Young Adult Fiction

Catalog description

Ever wonder what would move people to forbid, burn, even stab books? Come explore this question in Young Adult Literature. In this course, we will consider YA fiction from both various critical perspectives and within various educational contexts. Over the semester, we will review a brief history of the genre; examine a range of contemporary young adult fiction; discuss the purposes of and controversies about teaching such works in middle and high school contexts; and do research on case studies in which specific texts have been contested. By semester’s end, students will know much about how literature works-and is presumed to work-in and on contemporary American society. Satisfies the LTRQ Ways of Knowing requirement. Satisfies Educational Studies minor requirement. Satisfies the Historical Approaches requirement of the English major.