Literacy education has historically characterized mass media as manipulative towards young people who, as a result, are in need of close-reading "skills." By contrast, Pop Culture and Power treats literacy as a dynamic practice, shaped by its social and cultural context. It develops a framework to analyse power in its various manifestations, arguing that power works through popular culture, not as everyday media. Pop Culture and Power thus explores media engagement as an opportunity to promote social change. Seeing pop culture as a teaching opportunity rather than as a threat, Dawn H. Currie and Deirdre M. Kelly worked with K-12 educators to investigate how pop culture can support teaching for social justice. Currie and Kelly began the research for this project with a teacher education seminar in media analysis where participants designed classroom activities using board games, popular film, music videos, and advertisements. These activities were later piloted in participants' classrooms, enabling the authors to identify and address practical issues encountered by student learners. Case studies describe the design, implementation, and retrospective assessment of activities engaging learners in media analysis and production. Following the case studies, the authors consider how their approach can foster ethical practices when engaging in the digital environment. Pop Culture and Power offers theoretically informed yet practical tools that can help educators prepare youth for engagement in our increasingly complex world of mediated meaning making.

'Girl Power': Girls Reinventing Girlhood examines the identity practices of girls who have grown up in the context of 'girl power' culture. The book asks whether - and which - girls have benefited from this feminist-inspired movement. Can girls truly become anything they want, as suggested by those who claim that the traditional mandate of femininity - compliance to male interests - is a thing of the past? To address such questions, the authors distinguish between 'girlhood' as a cultural ideal, and girls as the embodied agents through which girlhood becomes a social accomplishment. The book identifies significant issues for parents and teachers of girls, and offers suggestions for 'critical social literacy' as a classroom practice that recognizes the ways popular culture mediates young people's understanding of gender. 'Girl Power' will be of interest to researchers of contemporary gender identities, as well as educational professionals and adult girl advocates. It is relevant for students in gender studies and teacher-education courses, as well as graduate student researchers.