Breaking the Taboo with Young Adult Literature

This text offers 6th - 12th grade educators guided instructional approaches for including diverse young adult (YA) literature in the classroom as a form of social justice teaching and learning. Through the YA books spotlighted in this text, educators are provided pre-, during-, and after reading activities that guide students to a deeper understanding of topics that are often considered taboo in the classroom - race, racism, mental health, immigration, gender, sexuality, sexual assault - while increasing their literacy practices.

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.--Wendy Glenn, Fulbright Scholar; professor, Literacy Studies and Teacher Learning, Research, and Practice; co-director, Teacher Education; chair, Secondary Humanities in the School of Education, University of Colorado Boulder, Topics considered taboo are often challenged and even banned from shelves where young adults might find them. This collection of essays helps form the foundation for their inclusion and use in the classroom. From Speak and Turtles All the Way Down to American Street and The Hate U Give, chapters provide cogent discussion opportunities and projects that can connect several books at a time. The structure of the book will permit educators to select one activity and use it for any other book in the collection. The support and research from this collection will likewise support teachers who wish to bring difficult texts to their students.--Teri S. Lesesne, Distinguished Professor, Library Science, Sam Houston State University

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.