Why YA Lit is Important to Have in Class (or, What I Learned In the Last Three Months)

Over the past few months our classroom has looked at a plethora of YA books with potential for teaching in the classroom. These have included Divergent, The Hobbit, Alice I think, A Thousand Shades of Blue, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Monkey Beach, Audacious, The Sandman, Thirteen Reasons Why, Maus, Speak and Fahrenheit 451. We have found some pose more difficulties for teaching than others, but oftentimes, the content, style or medium which also makes them problematic is an advantage in another light. I have realized that if possible, a diversity of choice in the classroom should be allowed. This will open up the range of choice and personal connection of students to books (this strategy is encouraged in the grade 10 BC ELA IRP (p. 27). Over the past months, four reoccurring features have stood out which give YA readers high merit for fostering a love of literature in contemporary students. (also a mandate of the grade 8-12 BC ELA IRP [p. 17]). These features are as follows: the literature’s ability to encourage reluctant readers; the literature’s ability to relate with the experiences of Young Adults; the literature’s ability to introduce new topics, language, or genres of interest; and the literature’s ability to integrate with the wider multi-media world.
To exemplify these relationships I have selected two of the books we have discussed recently: The Book Thief and The Hunchback Assignments.


Although it deals with serious themes, the language of The Book Thief is simple enough for lower-lever readers, while compelling enough to encourage the turning of pages. The fact that the book has been adapted to film can create visual links to this end and the presence of an omniscient and often humorous narrator acts as a meta-cognitive guide through the chronology of the novel. The Hunchback Assignments is a short book, so encouraging reluctant readers by the incentive of completion. It also employs the fantastical elements of mystery, super powers, quick moving plot and frequent action. Further, for a reluctant reader, a Graphic Novel with the characters from the book series is due to be released, and could serve as a conduit to the text through visual cues. Pam Cole (2009) writes that in "our efforts to create readers, we can actually squelch desire by forcing students to read books they dislike" (p. 38). Why do that, if we can avoid it?

Both The Book Thief and The Hunchback Assignments provides the relatability of a young protagonist who is experiencing drastic changes in their life, and which provides relational elements to young readers. The Book Thief’s protagonist deals with a change of home and family and encounters difficult relationships and tragic moments. The Hunchback Assignment’s protagonist is forced to explore the world without the help of his surrogate parents and has to cope with a deformity which makes him appear different than most people. These plot elements of both books provide themes that Young Readers can relate and make connections to from their own lives. John Guthrie (2008) writes that "[s]tudents who read for internal reasons (interest, plaeasure, favorite topics) read a lot and achieve highly" (p. 2).

The potential for The Book Thief to open pathways of new interest is huge, especially if combined cross-curricularly with social studies/History. The book deals with elements of WW2 with factual elements coming into play throughout the book. The Hunchback Assignments, though steam punk by genre, still has many factual connections to the City of London England, and makes frequent references and allusions to other literatures. By means of these connections in both books, there is the possibility for student’s understanding of topics to be reinforced cross-curricularly and for them to find reasons to enjoy reading. According to R. Jobe (2002), "[c]onnecting to interest is more powerful than anything else we can do as teachers" (p. 20).

Both The Book Thief and the Hunchback Assignments provide possibilities for students to interact multi-modaly in a way that can connect with their multi-media world. Film and Graphic novel adaptations have been mentioned, but Hunchback author Arthur Slade has set up a web page featuring the multi-modal elements of video, audio, podcast, forum and other interactive elements. Likewise, shmoop.com offers a web page with links for readers to make wider connections with The Book Thief to internet resources on topics introduced through the book. Tracy Tarasiuk (2010) has written accurately that "[t]he combination of reading, writing and technology presents unique opportunities to improve and address the contemporary literacy needs of adolescents." (p. 543)

What I’ve realized is that the above reasons to incorporate YA lit such as The Book Thief and The Hunchback Assignments–or any other for that matter–is not just that it qualifies according to the above criteria, but that it probably does so better than much of the ‘traditional’ literature that is taught in the classroom. Something to keep in mind.
I wish I had had more choice of novels to read in my high school classroom, and that those novels had more relevance to my life. As a potential teacher, the last few months of discovery has given me much to think about in regards to how I can encourage a love of reading in YA readers, with YA lit.

Works Cited:


British Columbia Provincial Board of Education, IRP Guidelines. English language arts grade 10

British Columbia Provincial Board of Education, IRP Guidelines. English language arts grade 8-12

Cole, P. (2009). Young adult literature in the 21st century. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Guthrie, J. (2008). Engaging adolescents in reading. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Jobe, R. (2002). Info kids : How to use nonfiction to turn reluctant readers into enthusiastic learners. (pp. 16-22). Markham:Pembroke Publishers.

Tarasiuk, T. J. (2010). Combining traditional and contemporary texts: moving my english class to the computer lab. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 53(7), 543-552. doi: 10.1598

On the Topic of Transmedia

Persepolis is a highly acclaimed graphic novel recently adapted to film. Just another way to consider multi-modal interaction in the classroom

Graphic Novels

“The New Literacies, as they have been labelled, are concerned with multimodal texts…Together these “texts” fill the lives of students, and meaning is accrued as students combine the messages from the different media in to their own construct of the world.” (Booth and Lundy, 2007)

When I began my exploration of Young Adult Literature I hadn’t given much consideration to multi-modal texts, such as internet, audio, or graphic novels. Some presupposition existed in my mind that Graphic novels, at least, were not real literature, and thus shouldn’t be used in the classroom. The more we have discussed the content and medium in class, however, the more I’ve realized that graphic novels not only could be used in the classroom, but should. After all, as Rudiger and Schliesman (2007) have pointed out, "their content parallels the wide range of literature that librarians already collect in other forms, including biographies, poetry, and novels" (p. 57). The other myth which purveyed my mind, moreover, was that the graphic novel was a way to scoop up delinquent readers who have become overtly accustomed to the visual world through internet and television. While this might be an argument for graphic novels (as well as a reason to keep introducing text-based literature with it) I do not feel that this is the primary reason Graphic novels should be included in the teaching cannon. This perspective comes across as a compromise which condescends the visual genre, while, in fact, introducing strictly text-based mediums is a dis-service in a world where we constantly have interactions with many kinds of media. As such, and as responsible teachers, we need to train students to interact with various mediums. Graphic novels not only provide a gateway into reading for struggling readers, but offers a completely different way to read. Color, panel size and sequence are just a few tools the graphic artist can use to play which character, time, nuance, allusion, sequence, suspense, emotion, sense of place, etc. Booth and Lundy (2007) note that,

“[i]n order to become proficient readers, we need to learn how to question, visualize, infer, predict, connect our thougts and respond to the text that is before us. With graphic novels, the scaffolding necessary to create proficient readers is built into the way the graphic novel is constructed. The pictures not only support the text, but are also a part of the text.”(Chapter 1)

I will admit that much of my ignorance of graphic novels came from the fact that I hadn’t read any until recently. If this is your experience, I highly recommend picking up an acclaimed title to help you experience what is possible through this incredible medium. The first one I picked up was the multiple-award-winning Maus, by Art Spiegelman, parts one and two. I was amazed by the metacognitive strategies it employed as well as its unique and inductive way of dealing with a sensitive historical subject.

After Maus I read Pyongyang, a book by Guy Delisle, a cartoonist from Quebec, who wrote about his journey to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in his 2004 graphic novel of the same name. In true visual form, its easiest to show what some of his conventions accomplish by showcasing a sample of his work:

This full page image strikes me for its ability to connote silence in a way which text has difficulty conveying. Contrary to those who suggest graphic novels do not leave enough room for self-construction of meaning, interpretation, and imagination, I point out that this single frame could spin off a myriad of discussion topics (why is the room empty? What is the author trying to say? Where are the people?) Further, the novel is in black and white, which is a very interesting choice to leave the interpretation of color up to the readers.

Consider how this frame creates a sense of place and attitude of the protagonist.

Sarcasm and humor can be tricky to create as a part of the writers persona. Consider how the visual medium works to this end, and how it could spur conversation on the aptness or appropriateness of humor when dealing with other cultures.

How much can be said or suggested in just two frames! In this case a commentary on a Westerner's perspective of North Korean music and patronage to the North Korean leader.

Another single page frame. This one seems to be a statement on uniformity and false fronts. The problem of how race is represented is also illustrated well here. Representation poses both a difficulty and a discussion opportunity for the classroom.

It would be too simple to say that all graphic novels should be allowed in the classroom, or that they are, as a rule, simple to teach. While perusing my university's library I encountered a book called Teaching the Graphic Novel which has over thirty chapters written by different authors on particular topics or viewpoints of teaching visual medium in the classroom. The fact that so much is being written on this medium proves that any stigma which had been attached to graphic novels as cheap entertainment, is wearing thin.



Works Cited:

Booth, D., & Lundy, K. (2007). In graphic detail: Using graphic novels in the classroom. Markham, ON: Rubicon Publishing Inc.

Hatfield, Tucker, et al. (2009). S. Tabachnick (Ed.), Teaching the Graphic Novel (2 ed.). New York: The Modern Language Association of America.

Schliesman, M., & Rudiger , M. (2007). Graphic novels and school libraries. Knowledge Quest, 36(2), 57-59. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=29968298&site=ehost-live&scope=site