Online Class: Young Adult Literature

presented by Beth Gallaway, Metrowest
Fri December 1-Fri December 22, 2006

Description: Examine the criteria of what makes great novel for young adults, familiarize yourself with book awards for young adult literature, learn the essential authors and series to know, and discover resources for review and reader's advisory.

Access to the Internet is required. The successful participant has 3 hours a week to dedicate to readings, discussion, and online assignments. A certificate for 10 hours of attendance or PDP's will be awarded upon completion of class expectations.

Register for the class listserv at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/mwyalit by emailing Beth at bethg@mmrls.org

CLASS EXPECTATIONS:

  1. Participants will follow the Ten Basic Rules of Netiquette.
  2. Participants will identify themselves in all comments and posts with a signature file that includes name and location.
  3. Pace yourself. Plan on spending 2-3 hours a week on readings and assignments.
  4. To get your 10 attendance hours for participating, you must:
    • respond to discussion questions via the listserv twice in each week - once to present your own ideas and comments, and a second time to follow up with a classmates comment.
    • complete a Final Assignment and share it with the group.

      Final Project Examples from December session:
    Books with Bite: Vampires in the Stacks, compiled by Christine Showman Farrar, Woburn Public Library
    Booktalk Booklist by Donna Johns, Newton North High School
    We're All In This Together: A booklist inspired by High School Musical by Christine Pier, Wayland Free Library
    Rodman Philbrick: One Mighty Author by Christine Renaud, Oak Street/Horace Mann Schools, Franklin
    Survival Fiction booklist by Caron Guigli, Belmont Public Library
    Adventure, Mystery and Danger with Will Hobbs by Kim Keith, Cotuit Elementary School
    Step into YA Lit: Challenging Titles for Grade Six Readers by Jane Kenney, Barnstable Elementary Schools

HELP & SUPPORT
Online Office Hours:
Wed (12/6, 12/13, 12/20) 8-11 PM EST
Thu (12/14, 12/21) 10AM-1 PM EST;

Contact
email: bethg@mmrls.org
phone: 781-398-1819
AIM: bethatmetrowest
Second Life: Cerulean Vesperia
Google Talk: informationgoddess29
ICQ: 311254389 
Jabber: ceruleanvesperia
Yahoo!: informationgoddess29
MSN: informationgoddess29

WEEK 1: History of Young Adult Literature


Listening/Reading/Viewing:
Note: Log in to InfoTrac with your MA library card to access database articles.

Aronson, Marc. "Coming of Age: One editor's view of how young adult publishing developed in America. (Spring 2002 Children's Books).(Statistical Data Included)." Publishers Weekly 249.6 (Feb 11, 2002): 82(5). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. Newton Free Library. 27 Sep. 2006 
http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A83296527&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=ntn&version=1.0

Cart, Michael. "What is young-adult literature?(Carte Blanche)." Booklist 101.8 (Dec 15, 2004): 734(1). Professional Collection. Thomson Gale. Newton Free Library. 27 Sep. 2006 
http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A129711229&source=gale&srcprod=SP00&userGroupName=ntn&version=1.0

Search Institute: Forty Developmental Assets for Adolescents.
http://www.search-institute.org/assets/forty.html.

Week 1 Assignments: Please discuss via the Google Group!

  1. Reading Response:
    • What is a young adult novel book?
    • How has the medium evolved? What trends do you see?
    • What characteristics and elements are you starting to pay more attention to, as a result of your reading?
    • How can books build assets?
  2. Books: Read a novel (that you have never read!) mentioned as a classic in one of this week's readings. For discussion:
    • How many titles have you read? How many have you heard of?
    • What book did you choose? What made it deserving (or not!) of it's inclusion as a classic?
    • Share the book you read with the group by writing an informal analysis of the book you read. What made it work for you as a reader? What is the appeal for today's teens?

WEEK 2: Evaluating Books

Listening/Reading/Viewing:
Campbell, Patty. "The Outsiders, Fat Freddy, and me. (The Sand in the Oyster).(Critical Essay)." The Horn Book Magazine 79.2 (March-April 2003): 177(7). Professional Collection. Thomson Gale. Newton Free Library. 27 Sep. 2006 
http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A99117957&source=gale&srcprod=SP00&userGroupName=ntn&version=1.0

VOYA. Reviews. http://voya.com/WhatsInVoya/reviews.shtml#reviews.

Patten, Janice. Steps for Close Reading or Expliciation de texte. http://theliterarylink.com/closereading.html. September 21, 2006.


Week 2 Assignments: Please discuss via the Google Group!

  1. Reading Response:
    • Examine VOYA's review code and sample reviews. Do you agree with their assessment style?
    • What makes a good young adult novel? What are some elements to examine to determine quality?
    • Do you have a favorite genre? Favorite style? Favorite author?
  2. Books: Read one Printz Award book (that you have never read!) YALSA list of Printz Award Winners. For discussion:
    • How many titles have you read?
    • How many have you heard of?
    • Share what you read with the group by writing an informal analysis of the books you read. What made it work for you as a reader? How does it compare to other YA titles you might be familiar with? Refer to the following page for some help in evaluating:
      http://www.mmrls.org/Materials/cebookreviewing06.htm

WEEK 3: Young Adult Authors & Illustrators to Know


Listening/Reading/Viewing:

Children's Book Council. 75 Authors/Illustrators Everyone Should Know, Grades 6-8 (older). http://www.cbcbooks.org/readinglists/75older.html. September 26, 2006.

Latrobe, Kathy, and Trisha Hutcherson. "An Introduction to ten outstanding young-adult authors in the United States. (Children's Literature)." World Literature Today (Summer-Autumn 2002): 68(6). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. Newton Free Library. 27 Sep. 2006 
http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A98643934&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=ntn&version=1.0

Library Goddesses. Hot Teen Authors. http://librarygoddesses.pbwiki.com/greatteenauthors.

Week 3 Assignments: Please discuss via the Google Group!

  1. Reading Response:
  2. Books: Read a novel (that you have never read!) on the New York Public Library's list of Best Books for the Teen Age. For discussion:

Final Assignment Suggestions - choose ONE of the following:

  1. Create a presentation of significant young adult books (from ones read or discussed in class) that includes cover image and note about why you chose it in the form of:
    1. A powerpoint presentation
    2. A webpage
    3. An Amazon.com Guide
  2. Create a themed library display that includes brief reviews for each title and a printed annotated guide or bookmarks. Theme suggestions:
    1. books by one author or in a series or selected to fit a theme
    2. significant young adult novels
    3. Printz award winners/honor books
  3. Create an annotated list of books or resources shared but NOT listed on the syllabus, from class discussion or your own additional research.
  4. Other? Your suggestions here!

Resources

Print:

Aspects of the Victorian Book. The British Library. http://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/intro.html. August 23, 2006.

Carpenter, Humphrey and Mari Pritchard. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

Carpenter, Humphrey. Secret Gardens: A Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature (1985)

Dresang, Eliza T. Radical Change: Books for Youth in a Digital Age. H.W. Wilson, 1999.

Only Connect: Readings on Children's Literature, second edition. 1980.

Nodelman, Perry and Mavis Reimer. The Pleasures of Children's Literature, 3rd edition. Allyn & Bacon. 2002.

Rose, Jacqueline. The Case of Peter Pan; or The Impossibility of Children's Fiction (1993).

Web
10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism. The Council on Interracial Books for Children. http://www.birchlane.davis.ca.us/library/10quick.htm. September 21, 2006.

ALA/ALSC. "Caldecott Medal Homepage." http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.htm. August 23, 2006.

Bearden, Elaine and Anne St. John.  "Reviewer's Toolbox: Journals and Resources." Reviewer's Toolbox: Reviewing and Annotating Children's Literature Books. Ohio State University Children's Literature Conference, 2001. http://www.prairienet.org/ufl/rev.htm. August 23, 2006.

Brown, David. The Children's Literature Web Guide. University of Calgary. http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/%7Edkbrown/index.html. August 23, 2006.

Children's Picture Book Database at Miami-Dade University. http://www.lib.muohio.edu/pictbks/. August 23, 2006.

Cooperative Children's Book Center. http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/. August 23, 2006.

Criteria for Evaluating Multicultural Materials. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li4lk26.htm. September 21, 2006.

Hendrickson, Linnea. Children's Books: A Guide to the Cricitism. http://www.unm.edu/%7Elhendr/. August 23, 2006.

Hurst, Carol Otis and Rebecca Otis. Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site. http://www.carolhurst.com/. August 23, 2006.

Matulka, Denise I. Picturing Books: A Website About Picture Books. http://picturingbooks.imaginarylands.org/. August 23, 2006.

One Hundred Books That Shaped a Century. School Library Journal. January 2000. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA153035.html. August 23, 2006.

Silvey, Anita. "Is Publishing Going to the Dogs? SLJ Celebrates 50 years. " School Library Journal, November 2004. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA475518.html. August 23, 2006.

Vandergrift Kay. Kay Vandergrift's Children's Literature Site. http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/ChildrenLit/index.html.
August 23, 2006.

Visual Literacy and Picture Books. http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/picture.htm. August 23, 2006.

Evaluation for Online Class: Young Adult Literature(please complete an evaluation if you access any of the materials on this page)