Teaching Culturally Sustaining and Inclusive Young Adult Literature Critical Perspectives and Conversations Language, Culture, and Teaching Series

In this book, Rodríguez uses theories of critical literacy and culturally responsive teaching to argue that our schools, and our culture, need sustaining and inclusive young adult (YA) literature/s to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse readers and all students. This book provides an outline for the study of literature through cultural and literary criticism, via essays that analyze selected YA literature (drama, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) in four areas: scribal identities and the self-affirmation of adolescents; gender and sexualities; schooling and education of young adult characters; and teachers? roles and influences in characters? coming of age. Applying critical literacy theories and a youth studies lens, this book shines a light on the need for culturally sustaining and inclusive pedagogies to read adolescent worlds. Complementing these essays are critical conversations with seven key contemporary YA literature writers, adding biographical perspectives to further expand the critical scholarship and merits of YA literature.

Section I Literary Criticism and Literacy Education 1. Introduction: Inclusive Young Adult Literature 2. Scribal Identities and the Self-Affirmation of Adolescents 3. Gender and Sexuality in Young Adult Literature 4. Schooling and Education of Young Adult Characters 5. Teachers in the Young Adult Fiction of Bambara and Cisneros Section II Conversations with Authors of Young Adult Literature6. Jeff Anderson: "We Are Our Stories" 7. Matt de la Peña: "Giving Them Back the Literature" 8. Joe Jiménez: "The Difference between Thirst and Hunger" 9. Guadalupe Garcia McCall: "Books as Small Offerings" 10. Isabel Quintero: "There Is No Hiding from the Self" 11. Benjamin Alire Sáenz: "A Riot in the Heart" 12. Erika L. Sánchez: "A Right to Art" 13. End Points and Sign Posts Appendix A: Young Adult Literature Cited in the Text

R. Joseph Rodríguez is Assistant Professor of Literacy, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at California State University, Fresno, USA.