharon Kane and Christine WalshCHAPTER 9: Digging up the Injustices of the Roaring 20s: Dreamland BurningCrag HillCHAPTER 10: Examining Systemic Racism and Police Brutality in Angie Thomas's The Hate U GiveSteffany Comfort MaherCHAPTER 11: Confronting Cultural Appropriation and Gentrification through YAL: ShadowshaperMeredith N. SinclairCHAPTER 12: Teachers, Allies, & Sacrifice: Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniels and his Sacrifice for Civil Rights Steven Bickmore and Tammy SzafranskiCHAPTER 13: Exploring Equity and Justice in the Female Immigrant Experience through Anya’s GhostNina R. Schoonover and Michelle FalterCHAPTER 14: Equity, Justice, and Love: Contextualizing the Fight for Marriage Equality with Loving vs. VirginiaTerri SuicoCHAPTER 15: Telling the Stories: Teaching LGBTQ+ Memoir Melanie HundleyCHAPTER 16: Using Jaya and Rasa: A Love Story to Portray Love’s Power in Assisting Two Outcast Adolescents Achieve Societal Voices and Personal Self-Esteem Lisa A. Hazlett and Ann Marie SmithCHAPTER 17: Engaging the Intersections of Gender, Race, and Immigration in American StreetE. Sybil DurandABOUT THE EDITORS ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS SUBJECT INDEX