This first book in a three volume series celebrates and examines the work of four African American authors of young adult literature. They are Virginia Hamilton, Julius Lester, Walter Dean Myers, and Mildred D. Taylor; they serve as the foundation of young adult literature and provide robust stories that center and illuminate African American youth. In addition, this volume also examines the role of the Coretta Scott King Award in promoting access and visibility to authors and illustrators who shine a spotlight on African American youth and society. The chapter authors--librarians and established and emerging scholars in the field of young adult literature--survey the work of Hamilton, Lester, Myers, or Taylor; their accolades; and how audiences initially responded to their work. Each chapter highlights a single work and discusses how it might be taught, providing pre, during, and post reading activities or, in some cases, individual, small group, or whole class activities. This volume is a resource for classroom teachers, teacher educators, reading specialists, librarians, and other educators who study, research, and read young adult literature. This first volume supplements studies in the foundations of African American authors of young adult literature and explorations of critical works by these authors.

Technology and multimodal texts must be included as part of the literacies we teach in 21st century schools. Implementing multiple modes of literacy requires that teachers shift their focus toward multiple genres and modes of text. This shift to the visual requires that teachers consider how students read images in the classroom, address visual literacy, and engage students in constructing visual texts. Students already live and communicate in a virtual world connected by expansive networks, and many also read young adult literature. Given this, researchers and practitioners in the field examine ways texts written for students can be combined with digital tools to craft more critical conversations around literary response and digital media consumption and production. This book explores ways adolescents read, engage, and construct meaning within the world around them and examines how teachers can leverage the use of young adult literature with digital practices within their classrooms.

This is the third book in a three volume series celebrating and examining about the work of 11 of the most prominent African American authors since 2000. The eleven identified authors are Andrea Davis Pinkney, Coe Booth, Sheila P. Moses, Kwame Alexander, Kekla Magoon, Jason Reynolds, Varian Johnson, Renee Watson, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nnedi Okorafor, and Lamar Giles. These authors build on the work of the authors in books two and three. The chapter authors-librarians and established and emerging scholars in the field of young adult literature--survey the work of each author, their accolades, and how audiences responded to their work. Each chapter highlights a single work and discusses how it might be taught in a classroom with a focus on introductory, during, and concluding activities for individuals, small groups and the whole class. This volume is a resource for classroom teachers, teacher educators, reading specialists, librarians, and other educators who study, research, and read young adult literature. Even more importantly it can be resource for students who read and study these authors at the secondary and collegiate level. This is especially true when the current moment in the U. S. shows facing anew concerns of voting rights and discussion of how and when Critical Race Theory or any discussion of Race might take place in a classroom.

This is the third book in a three volume series celebrating and examining about the work of 11 of the most prominent African American authors since 2000. The eleven identified authors are Andrea Davis Pinkney, Coe Booth, Sheila P. Moses, Kwame Alexander, Kekla Magoon, Jason Reynolds, Varian Johnson, Renee Watson, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nnedi Okorafor, and Lamar Giles. These authors build on the work of the authors in books two and three. The chapter authors-librarians and established and emerging scholars in the field of young adult literature--survey the work of each author, their accolades, and how audiences responded to their work. Each chapter highlights a single work and discusses how it might be taught in a classroom with a focus on introductory, during, and concluding activities for individuals, small groups and the whole class. This volume is a resource for classroom teachers, teacher educators, reading specialists, librarians, and other educators who study, research, and read young adult literature. Even more importantly it can be resource for students who read and study these authors at the secondary and collegiate level. This is especially true when the current moment in the U. S. shows facing anew concerns of voting rights and discussion of how and when Critical Race Theory or any discussion of Race might take place in a classroom.

This volume focuses on a group of authors who began writing in the late 1980s. This group consists of eight authors who expanded the foundation and built a critical reputation that garnered a variety of nominations and awards. These authors are: Rita Williams-Garcia, Jacqueline Woodson, Angela Johnson, Nikki Grimes, Sharon Draper, Christopher Paul Curtis, and Sharon G. Flake, and Jewel Parker Rhodes. This volume has a chapter for each of these eight authors that focuses on their critical reception as authors, then discusses in some detail a single representative work, and, finally offers classroom activities for individual, small group, and whole class activities that will engage students in the work discussed.

This volume focuses on a group of authors who began writing in the late 1980s. This group consists of eight authors who expanded the foundation and built a critical reputation that garnered a variety of nominations and awards. These authors are: Rita Williams-Garcia, Jacqueline Woodson, Angela Johnson, Nikki Grimes, Sharon Draper, Christopher Paul Curtis, and Sharon G. Flake, and Jewel Parker Rhodes. This volume has a chapter for each of these eight authors that focuses on their critical reception as authors, then discusses in some detail a single representative work, and, finally offers classroom activities for individual, small group, and whole class activities that will engage students in the work discussed.

When Loss Gets Personal considers how secondary English language arts teachers and teacher educators can sensitively and thoughtfully teach pieces of literature in their classrooms in which death is a significant, if not central, aspect of the texts. Death is something that affects all people young and old, yet it is rarely discussed openly in classrooms despite its prevalence in texts read in ELA classrooms. Whether it is canonical or contemporary literature, middle grades or young adult literature, fiction, nonfiction, or graphic novels, literature provides a vehicle to have difficult but needed conversations about personal deaths such as cancer, accidents, suicide, etc. Each chapter in this book focuses on 1-2 texts and provides practical activities that ask students to engage with the loss through writing assignments, projects, activities, and discussion prompts in order to build empathy, understanding, and develop critically-minded and engaged students. When Loss Gets Personal will be of interest to English language arts teachers, teacher educators, librarians, and scholars who wish to explore with their students the complex emotions that revolve around discussing deaths that occur in literature.

When Loss Gets Personal considers how secondary English language arts teachers and teacher educators can sensitively and thoughtfully teach pieces of literature in their classrooms in which death is a significant, if not central, aspect of the texts. Death is something that affects all people young and old, yet it is rarely discussed openly in classrooms despite its prevalence in texts read in ELA classrooms. Whether it is canonical or contemporary literature, middle grades or young adult literature, fiction, nonfiction, or graphic novels, literature provides a vehicle to have difficult but needed conversations about personal deaths such as cancer, accidents, suicide, etc. Each chapter in this book focuses on 1-2 texts and provides practical activities that ask students to engage with the loss through writing assignments, projects, activities, and discussion prompts in order to build empathy, understanding, and develop critically-minded and engaged students. When Loss Gets Personal will be of interest to English language arts teachers, teacher educators, librarians, and scholars who wish to explore with their students the complex emotions that revolve around discussing deaths that occur in literature.

Moving Beyond Personal Loss to Societal Grieving considers how secondary English language arts teachers and teacher educators can sensitively and thoughtfully teach pieces of literature in their classrooms in which large-scale deaths are a significant, if not central, aspect of the texts. As mass shootings and violence against black and brown bodies increase, and issues such as AIDS, war, and genocide remain important to discuss as part of a shared, critical, and social consciousness, this book provides resources for educators to directly tackle and discuss these topics through the texts they read in their ELA classrooms. Whether it is canonical or contemporary literature, middle grades or young adult literature, fiction, nonfiction, or graphic novels, literature provides a vehicle to have these difficult but needed conversations about not only the personal but social effects of death and grief in our society. Each chapter in this book focuses on 1-2 texts and provides practical activities that ask students to engage with death, dying, and loss through writing assignments, projects, activities, and discussion prompts in order to build empathy, understanding, and develop critically-minded and engaged students. Moving Beyond Personal Loss to Societal Grieving will be of interest to English language arts teachers, teacher educators, librarians, and scholars who wish to explore with their students the complex emotions that revolve around discussing deaths that occur in literature.

Moving Beyond Personal Loss to Societal Grieving considers how secondary English language arts teachers and teacher educators can sensitively and thoughtfully teach pieces of literature in their classrooms in which large-scale deaths are a significant, if not central, aspect of the texts. As mass shootings and violence against black and brown bodies increase, and issues such as AIDS, war, and genocide remain important to discuss as part of a shared, critical, and social consciousness, this book provides resources for educators to directly tackle and discuss these topics through the texts they read in their ELA classrooms. Whether it is canonical or contemporary literature, middle grades or young adult literature, fiction, nonfiction, or graphic novels, literature provides a vehicle to have these difficult but needed conversations about not only the personal but social effects of death and grief in our society. Each chapter in this book focuses on 1-2 texts and provides practical activities that ask students to engage with death, dying, and loss through writing assignments, projects, activities, and discussion prompts in order to build empathy, understanding, and develop critically-minded and engaged students. Moving Beyond Personal Loss to Societal Grieving will be of interest to English language arts teachers, teacher educators, librarians, and scholars who wish to explore with their students the complex emotions that revolve around discussing deaths that occur in literature.

This book considers the practical intersection between digital media and young adult texts. In these books, teachers and teacher educators offer practical examples for engaging students with crafting critical responses to young adult literature through digital spaces. It examines how teachers can use these spaces to help students encounter, evaluate, and engage in the world in which they live. Young adult literature offers a vehicle through which students can discuss and explore the world in a more removed manner, while digital media offers a paradigm for helping students craft multimodal responses that extend beyond the traditional literary essay. This intersection asks teachers to consider how they are asking students to interact with the texts they read. It asks them to invite students to enter and contribute to broader conversations through the production of their own texts. This book illustrates pedagogical principles in practice, showing what is possible in literature study in classrooms.

Technology and multimodal texts must be included as part of the literacies we teach in 21st century schools. Implementing multiple modes of literacy requires that teachers shift their focus toward multiple genres and modes of text. This shift to the visual requires that teachers consider how students read images in the classroom, address visual literacy, and engage students in constructing visual texts. Students already live and communicate in a virtual world connected by expansive networks, and many also read young adult literature. Given this, researchers and practitioners in the field examine ways texts written for students can be combined with digital tools to craft more critical conversations around literary response and digital media consumption and production. This book explores ways adolescents read, engage, and construct meaning within the world around them and examines how teachers can leverage the use of young adult literature with digital practices within their classrooms.

This book considers the practical intersection between digital media and young adult texts. In these books, teachers and teacher educators offer practical examples for engaging students with crafting critical responses to young adult literature through digital spaces. It examines how teachers can use these spaces to help students encounter, evaluate, and engage in the world in which they live. Young adult literature offers a vehicle through which students can discuss and explore the world in a more removed manner, while digital media offers a paradigm for helping students craft multimodal responses that extend beyond the traditional literary essay. This intersection asks teachers to consider how they are asking students to interact with the texts they read. It asks them to invite students to enter and contribute to broader conversations through the production of their own texts. This book illustrates pedagogical principles in practice, showing what is possible in literature study in classrooms.

This first book in a three volume series celebrates and examines the work of four African American authors of young adult literature. They are Virginia Hamilton, Julius Lester, Walter Dean Myers, and Mildred D. Taylor; they serve as the foundation of young adult literature and provide robust stories that center and illuminate African American youth. In addition, this volume also examines the role of the Coretta Scott King Award in promoting access and visibility to authors and illustrators who shine a spotlight on African American youth and society. The chapter authors--librarians and established and emerging scholars in the field of young adult literature--survey the work of Hamilton, Lester, Myers, or Taylor; their accolades; and how audiences initially responded to their work. Each chapter highlights a single work and discusses how it might be taught, providing pre, during, and post reading activities or, in some cases, individual, small group, or whole class activities. This volume is a resource for classroom teachers, teacher educators, reading specialists, librarians, and other educators who study, research, and read young adult literature. This first volume supplements studies in the foundations of African American authors of young adult literature and explorations of critical works by these authors.