Writing Assignment No. 4: (Proposal
and Bibliography)
Due November 16
Write a summary of the essay
you plan to write, which includes your thesis and a discussion
of the literature and research you will use. The summary should
be no more than 250 words.
Attach a bibliography of your
sources. The bibliography should be in MLA format. It should
include the two articles or chapters you summarized earlier,
plus at least two additional academic articles, chapters,
or books. It should also include bibliographic information
for the work(s) of literature you are writing about.
Writing Assignment No. 5: (Researched
Essay) Due December 2:
Write an 8-10 page researched
essay about a scholarly topic of your choosing, focused on
adolescent literature. This essay will be evaluated on the
comprehension and application of current critical theories,
terms, and debates, on the ability to conduct research, and
on the quality of the writing. The quality of writing will
be evaluated based on audience awareness, organization, correctness,
adherence to MLA citation guidelines, and on the effective
use of evidence to build a convincing argument or interpretation.
All sources in the essay should be properly quoted and correctly
cited in the body of the paper and in the bibliography.
Here are some possible topics
(though there are many others):
Censorship of adolescent
lit: the censorship of one particular book or author;
censorship because of a specific topic; the academic freedom
of teenagers, etc.
Controversies about adolescent lit: assumptions
about what is “appropriate” or “inappropriate”
for younger readers; worries that young people learn to be
(insert blank: violent, sexual, occultists, liberals, illiterate,
etc.) if they read X book or books; debates about the literary
merit of adolescent lit, etc.
Adolescent lit in the classroom: using adolescent
lit in dialogue with classic works of lit; adolescent lit
vs. the canon in the curriculum; adolescent lit and literacy,
etc.
Literary interpretations of adolescent lit:
vampires as metaphors for teen angst; depictions of power
structures; identity formation; depictions of gender, texts
as cultural artifacts, etc.
Whatever topic you choose, you ultimately will need to develop
a thesis (a point, an argument, an interpretation, a stand)
that you support using the research you’ve conducted
combined with the discussions we’ve had in class about
texts and ideas.
Grading: Total Project
worth 550 points:
No. 1 = 50; Nos. 2, 3, and 4
= 100; No. 5 = 200
I will accept late work, but will deduct 2 percent from the
grade for each day an assignment is overdue.
Examples of Some Critical
Texts (in addition to journals listed above) that
could be used for the research and writing project:
Agosto, Denise E., Sandra Hughes-Hassell,
and Catherine Gilmore-Clough. “The All-White World of
Middle-School Genre Fiction: Surveying the Field for Multicultural
Protagonists.” Children’s Literature in Education
34.4 (December 2003) 257-275.
Appleman, Deborah. Critical Encounters in High School
English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents. New
York: Teachers College Press, 2000.
Aronson, Marc. Exploding the Myths: The Truth About Teens
and Reading. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2001.
Beers, Kylene. When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers
Can Do. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.
Brinkley, Ellen. Caught off Guard: Teachers Rethink Censorship
and Controversy. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon,
1999.
Brown, Joanne and Nancy St. Clair. Declarations of Independence:
Empowered Girls in Young Adult Literature, 1990-2001.
Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2002.
Bruhm, Steven and Natasha Hurley, Eds. Curiouser: On the
Queerness of Children. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis
Press, 2004.
Bushman, John H. “Young Adult Literature in the Classroom—Or
is it?” The English Journal 86.3 (March 1997)
35-40.
Carey-Webb, Allen. Literature and Lives: A Response-Based,
Cultural Studies Approach to Teaching English: Urbana,
IL: NCTE, 2001.
Cart, Michael. From Romance to Realism: 50 Years of Growth
and Change in Young Adult Literature. New York: HarperCollins,
1996.
----. Gay and Lesbian Literature for Young Adults.
Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2004.
Coats, Karen. “Abjection and Adolescent Fiction.”
Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society,
5.2 (Fall 2000) 290-306.
-----. Looking Glasses and Neverlands: Lacan, Desire,
and Subjectivity in Children’s Literature. Iowa
City: University of Iowa Press, 2004.
Daniels, Harvey. Literature Circles: Voice and Choice
in the Student-Centered Classroom. York, MA: Stenhouse,
1994.
Daniels, Harvey and Bizar, Marilyn. Methods that Matter:
Six Structures for Best Practice Classrooms. York, MA:
Stenhouse, 1998.
Gaughan, John. Reinventing English: Teaching in the Contact
Zone. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Heinemann, 2001.
Hale, Lisa A. and Chris Crowe. “I hate Reading If I
Don’t Have To”: Results from a Longitudinal Study
of High School Students’ Reading Interests.” The
ALAN Review 28.3 (Spring/Summer 2001) 49-56.
Hogan, Walter. Humor in Young Adult Literature. Lanham,
Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2004.
Jago, Carol. Classics in the Classroom: Designing Accessible
Literature Lessons. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2004.
Jenkins, Henry, Ed. The Children’s Culture Reader.
New York: New York University Press: 1998.
Latham, Rob. Consuming Youth: Vampires, Cyborgs, and the
Culture of Consumption. Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 2002.
Lesesne, Teri S. Making the Match: The Right Book for
the Right Reader at the Right Time, grades 4-12. York,
MA: Stenhouse, 2003.
McGillis, Roderick. The Nimble Reader: Literary Theory
and Children’s Literature. New York: Twain Publishers,
1996.
Molin, Paulette. Native American Characters and Themes
in Young Adult Literature. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow
Press, 2004.
Morgan, Linda O. “Insight Through Suffering: Cruelty
in Adolescent Fiction about Boys.” The English Journal
69.9 (December 1980) 56-59.
Myers, Mitzi. “’No Safe Place to Run To’:
An Interview with Robert Cormier.” The Lion and
the Unicorn 24 (2000) 445-464.
Niday, Donna and Dale Alexander. “Standing on the Border:
Issues of Identity and Border Crossings in Young Adult Literature.”
ALAN Review 27.2 (Winter 2000) 60-64.
O’Quinn, Elaine. “Between Voice and Voicelessness:
Transacting Silence in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak.”
The ALAN Review 29.1 (Fall 2001) 54-58.
Osgerby, Bill. Youth Culture. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Lives of Adolescent
Girls. New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.
Pirie, Bruce. Teenage Boys and High School English. Portsmouth,
N.H.: Boynton/Cook Publishers, 2002.
Probst, Robert. Response & Analysis: Teaching Literature
in Secondary Schools. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2004.
Rosenblatt, Louise. The Reader, the Text, and the Poem:
The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work. Carbondale,
IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978.
Rosenblatt, Louise. Literature as Exploration. Fifth
Ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 1995.
Schwartz, Gretchen. “Graphic Books for Diverse Needs:
Engaging Reluctant and Curious Readers.” The ALAN
Review (Fall 2002).
Smith, Michael W. and Jeffrey Wilhelm. “Reading
Don’t Fix No Chevys”: Literacy in the Lives of
Young Men. Portsmouth, N. H.: Heinemann, 2002.
Trites, Roberta. Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression
in Adolescent Literature. Iowa City: University of Iowa
Press, 2000.
-----. Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children’s
Novels. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997.
Vandergriff, Kay E. Mosaics of Meaning: Enhancing the
Intellectual Life of Young Adults Through Story. Lanham,
Maryland: Scarecrow Press: 1996.
Way, Niobe and Judy Y. Chu, Eds. Adolescent Boys: Exploring
Diverse Cultures of Boyhood. New York: New York University
Press, 2004.
Wannamaker, Annette. Boys in Children’s Literature
and Popular Culture: Masculinity, Abjection, and the Fictional
Child. New York: Routledge, 2007.
Yearwood, Stephenie. “Popular Postmodernism for Young
Readers: Walk Two Moons, Holes, and Monster,” The
ALAN Review, 2002, 29.3, 50-53.
Zipes, Jack. Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success
of Children’s Literature. New York: Routledge,
2002.
Examples of some of the literary
texts (in addition to the ones we are reading in class) that
could be researched:
Alcott, Louise May. Little
Women.
Alexander, Lloyd, The High King.
Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in
Heaven, Reservation Blues, The Toughest Indian in the World.
Almond, David. Skellig, Kit's Wilderness, Heaven Eyes,
Secret Heart.
Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson. Speak, Catalyst.
Anderson, M.T. Feed, Burger Wuss, Octavian Nothing
Avi. Nothing But the Truth,The Barn, Beyond the Western
Sea (Books 1 and 2) Blue Heron, Don't You Know There's a War
On?, Crispin.
Blackwood, Gary L. The Year of the Hangman.
Block, Francesca. Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat
and the Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan,The Hanged Man, Baby
Be-Bop, Girl Goddess #9, Echo.
Blume, Judy. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret,
Forever
Brooks, Bruce. The Moves Make the Man, Midnight Hour Encores,
All That Remains, Vanishing.
Cadnum, Michael. Taking It, Edge, In a Dark Wood, Forbidden
Forest.
Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Shadow
of the Hegeman, Seventh Son.
Carter, Alden R. Dogwolf, Growing Season, Wart, Son of
Toad, Sheila's Dying, Up Country, Ball Catcher, Between a
Rock and a Hard Place.
Chabon, Michael. Summerland, The Amazing Adventures of
Kavalier & Clay: A Novel .
Chambers, Adian. Postcards From No Man's Land, Dance
on My Grave.
Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Choi, Sook Nyul. Year of Impossible Goodbyes, Echoes of
the White Giraffe.
Cofer, Judith Ortiz. An Island Like You: Stories of the
Barrio.
Colfer, Eoin. Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl: The Artic Incident.
Artemus Fowl: The Eternity Guide.
Cooney, Caroline B. What Child Is This? Driver's Ed, The
Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie?,The Voice
on the Radio, What Janie Found, For All Time, Goddess of Yesterday.
Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War, We All Fall Down,
In the Middle of the Night,Tenderness, Heroes, The Rag and
Bone Shop, Frenchtown Summer, I Am the Cheese, Both Sides
of Time.
Crutcher, Chris. Running Loose, Stotan!, Athletic Shorts,
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Ironman, Whale Talk, Chinese
Handcuffs.
Cushman, Karen. Catherine Called Birdy, The Midwife's
Apprentice, Ballad of Lucy Whipple.
Daly, Maureen. Seventeenth Summer.
Dickinson. Eva. A Bone from a Dry Sea, The Gift, Some
Deaths Before Dying, The Ropemaker.
Ellis, Deborah. The Breadwinner, Parvanna's Journey.
Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House.
Farmer, Nancy. The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm, A Girl Named
Disaster, Do You Know Me?, The House of Scorpion.
Ferris, Jean. Eight Seconds, Love Among the Walnuts: Or
How I Saved My Entire Family from Being Poisoned, Of Sound
Mind.
Frank, E.R. Life Is Funny, America.
Freedman, Russell. Eleanor Roosevelt, Life and Death of
Crazy Horse, Lincoln, Kids at Work, Wright Brothers, Confucius:
The Golden Rule.
Funke, Cornelia. The Thief Lord.
Garden, Nancy. Annie on My Mind, Dove & Sword: a Novel
of Joan of Arc, Good Moon Rising, The Year They Bruned the
Books, Holly's Secret.
Gaiman, Neil. Coraline, Stardust, The Graveyard Book,
The Sandman
Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life,What Would Joey Do?.
Geras, Adele. Watching the Roses, The Tower Room, Pictures
of the Night, Troy.
Giles, Gail. Shattering Glass.
Hamilton,Virginia. Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, Plain
City, Her Stories, M.C. Higgins the Great.
Hesse, Karen. Phoenix Rising, The Music of Dolphins, Out
of the Dust, A Time of Angels, Witness, Letters from Rifka,
Stowaway.
Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot.
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders.
Hobbs, Valerie. Sonny's War.
Hobbs, Will. Downriver, Far North, Kokopelli's Flute,
The Maze.
Jiang, Ji-Li. Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural
Revolution.
Jiménez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the
Life of a Migrant Child, Breaking Through.
Jones, Diana Wynne. Dogsbody,Castle in the Air, Hexwood,
A Sudden Wild Magic, Howl’s Moving Castle, Fire and
Hemlock, the Crestomanci series.
Jordan, Sherryl. The Raging Quiet, Secret Sacrament, The
Hunting of the Last Dragon, Winter of Fire.
Kerr, M.E. Gentlehands, Night Kites, Linger, Deliver Us
From Evie, Hello, I Lied, Slap Your Sides.
Klass, David. Wrestling With Honor, California Blue, Danger
Zone, Screen Test, You Don't Know Me, Home of the Braves.
Koertge, Ron. Tiger,Tiger Burning Bright, Brimstone Journals,
Stoner & Spaz.
Korman, Gordon. Losing Joe's Place, Don't Care High, No More
Dead Dogs, Son of the Mob.
Lawrence, Iain. The Lightkeeper's Daughter, The Wreckers,
Lord of the Nutcracker Men.
LeGuin, Ursula. The Left Hand of Darkness, Tehanu, The
Earthsea trilogy.
Lester, Julius. To Be a Slave; From Slave Ship to Freedom
Road, Othello: A Novel, Pharaoh's Daughter, When Dad Killed
Mom.
Lois Lowry. A Summer To Die, The Giver, Gathering Blue.
Lubar, David. Hidden Talents, Dunk.
Lynch, Chris. Iceman, Gypsy Davey, Slot Machine, Shadow
Boxer, Blue-Eyed Son Trilogy, Freewill.
Lyons, Mary E. Sorrows Kitchen, Letters From a Slave Girl,
Keeping Secrets.
McCaughrean, Geraldine. The Stones Are Hatching, The Kite
Rider.
McDonald, Janet. Chill Wind, Spellbound.
McDonald, Joyce. Comfort Creek, Swallowing Stones, Shades
of Simon Grey.
McKinley, Robin. Beauty, The Blue Sword, The Hero and
the Crown, A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories, Rose Daughter,
Deerskin.
Magorian, Michelle. Good Night, Mr. Tom, Back Home, Not
A Swan.
Mahy, Margaret. Memory, The Changeover, The Door in the
Air and Other Stories.
Marsden, John. Letters from the Inside, Tomorrow When
the War Began, A Killing Frost, The Night Is for Hunting.
Martinez, Victor. Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida.
Mazer, Norma Fox. After the Rain, When She Was Good, Out
of Control.
Mori, Kyoko. Shizuko's Daughter, One Bird.
Myers, Walter Dean Myers. Fallen Angels, Scorpions, Somewhere
in the Darkness, Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, The Glory
Field, Shadow of the Red Moon, Slam,The Amistad Affair, Monster,
Bad Boy: A Memoir, The Greatest: Muhammed Ali, Hoops, Handbook
for Boys.
Na, An. A Step from Heaven.
Naidoo, Beverley. Chain of Fire, No Turning Back, The
Other Side of Truth.
Napoli, Donna Jo. The Magic Circle, Zel, When the Water
Closes Over My Head, Song of the Magdalene, Stones in the
Water, Beast, Sirena, Daughter of Venice.
Nix, Garth. Sabriel, Slade's Children, Lirael, Abhorsen.
Nolan, Han. Dancing on the Edge, Born Blue.
Nye, Naomi Shihab. Habibi, 19 Varieites of Gazelle.
Paolini, Christopher. Eragon, Eldest.
Park, Linda Sue. My Name Was Keoko, A Single Shard.
Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land Was Made for You and Me:
The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie, Restless Spirit: The
Life and Works of Dorothea Lange.
Paterson, Katherine. Jacob Have I Loved, Lyddie, The Same
Stuff As Stars.
Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet, The Cookcamp, The Monument, Nightjohn,
Sisters/Hermanas, The Tent,The Rifle, The Crossing, Winterdance,
Puppies, Dogs and Blue Northers, Sarny, My Life in Dog Years,
Schernoff Discovery, Soldier's Heart, Woodsong.
Peck, Richard. Remembering the Good Times, The Last Safe
Place on Earth, Are You in the House Alone?, Fair Weather.
Pierce, Tamara. Alanna: The First Adventure, Emperor Mage,
Protector of the Small: Squire.
Plum-Ucci, Carol. The Body of Christopher Creed.
Pullman, Philip. The Ruby in the Smoke, The Broken Bridge,
The White Mercedes, The Tin Princess, His Dark Materials:
The Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass, I Was
a Rat!.
Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging:
Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, On the Bright Side, I'm Now
the Girlfriend of a Sex God: Further Confessions of Georgia
Nicolson, Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas: Further, Further
Confessions of Georgia Nicolson.
Rinaldi, Ann. Wolf By the Ears, A Break with Charity,
In My Father's House, Finishing Becca, The Secret of Sarah
Revere, Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons,The Blue Door,The
Second Bend in the River, Acquaintance with Darkness, Mine
Eyes Have Seen.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter series.
Sachar, Louis. Holes.
Salinger, J. D. Catcher in the Rye.
Salisbury, Graham. Shark Bait, Island Boyz: Short Stories.
Lord of the Deep, Under the Blood-Red Sun, Jungle Dogs.
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis I and II
Smith, Cynthia Leitich, Rain Is Not My Indian Name.
Sones, Sonya. What My Mother Doesn't Know, Stop Pretending:
What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy.
Soto, Gary. Baseball in April, Local News, Summer on Wheels,
Living Up the Street, Jesse, Snapshots from the Wedding, Taking
Sides, Buried Onions.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale; Maus: A Survivor's
Tale II.
Spinelli, Jerry. Wringer, Maniac Magee.
Staples, Suzanne Fisher. Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind,
Haveli, Tonight, By Sea, The Beduin's Gazelle, Shiva's Fire.
Takami, Koushun and Masayuki Taguchi. Battle Royal.
Talbot, Bryan. The Tale of One Bad Rat.
Taylor, Mildred D. Let the Circle Be Unbroken, The Road
to Memphis, The Land.
Tolan, Stephanie S. Surviving the Applewhites, Ordinary
Miracles, The Face in the Mirror, Welcome to the Ark, Flight
of the Raven.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings series.
Trueman, Terry. Stuck in Neutral.
Voigt, Cynthia. Dicey's Song, Izzy Willy-nilly, Wings
of a Falcon, Orfe, When She Hollers, Bad Girls, Bad, Badder,
Baddest.
Weaver,Will. Memory Boy.
Westall, Robert. The Machine Gunners, Fathom Five, The
Kingdom By the Sea, Yaxley's Cat, A Place to Hide, Falling
Into Glory, Echoes of War, Stormsearch, Gulf, Blitz Cat.
Weyr, Garret Freymann. When I Was Older, My Heartbeat.
Williams-Garcia, Rita. Blue Tights, Fast Talk on a Slow
Track, Like Sisters on the Homefront.
Wolff, Virginia Euwer. Make Lemonade, True Believer.
Woodson, Jacqueline. The Dear One, I Hadn't Meant to Tell
You This, From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun,The House You
Pass on the Way, Hush, If You Come Softly, Miracle's Boys.
Yamanaka, Lois Ann. Name Me Nobody.
Yatate, Hajime and Yutaka Nanten. Cowboy Bebop.
Yep, Laurence. Dragonwings, Dragon's Gate, Child of the
Owl, Thief of Hearts, Ribbons,The Case of the Goblin Pearls.
Yolen, Jane. The Dragon's Trilogy, Briar Rose, Devil's
Arithmetic, Girl in a Cage.
Zindel, Paul. The Pigman, The Pigman and Me, David and
Della, Loch, The Doom Stone, Rats.
