Examining Images of Urban Life

Laura Nicosia (PhD, New York University) is Professor of English at Montclair State University, New Jersey, where she teaches all things American literature, Young Adult/Children’s Literatures, Speculative Fiction: Fantasy, Science Fiction, and literary theory. Nicosia is the author of Educators Online: Preparing Today’s Educators for Tomorrow’s Digital Literacies, co-editor of Through a Distorted Lens: Media as Curricula and Pedagogy in the 21st Century, co-editor of Critical Insights: John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, and co-editor of the two-volume set, Notable American Writers.Dr. Jim Nicosia is a writer, scholar and children's literacy advocate. He teaches American literature, Grammars of English and Young Adult Literature at Montclair State University in New Jersey. He is the author of Reading Mark Strand, runs the BoyBookoftheMonth.com website for reluctant readers and regularly speaks to teachers and young readers about invigorating their reading lives. He is the co-editor of Critical Insights: John Steinbeck’s The Pearl and the 2-volume set, Notable American Women Writers.

• Introduction: Celebrating the CityLaura M. Nicosia and James F. NicosiaChapter One: An Author's Perspective: Finding Your Place in the Landscapee.E. Charlton-TrujilloChapter Two: Storifying the City: Examining Representations of Urban Areas in Sherri L. Smith's OrleansSean P. ConnorsChapter Three: Genre and Gentrification in the Young Adult NovelKaren CoatsChapter Four: Tears on Concrete: Shaping Youth Identities in the Shadows of Gentrification in Daniel José Older's ShadowshaperTricia M. Kress and Patricia PatrissyChapter Five: An Author's Perspective: Where I Can Plant the SeedsBenjamin Alire SáenzChapter Six: "Somewhere away from the Lights of the City": Unsettling the Normative Frameworks of Urban Space in Queer Young Adult LiteratureAngel Daniel MatosChapter Seven: Anti-Urbanism in Willa Cather's Mythical WestMelinda KnightChapter Eight: The Poetic City: The Importance of the City Setting in The Poet XKatie SluiterChapter Nine: An Author's Perspective: An Undocumented Girl Finds a Sense of BelongingMaria AndreuChapter Ten: The Urban and the Urbane: Girls and New York City in Cecily von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl and Rita Williams-Garcia's JumpedEmma K. McNamaraChapter Eleven: The Sensual City: Jason Reynolds's When I Was the Greatest and The Boy in the Black SuitJames F. Nicosia and Laura M. NicosiaChapter Twelve: An Author's Perspective: Music Lives in the CityMary Rand HessChapter Thirteen: Visions of the City: Examining Urban Landscapes in Shaun Tan's Visual NarrativesWendy R. Williams and Kristina D. ByBeeEditor BiosContributor BiosIndexNote: Table of Contents subject to change up until book is published.