Chapter 6: How Do Adolescents develop?
Summary: Physical and intellectual aspects tremendously change during the developmental years of adolescents. The physical change of an adolescent leaves them wonder if they are normal, so it’s important to provide books that assure them through puberty. The intellectual change goes from concrete thinking to abstract thinking around the age of 10. Concrete thinking to formal thinking makes the change around the age of 14. So especially in the middle grade books, you need to make sure you are supplying the right kind of books for the type of “thinkers” you have. Is the book abstract? Is it concrete?
The developmental stages according to Havighurst are as follows: Learning to get along with peers. Easy relationship with opposite sex. Working for pay. Changing relationships with parents. Finding a vocation. Developing morals and values. Adapting to physical bodies. Defining appropriate sex roles.
Moral: Kohlberg’s Theory
Pre-conventional: makes decisions based on reward and punishment. Ex: speed limit signs
Conventional: follows the rules of society and/or religion
Post Conventional: recognizes the laws but also recognizes that humanity or the life of an individual supersedes the law (civil disobedience). Ex: refusing to sit at the back of the bus.
Young adults also have a needs hierarchy. It begins with the basics such as food, then the feeling of safety (emotionally and physically). Love and belonging and the need to be respected is next. Lastly, it’s the need to believe they can be anything they want to be.
It’s important to develop readers. The hierarchy in developing readers is as follows:
Develops empathy
Unconscious delight: series book readers or serial book readers
Reading autobiographically: mirror reading. Reading about people like yourself.
Reading for vicarious experiences: window reading
Reading for philosophical speculations: asking morals and values questions
Reading for aesthetic experiences: reading for the wonder of the book.
Reflection: It’s important to take note of all developmental aspects in young adults and to meet them where they are, when it comes to helping them find the right book. Adolescents don’t just change physically through puberty but intellectually as well. After reviewing the chapter of how adolescents develop, I feel as a librarian, it’s important to meet the needs of my students by starting where they are developmentally, then scaffold their reading to get to a more post conventional thought process from them. The main trend I’m learning, is to make sure all students from all walks of life are accommodated within your library, have a well rounded selection, and make sure the reading selection is age appropriate for your audience.
Chapter 7: Literary Elements
Summary: Literary elements and literary devices are often placed in the same category and can easily be confused with one another. It is important to be knowledgeable in distinguishing the two from each other. Literary elements are used by the reader to analyze and understand a work of literature. The components are not techniques used by the writer but are identified and taken out by the reader. Theme, conflict, setting, and plot are some of the many literary elements that can be found in literature. Literary devices are deliberately used by the writer and is used for expression and bringing words to life. The construction of the text is the main focus to bring about artistic meaning to the work of literature. Symbolism, hyperbole, metaphor, and Deus ex Machina are a few of the many literary devices in writing.
Theme is an important factor to take into consideration when analyzing literature. There are certain questions to ask as you search for a theme within all literary works.
1. What message is the author trying to convey to the readers?
2. Is this message universal; does it apply outside of the story to the world at large?
Theme is not a main idea, topic, summary, an old saying, or a single word. Yet, it is a message that is stated in a complete sentence that has a global reach and can be demonstrated from the text. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak have multiple themes. It’s okay to use your imagination, your imagination can take you places, a mother’s love is unconditional, and it’s possible to confront and defeat your fears are just a few themes found in that one book.
Reflection: Most of the terms from literary elements and literary devices are not new to me. However, it was a nice refresher of the information so I can adjust how I view the literature in front of me. So many times I get to the end of a book and realize I could’ve gone deeper to understand more of the story; pick it apart with a fine tooth comb to really appreciate what the author was trying to convey to their audience. This literary elements chapter was a good reminder on how to not only analyze literature for myself, but also teach my students there’s more to what meets the eye when reading a book. I think equipping my students to properly identify and analyze critical elements within a piece of literature is just another step closer to growing life-long readers.
Chapter 8: Awards and Lists
Summary: Chapter 8 of the Young Adult Literature textbook consisted of multiple hyperlinks to numerous book lists and award lists for young adults ages 12-18. All of the lists are important but there were some on the list that should be recognized for their insightful choices of literature to share with the world. How the book lists and awards are earned have been chosen through a large spectrum of specifications. You can find the fiction and nonfiction award books and lists, as well as awards for graphic novels, teen choices, audiobooks, lists chosen by librarians, or for college bound students. You’ll also find lists for different cultures, books that portray different abilities/disabilities of people, and awards that support the LGBT community.
Reflection: After completing the Literature for Children’s course and reviewing the awards and lists chapter for the Young Adult Literature course, I am blown away at how many book lists there are. Growing up I was familiar with the more common lists like the Odyssey Award, Lone Star Reading List, and the Maverick reading list, but to see literally more than 50 different lists is a huge eye opener for me. Once I’m in charge of my own library I will utilize these lists not only for myself in order to gain insight for my purchase orders, but I will make these lists known to my students. Make them visible. Make them a part of the wall decorations within my library. I’ll also have small annotations out beside each poster or list I create for them. The more students are aware of something, the more pull and the more motivation you have given them to read something out of their comfort zone. It’s just another way to market books to entice young readers to get lost in a book. I really appreciate the sheer amount of inclusion that all types of books are receiving in order to make the world more knowledgeable about something they might not ever go through or experience for themselves.
Chapter 9: Poetry
Summary: Poetry is NOT a genre, rather a format of literature. It can be found in
fantasy, historical fiction, realistic fiction, or traditional literature. It's important to share poetry
with children and Jean Le Pere gave us six valid reasons on why it's important:
1. Enjoyment
2. Provides knowledge of concepts
3. Increases vocabulary
4. Helps children identify with people and situations
5. Helps children understand their feelings
6. Grants insights to their feelings and universal emotions
There are 5 criteria for evaluating poetry for children:
1. Is it within reach of the child's understanding
2. Does the poem use imagery? (sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures)
3. Does the poem rhyme? It's important for beginner poetry to rhyme so they can then scaffold
later on and appreciate blank verse and other forms that don't rhyme.
4. How is rhythm used? (natural vs. forced rhythms) Does the rhythm fit the subject of the poem?
5. What role does sound play?
8 Criteria for selecting poetry for children:
Can children understand it?
Does it stir emotion?
Does it play with the sounds of language?
Is it age appropriate?
Does it allow the reader to be interactive with the poem?
Is subject matter appealing and appropriate?
Will it be able to stand up under repeated readings?
Will it accompany you through life?
A research study was done by Ann Terry in 1974 on elementary students and how they work through, go about, and prefer poetry. She came up with 9 standards for how children portray poetry and interact with them:
1. Kids prefer narrative poetry
2. Kids disliked free verse and haiku poetry
3. Rhyme, rhythm, and sound devices were strong preferences
4. Funny poems, familiar experiences and animal poems were popular
5. Preference for contemporary poems (recognizable words)
6. Visual images and words that allow the children's imagination to expand (should include imagery and sensory poems).
7. Poems shouldn't be simplified for the sake of the children understanding them
8. A good poem should allow interaction with it
9. It's good enough for repeated readings
Reflection: Poetry is one particular format of literature that becomes less popular with children the older they become. It’s important for librarians to be in tune to that in order to better select poetry that’s appropriate for their age and interest. Otherwise you will more than likely lose a student to potentially disliking poetry in the long run. I think if you take into account the research done by Ann Terry and learn how to evaluate poetry in order to better select it, you will gain positive effects into the lives of your students.
Chapter 10: Historical Fiction
Fiction is considered to be any story that is set in the past. The tricky part of historical fiction is the age of the student depends on what they deem to be considered history. Young children might think history is what they ate for breakfast in the morning. Older students think history to be something that took place when they were younger. Adults tend to think of history as something that happened before they were born. This is why it's important for librarians to think about what they put in the historical fiction section of their library, simply because history means something different for everyone. Certain criteria have been laid out in order for us to properly evaluate historical fiction for children. They are as follows:
- Does the book tell a good story that effortlessly blends the history into the story itself?
- Are the facts of the historical period accurate? It's important to rely on accurate and authentic reviews to source your literature. Some reputable councils are the Council on Books for Children and the National Council in Social Studies.
- How are the values of the time brought to life? For example The Witch of Blackbird Pond won the Newbery in 1959 and the role of women and religion are very different than how we view them today.
- Is everything consistent with the social milieu? Are clothing, speech patterns, music, architecture accurate with the time period?
- Does the them of the story relate to contemporary readers? The book should have a universal theme that applies to contemporary readers.
Reflection: I did some extra research of my own and found that historical fiction can be found in many different formats such as drama, graphic novels, theatrical plays, comics, documentary fiction, and historical mysteries and romance. While perusing historical fiction articles I still have one burning question about how much the author can get away with, when it comes to blending true historical facts with their fictional story they want to portray. In other words, how do they keep history true and mix in their fictional story, all while not making the reader second guess what is actually true in the history books? However, even with nice little “twists” in historical fiction I still believe it’s an important literary genre to encourage your students to read, simply for the fact that they could potentially have a positive influence on the reader to explore the historical nonfiction section in the library. Suggesting books to read is all about making connections to the next book the reader will pick up. Librarians must always be thinking one step ahead of the reader and have the scaffolding concepts of books in mind at all times.
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