As a TA (Teaching Assistant), I have previously taught American Lit classes, all of which focused on young adult literature.  Here are my old course descriptions, reading lists, and some brief assignment descriptions listed in order from most recent to least recent.  My classes were usually composed of sophomores and second semester freshmen.  Occasionally, juniors or seniors finishing up lower level credits would be enrolled as well.

Spring 2009, Challenged and Banned Literature

This course aims to take a critical look at children’s and young adult literature that is frequently challenged and banned in public schools and libraries. While we will discuss issues of censorship throughout the semester, our primary concern will be with understanding these books first and foremost as works of literature. As such, we will consider the choices that authors make in composing these works, focusing on the functions of the literary elements contained within. Throughout our discussions, we will be able to determine how these “bannable” ideas or elements are or are not necessary for the books to function as cohesive narratives with specific themes. In the end, we should be able to determine if or when restrictions should be placed on novels intended for young people and who gets to make that decision.

Reading List

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
• Forever by Judy Blume
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Alice on Her Way by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
• Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky

Final Paper & Presentation – For your final project, you will read a novel on the ALA’s Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books list and write a paper explaining what the theme of the novel is and why the challenged elements are necessary for the reader to understand that theme. You will then create a Power Point presentation highlighting the arguments you made for the class.

Fall 2008, Printz Award Winners

“The mark of an educated person should be the ability to see the differences between entertainment and more nurturing, vital stuff. We need to help the public see how to make use of what great books offer.” – Mark Edmundson

“The literary quality of a fictional book is based not upon its popularity or the ease with which it can be read, but upon the quality of the literary elements found in the book.” – Dr. Marilyn Stauffer

This course aims to take a critical look at young adult literature—books selected by the American Library Association (ALA) to receive the Michael L. Printz Award for literary excellence and books selected by teens to be on the ALA’s Teen Top Picks list. We will look at all of these books in terms of literary quality to determine if there is a significant difference between the choice of the “educated person” (the ALA members) and the choice of teens—who we can assume read for entertainment. (Or can we?) Is there some great split between popularity and quality? Or can even the popular be nurturing and vital? We shall see. At the end of the course, we should also have a clear answer to whether there is any merit to studying young adult literature on the college level.

Reading List

• Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters by Gail Giles
• How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
• Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
• Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
• The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
• Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers
• Captain Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth by J.V. Hart
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Final Paper & Presentation – For your final project, you will read a novel not honored by the Printz committee and petition for its inclusion by writing a letter to the ALA, showing that the book exhibits high literary quality. You will then create a Power Point presentation highlighting the arguments you made in favor of your chosen book for the class.

Summer 2008, Teen Top Picks

“The mark of an educated person should be the ability to see the differences between entertainment and more nurturing, vital stuff. We need to help the public see how to make use of what great books offer.” – Mark Edmundson

“The literary quality of a fictional book is based not upon its popularity or the ease with which it can be read, but upon the quality of the literary elements found in the book.” – Dr. Marilyn Stauffer

This course aims to take a critical look at young adult literature–some books selected by the American Library Association (ALA) to be on its Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults lists, some books selected by teens to be on the ALA’s Teen Top Picks list, and some books that were nominated as best books but didn’t make the top tier. We will look at all of these books in terms of literary quality to determine if there is a significant difference between the choice of the “educated person” (aka the ALA members) and the choice of teens—who we can assume read for entertainment. (Or can we?) Is there some great split between popularity and quality? Or can even the popular be nurturing and vital? We shall see. At the end of the course, we should also have a clear answer to whether there is any merit to studying young adult literature on the college level.

Reading List

• America by E.R. Frank
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
• Handbook for Boys: A Novel by Walter Dean Myers
• The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
• Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
• Teen Idol by Meg Cabot
• Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman

Final Paper – In this, your final paper, you will explain which book we’ve read over the course of the semester that you think has the highest literary quality based on its use of literary elements. You will also argue for which book you think has the lowest literary quality based on its literary elements. Take into account how much your enjoyment or lack of enjoyment influences your answers and be brutally honest.

Final Presentation – For this assignment, you will create a Power Point presentation to recommend a book you enjoy/like to the class, explaining your choice in terms of literary quality. Books can be from any genre as long as they are fiction and the authors are American.

Spring 2008, Best Books for Young Adults

This course aims to take a critical look at some the books selected by the American Library Association (ALA) to be on its Best Books for Young Adults lists. The ALA website states that ten books are chosen annually as recommended reading for young adults (ages 12-18) based on their “proven or potential appeal to the personal reading tastes of the young adult.” According to the ALA website, books on the list “should incorporate acceptable literary quality and effectiveness of presentation” and “have characterization and dialogue believable within the context of the novel or story.” Throughout the course, we will continually question what it is that makes a book “best” and whether all of the books share the same qualities or not.

The Best Books Lists and ALA’s policies and procedures for choosing them can be found at http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/bbya.

Reading List

• Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
• A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel by Mark Haddon
• The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard
• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
• Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers
• Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
• So B. It by Sarah Weeks
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Love Among the Walnuts by Jean Ferris

Final Paper & Presentation – For your final project, you will read a book not on the Best Books list and petition for its inclusion by writing a letter to the ALA, showing how the book fits the criteria of a Best Book for Young Adults. You will then create a Power Point presentation highlighting the arguments you made in favor of your chosen book for the class.

Fall 2007, Female Authored Young Adult Literature

This section of AML 2070 will look at young adult novels published within the last ten years and written by women. In this class, we will discover the concerns of the contemporary female-authored young adult novel. What things do modern day female teenagers think about, worry about, and work through? How are the situations resolved that the teens are involved in? Most young adult or teen literature is written by adults. How does that complicate what teenagers are told their experiences should be? We will also discuss themes that recur in the literature and how they are interpreted by the different authors.

Reading List

• The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
• The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson
• A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
• Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
• A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
• Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
• The Queen of Everything by Deb Caletti
• Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
• Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Final Presentation – You are required to read a male-authored young adult novel with a male protagonist and prepare a Power Point presentation comparing it to the texts, characters, and themes we have encountered over the course of the semester. You may choose a novel from any genre (fantasy, horror, realistic, comedy, etc.) but it must be young adult lit.

Summer 2007, Contemporary Young Adult Literature

This section of AML 2070 will look at young adult novels published within the last ten years. In this class, we will discover the concerns of the contemporary young adult novel. What things do modern day teenagers think about, worry about, and work through? How are the situations resolved that the teens are involved in? Most young adult or teen literature is written by adults. How does that complicate what teenagers are told their experiences should be? We will also discuss themes that recur in the literature and how they are interpreted by the different authors.

Reading List

• Big Mouth & Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
• Shooter by Walter Dean Myers
• Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
• The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
• Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
• One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
• Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas
• The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
• Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde