A Novel Approach to Composition

Abstract

One way to teach some basic composition skills is through young adult literature. I've used six YA novels in which teenagers are either victims or perpetrators of crimes to produce six student newspapers dealing with events in the novel. The first part of the prewriting project is the presentation of the novels: The Magician (New York: Bantam, 1976) by Sol Stein, Are You in the House Alone? (New York: Dell, 1977) by Richard Peck, I Know What You Did Last Summer (Boston: Little, Brown, 1973) by Lois Duncan, Summer of My German Soldier (New York: Bantam, 1973) by Betty Greene, and Adam's Daughter (New York: Crowell, 1977) and Run, Shelley, Run (New York: Crowell, 1974) by Gertrude Samuels. These provocative books deal with many of the same types of crime that appear in the daily newspapers. The class will be divided into six groups, each assigned one novel. During prewriting, the teacher might invite speakers from the county probation department or the police department's juvenile division because one prewriting activity will focus on teenage crime in daily newspapers and in the novels. Other prewriting activities will focus on discussing questions about the type of crime in each novel.