American Indian Themes in Young Adult Literature

American Indian Themes in Young Adult Literature PDF Author: Paulette Fairbanks Molin
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810850811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
This book analyzes American Indian characters and themes in young adult literature, outlining plots and evaluating content from a native perspective. Teachers, librarians, parents, and young adult readers seeking information about American Indian-themed literature for young adults will want to consult this resource. It points out works that foster misinformation and stereotypes, but examines the growing number of authors that counteract such messages as well. The book also includes a bibliography that will lead audiences to further reading.

American Indian Themes in Young Adult Literature

American Indian Themes in Young Adult Literature PDF Author: Paulette Fairbanks Molin
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810850811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book analyzes American Indian characters and themes in young adult literature, outlining plots and evaluating content from a native perspective. Teachers, librarians, parents, and young adult readers seeking information about American Indian-themed literature for young adults will want to consult this resource. It points out works that foster misinformation and stereotypes, but examines the growing number of authors that counteract such messages as well. The book also includes a bibliography that will lead audiences to further reading.

Chris Crutcher

Chris Crutcher PDF Author: Bryan Gillis
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810885638
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Chris Crutcher is a literary icon in the field of young adult literature. In this book, Gillis and Cole examine the life, career, and works of this young adult advocate. This volume opens with a never-before-published comprehensive portrait of the author’s life, gleaned from numerous conversations with Crutcher. The authors explore Crutcher’s childhood, his adolescent years, his life as an adult, and his career as a family counselor and examine how those experiences became fodder for his stories. The authors also discuss Crutcher's encounters with censorship and his philosophical stance. Gillis and Cole also analyze Crutcher’s novels, short stories, and novellas, examining his literary craft and such social themes as bigotry, identity, sexuality, relationships, and loss—themes almost always positioned within a sports story.

John Green

John Green PDF Author: Kathleen Deakin
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442249978
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
In a very short time, John Green has become an icon of young adult literature. His first novel, Looking for Alaska (2005) won the Michael Prinz award, Paper Towns (2008) received an Edgar Allan Poe award, and in 2014, Time magazine named him one its 100 Most Influential People. The Fault in Our Stars reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and the film adaptation was a worldwide hit. John Green: Teen Whisperer looks at the work of a versatile author whose works have fast become must-reads for teens and adults alike. After providing a biographical sketch of the author, subsequent chapters focus on different “types” of Green’s writing: radio broadcasts, blogs, vlogs, YouTube videos, and, of course, his novels, including An Abundance of Katherines (2006) and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010). This volume concludes with an interview of Green and a unique final chapter that considers not only the young adult view of his work, but an adult perspective as well. Based on extensive research, this book captures the diverse elements of Green and his work: predictable, but surprising; stable, yet enigmatic; aloof, but deeply caring; hip, but homespun; irreverent, but deeply spiritual. Exploring why his writing reaches both teens and adults, John Green: Teen Whisperer will be of interest to librarians, scholars, and the author’s many fans.

Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer PDF Author: James Blasingame
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810883732
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Looks at the life and work of Stephenie Meyer, before and after writing Twilight. Also explores her writing style, with a look at each of her books.

Pete Hautman

Pete Hautman PDF Author: Joel Shoemaker
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442257199
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Pete Hautman is an author who likes to tackle big ideas—from addiction and psychosis to the nature of belief and what the world is coming to—in his fiction for teen readers. In novels like Mr. Was, Sweetblood, Invisible, Rash, and the National Book Award winner, Godless, Hautman leavens his exploration of these big ideas with humor while showing that he understands how overwhelming such matters can be. As Hautman himself says, “It’s complicated.” In Pete Hautman: Speaking the Truth to Teens, Joel Shoemaker looks at the life and work of an author whose young adult fiction represent a wider breadth of subject matter and interests than is typically found in any single author’s young adult novels. Chapters in this book explicate individual novels such as Godless and Eden West which focus on religious issues and teens, while time-travel conundrums are explored in Mr. Was and the Klaatu Diskos trilogy, and three books look at teens who play poker for very high stakes. Other works discussed in this study are examples of realistic contemporary fiction: How to Steal a Car, Blank Confession, and two books that take very different approaches to the matter of teens and falling in love, The Big Crunch and What Boys Really Want. Shoemaker’s interviews with the author and several family members provide opportunities for unique insights into Hautman’s work, drawing clear connections between his life and his writings. Pete Hautman: Speaking the Truth to Teens will be of interest to librarians, scholars, and the author’s many fans.

Learning Curves

Learning Curves PDF Author: Beth Younger
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810869500
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
Adolescence is a time of growth, change, and confusion for young women. During this transition from childhood to adulthood, sex and gender roles become more important. Meanwhile, depictions of females_from the hyper-sexualized girls of music videos to the chaste repression of Purity Balls_send mixed messages to young women about their bodies and their sexuality. Over the last several decades, authors of young adult novels have been challenged to reflect this concern in their work and have responded with varying degrees of success. In Learning Curves: Body Image and Female Sexuality in Young Adult Literature, Beth Younger examines how cultural assumptions and social constraints are reinforced and complicated through common representations of young women. Each chapter analyzes a recurrent theme in the history of young adult literature, including issues of body image, pregnancy, abortion, lesbianism, and romance. By examining selected novels for their sexual content, situating them within their social and historical context, and analyzing their discursive qualities, the author reveals the multitude of complex ways that society depicts teenagers and their sexualities and offers a critique of patriarchal culture that gives value to the female experience.

Race in Young Adult Speculative Fiction

Race in Young Adult Speculative Fiction PDF Author: Meghan Gilbert-Hickey
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 149683383X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Winner of the Children’s Literature Association’s 2023 Edited Book Award Contributions by Malin Alkestrand, Joshua Yu Burnett, Sean P. Connors, Jill Coste, Meghan Gilbert-Hickey, Miranda A. Green-Barteet, Sierra Hale, Kathryn Strong Hansen, Elizabeth Ho, Esther L. Jones, Sarah Olutola, Alex Polish, Zara Rix, Susan Tan, and Roberta Seelinger Trites Race in Young Adult Speculative Fiction offers a sustained analysis of race and representation in young adult speculative fiction (YASF). The collection considers how characters of color are represented in YASF, how they contribute to and participate in speculative worlds, how race affects or influences the structures of speculative worlds, and how race and racial ideologies are implicated in YASF. This collection also examines how race and racism are discussed in YASF or if, indeed, race and racism are discussed at all. Essays explore such notable and popular works as the Divergent series, The Red Queen, The Lunar Chronicles, and the Infernal Devices trilogy. They consider the effects of colorblind ideology and postracialism on YASF, a genre that is often seen as progressive in its representation of adolescent protagonists. Simply put, colorblindness silences those who believe—and whose experiences demonstrate—that race and racism do continue to matter. In examining how some YASF texts normalize many of our social structures and hierarchies, this collection examines how race and racism are represented in the genre and considers how hierarchies of race are reinscribed in some texts and transgressed in others. Contributors point toward the potential of YASF to address and interrogate racial inequities in the contemporary West and beyond. They critique texts that fall short of this possibility, and they articulate ways in which readers and critics alike might nonetheless locate diversity within narratives. This is a collection troubled by the lingering emphasis on colorblindness in YASF, but it is also the work of scholars who love the genre and celebrate its progress toward inclusivity, and who further see in it an enduring future for intersectional identity.

Native North Americans in Literature for Youth

Native North Americans in Literature for Youth PDF Author: Alice Crosetto
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810891905
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Native North Americans have rich and diverse cultures and traditions. However, many misconceptions, prejudices, and stereotypes exist due to the lack of understanding and ignorance of these cultures. It is important that children and adolescents learn about and appreciate the invaluable contributions that North American Native groups have made to American society. Equally important is the availability of resources that accurately and objectively portray the historical events that occurred when European settlers displaced thousands of Native North Americans from their ancestral homelands. In Native North Americans in Literature for Youth, Alice Crosetto and Rajinder Garcha identify hundreds of appropriate and quality resources, including books, Internet sites, and media titles for K-12 students and educators. Entries are subdivided into chapters covering geographic regions, history, religions, social life, customs and traditions, nations, oral tradition, biographies, and fiction. Additionally, there are chapters for general reference resources, curricular resources for educators, media, and Internet sites. Annotations provide complete bibliographical descriptions of the entries, and each entry is identified with the grade level for which it is best suited. Reviews, awards, series, and URLs for supplemental online resources are also included. Anyone—especially students, teachers, librarians, and parents—interested in locating useful and accurate resources regarding Native North Americans will find this reference book a helpful and essential tool.

They Suck, They Bite, They Eat, They Kill

They Suck, They Bite, They Eat, They Kill PDF Author: Joni Richards Bodart
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810882272
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
Teen readers have always been fascinated by monsters, but lately it seems like every other young adult (YA) book is about vampires, zombies, or werewolves. These works are controversial, since they look at aspects of life and human nature that adults prefer to keep hidden from teenagers. But this is also why they are so important: They provide a literal example of how ignoring life's hazards won't make them go away and demonstrate that ignorance of danger puts one at greater risk. In They Suck, They Bite, They Eat, They Kill: The Psychological Meaning of Supernatural Monsters in Young Adult Fiction Joni Bodart examines six different monsters--vampires, shapeshifters, zombies, unicorns, angels, and demons--in YA literature. Bodart first discusses the meaning of these monsters in cultures all over the world. Subsequent chapters explore their history and most important incarnations, comparing the same kind of creatures featured in different titles. This volume also contains interviews with authors who provide additional insight and information, and the bibliography includes a comprehensive list of titles featuring the various monsters. Analyzing the most important and well-written series and titles for teens, They Suck, They Bite, They Eat, They Kill will be useful for parents, teachers, and anyone else hoping to understand why teens want to read books in this genre and what some of the benefits of reading them might be.

Multicultural and Ethnic Children’s Literature in the United States

Multicultural and Ethnic Children’s Literature in the United States PDF Author: Donna L. Gilton
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538138417
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
This edition of Multicultural and Ethnic Children’s Literature in the United States addresses both quantitative and more qualitative changes in this field over the last decade. Quantitative changes include more authors, books, and publishers; book review sources, booklists, and awards; organizations, institutions, and websites; and criticism and other scholarship. Qualitative changes include: More support for new and emerging writers and illustrators; Promotion of multicultural literature both in the U.S. and around the world, as well as developments in global literature; Developments in the literatures described throughout this book, as well as in research supporting this literature; The impact of technology; Characteristics and activities of four adult audiences that use and promote multicultural children’s literature, and Changes in leaders and their organizations. This is still a single reference source for busy and involved librarians, teachers, parents, scholars, publishers, distributors, and community leaders. Most books on multicultural children’s literature are written especially for teachers, librarians, and scholars. They may be introductions to the literature, selection tools, teaching guides, or very theoretical books on choosing, evaluating, and using these materials. Multicultural and Ethnic Children’s Literature in the United States focuses much more on the history of the development of this literature, from the nineteenth century to the present day. This book provides much more of a cultural and political context for the early development of this literature. It emphasizes the “self-determining” viewpoints and activities of diverse people as they produce materials for the young. Multicultural and Ethnic Children’s Literature… describes organizations, events, activities, and other contributions of diverse writers, illustrators, publishers, researchers, scholars, librarians, educators, and parents. It also describes trends in the research on the literature. It elaborates more on ways in which diversity is still an issue in publishing companies and an extended list of related industries. It describes related literature from outside of the U.S. and makes connections to traditional global literature. Last, Multicultural and Ethnic Children’s Literature, shows the impact of multiculturalism on education, libraries, and the mainstream culture, in general. While the other books on multiculturalism focus on how to find, evaluate, and use multicultural materials, especially in schools and libraries, this book is concerned over whether and how books are produced in the first place and how this material impact the broader society. In many ways, it supplements other books on multicultural children’s literature.