Young Adult Literature- Why we need it in the classroom.

Is Young Adult Literature more useful in the secondary classrooms than the classics?

While teachers feel stressed about sticking to their curriculum as designated by the state, they may lose sight of the need to bring more intriguing literature into the classroom. In a study done by a man named Arthur Applebee, printed in "Young Adult Literature in the Classroom-Or Is It?" by John Bushman, Applebee followed the choices teachers made in terms of broadening the curriculum. As described by Bushman, "After completing this study, he found the most successful classrooms for students were led by teachers willing to look beyond the classics. In these classrooms, comic books, rap songs, and young adult literature were as acceptable for study as Shakespeare’s King Lear.  As Applebee noted, these teachers let content determine the material, rather than a list of time-worn literary works." 

It appears that many teachers have made the discovery that by pushing older, classic novels onto their students, they are turning them off of reading altogether. Instead of making them read something that they will never read again after school, teachers need to introduce to them books and authors they will also choose to pick up on their own time. Through research, Bushman has also discovered that teachers need to seek out Young Adult Literature that touches issues students are faced with. For example, for middle and high school students, a big issue they face is figuring out their personal value system or ideology. Students can not figure out their own beliefs when faced with unrelatable classic novels they cannot connect to. However, Bushman lists some Young Adult literature that may be more useful in the classroom, and help students find their identity. Some of his examples include Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly, for the middle school set and Chris Crutcher’s Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes for high school students, which discusses issues students may actually face in their own lives. Another recommendation Bushman makes is David Klass’ Danger Zone, which helps students understand how they feel about prejudice, racism, and politics. Bushman lists a number of other useful books for young adults, that are more useful in the classroom, which I have listed below. However, what seems to be most important is that students are able to make a connection with the literature and the characters. By giving them a book with a lot and character they can relate to, students are more likely to pick up the books and read, rather than choosing Cliff Notes and skimming through the classics enough to get by. For the purpose of my content area, art, I think this idea of encouraging reading could be something as easy as an occasional "Drop Everything and Read" class period. I think in any classroom, students should be encouraged and offered the opportunity to pick up and read something they are interested in, as long as they are reading and reacting.

Suggested books that students' can identify with:

• Adam and Miriam in Miriam’s Well (Lois Ruby) All That Glitters (Jean Ferris)
• Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Alden Carter)
• Somewhere in the Darkness (Walter Dean Myers)
• The Original Freddie Ackerman (Hadley Irwin)
• If Rock and Roll Were a Machine (Terry Davis) 
• The Drowning of Stephan Jones (Bette Greene). 
• I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This (Jacqueline Woodson) 

Bushman, J. Young Adult Literature in  the Classroom--Or Is It?. English Journal. (1997): 45-40. Print.

Applebee, A. 1994. Shaping Conversations: A Study of Continuity and Coherence on High School Literacy 

Curricula. Albany, NY: National Research Center on Literature Teaching and Learning.