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.

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.

PREFACE INTRODUCTION: Breaking the Taboo Victor Malo-Juvera and Paula Greathouse CHAPTER 1: Date Rape in Speak: Teaching for Justice Using the Graphic Novel Shelly Shaffer CHAPTER 2: Speak! Shout! Hearing from and Advocating for Victims of Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Marshall A. George CHAPTER 3: Exploring Women's Rights and Sexual Assault through Blood Water Paint: How far have we come anyway? Alice Hays CHAPTER 4: Examining Mental Illness in John Green's Turtles All the Way Down: OCD - More than Just Attention to Detail Elsie Lindy Olan & Kia Jane Richmond CHAPTER 5: Putting the Pieces Together: Destigmatizing Self-Harm through Kathleen Glasgow's Girl in Pieces Janine J. Darragh and Ashley S. Boyd CHAPTER 6: When Home is Traumatic: David Small's Graphic Memoir, Stitches Emily Wender CHAPTER 7: Choosing Love over Hate: Raising Students Who Understand Bullying and Its Dangerous Consequences - Hate List Leilya Pitre CHAPTER 8: Far from Simple: Addressing the Complexities of Equity and Justice in Robin Benway's Far from the Tree Sharon Kane and Christine Walsh CHAPTER 9: Digging up the Injustices of the Roaring 20s: Dreamland Burning Crag Hill CHAPTER 10: Examining Systemic Racism and Police Brutality in Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give Steffany Comfort Maher CHAPTER 11: Confronting Cultural Appropriation and Gentrification through YAL: Shadowshaper Meredith N. Sinclair CHAPTER 12: Teachers, Allies, & Sacrifice: Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniels and his Sacrifice for Civil Rights Steven Bickmore and Tammy Szafranski CHAPTER 13: Exploring Equity and Justice in the Female Immigrant Experience through Anya's Ghost Nina R. Schoonover and Michelle Falter CHAPTER 14: Equity, Justice, and Love: Contextualizing the Fight for Marriage Equality with Loving vs. VirginiaTerri Suico CHAPTER 15: Telling the Stories: Teaching LGBTQ+ Memoir Melanie Hundley CHAPTER 16: Using Jaya and Rasa: A Love Story to Portray Love's Power in Assisting Two Outcast Adolescents Achieve Societal Voices and Personal Self-Esteem Lisa A. Hazlett and Ann Marie Smith CHAPTER 17: Engaging the Intersections of Gender, Race, and Immigration in American Street E. Sybil Durand ABOUT THE EDITORS ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS SUBJECT INDEX