Young Adult Literature Research Articles

Exploring Queer Identity and Supernatural Realities in Katrina Leno's Summer of Salt and Sometime in Summer: A Comparative Analysis of Coming-of-Age and Magical Realism

This study examines the representation of queer identities in two popular young adult novels, “Summer of Salt” and Sometime in Summer, both authored by Katrina Leno. Utilising a queer theoretical framework, the analysis explores the use of coming-of-age narratives and elements of magical realism to create complex queer characters, mainly focusing on Felicity and Julep from Summer of Salt and Aiden from Sometime in Summer. The nuanced and complex experiences of these characters, as portrayed by Leno, are closely examined, with a particular focus on using magical realism as a genre to explore alternative realities and challenge established norms. The significance of young adult literature in reflecting and influencing the awareness of LGBTQ+ adolescents is also explored, with recognition of the decisive role that novels like these can play in cultivating a deeper understanding and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. The broader implications of Leno's work are analysed, emphasising its literary and cultural significance. The novels are placed within the context of the queer literary tradition and social advocacy, underscoring the importance of including diverse and authentic queer voices in young adult literature. Overall, this study highlights the significance of Leno's work in the ongoing discussion surrounding LGBTQ+ presence in the young adult genre, underscoring the need for continued efforts to promote understanding and acceptance of the diverse experiences of queer individuals.

Translating and Creating New Discourses for Children in Argentina: Explorations around the Enunciator’s Communicative Image in the Writings of María Elena Walsh and Elsa Bornemann

This article aims to explore the construction of a common enunciative identity in a set of paratexts belonging to a corpus of works that contain texts translated by María Elena Walsh and Elsa Bornemann, namely La nube traicionera (published by Sudamericana in 1989) and Antología del cuento infantil (published by Editorial Latina in 1977). From a methodological framework that considers situations of enunciation and communication, as proposed by Maingueneau, I will attempt to demonstrate that the discursive manifestations found in this corpus reinforce author-translators’ positioning as part of a groundbreaking literary-discursive tradition in Argentina. This literary and discursive disposition is characterised, among other things, by political commitment and a poetics that proposes novel, unprejudiced ways of looking at the world, far removed from indoctrination in all its shapes and forms. To complement this exploration, I will also venture towards a characterisation of the communicative identity of the enunciator, which ultimately constitutes the translator’s ethos (Spoturno), as a relevant aspect for theorisations of Translation Studies in the field of children’s and young adult literature.

Revisión sistemática de la producción científica de conocimientos en didáctica de la literatura / Systematic review of the scientific production of knowledge in literature didactics

Literature didactics developed some research production lines that show its importance as a study field. This article's objectives are to analyze the scientific production on this topic and to know its research trends using two Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) databases. A descriptive bibliometric study of longitudinal cut and scientific mapping was carried out on 449 articles and a content analysis on 101 open access publications to analyze the knowledge base's evolution literature didactics. The results show a consolidated over thirty years disciplinary area, highlighting exponential growth of research between 2012 and 2021. All continents, but mostly Europe and specifically Spain, presented the highest scientific production rates and greater numbers of researchers and co-authorships. Regarding the research trends, firstly, research on the "Literary Corpus" predominates, especially on children's and young adult literature (LIJ); and secondly, research on "Teaching Practices" that account for various didactic itineraries of reading and writing effectively used in the classroom.

Meyer, Abbye E. <i>From Wallflowers to Bulletproof Families: The Power of Disability in Young Adult</i> <i>Narratives</i>. UP of Mississippi, 2022. 204 pages. ISBN: 9781496837585

A common observation in disability studies is that historically, disability has been a unifying marginalisation—the one intersection from which other identities hope for distance or even escape (Mitchell & Snyder 3; Davis 277). Problem novels, often dismissed as an inevitable but undesired aspect of adolescent literature (Miskec & McGee 164), occupy a similar space in studies of youth literature. These texts are often considered representative of young adult literature by those outside of children’s literature studies and are often treated defensively by those of us within it as a stereotype the field must overcome. There is, however, very little scholarship explicitly on problem novels. Abbye E. Meyer’s work, From Wallflowers to Bulletproof Families: The Power of Disability in Young Adult Narratives, offers a new defence and reinterpretation of the problem novel as she asks readers to consider these significant gaps in the literature: “the ways in which disability and young adult literature interact” and “the kinds of power these interactions produce” (12). As an analysis of American representations of disability and adolescence, Meyer’s work is often compelling, especially in its recontextualization of “exemplary” didacticism (Meyer 96). While I do question the conflation of adolescence as disabling in early chapters as potentially overly diagnostic and easily misread (and as a non-American reader I lament the limitations in attributing the “young adult voice” (16) so squarely to Holden Caufield and Esther Greenwood), Meyer’s work is an important contribution to both literary and disability studies as we continue to engage on topics of representation, voice, and crip power.

“Well, That’s What She Gets…”: Black Teenage Girls’ Sexual and Reproductive Choice in Young Adult Literature

Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) this article explores the discourse around Black girl sexuality, teenage pregnancy, and teenage motherhood as depicted within Black authored young adult literature.

Return Migration Experiences Portrayed in K-pop Literature: <i>Somewhere Only We Know</i> and <i>Comeback: A K-pop Novel</i>

Korean American youth often turn to Korean popular culture, such as K-pop, to claim their cultural space in the U.S., where they are marginalized. These ethnic media influence some to return to their ancestral homeland in search of racial belonging and ethnic identity. Nevertheless, literature and media rarely address the complexities and difficulties of such return migration. Hence, in this study, I utilize two K-pop young adult books—published in the United States, not Korea—to analyze the experiences of return migration and identity negotiation of return migrants in Korea through Korean American K-pop stars and their Korean American love interests.

Creating Life-long Readers Using YA Literature as a Bridge to the Classics

Creating Life-long Readers Using YA Literature as a Bridge to the Classics

“It Was a Real Eye-Opener”

The school environment can be challenging for young people experiencing mental health concerns to express their individuality and feel accepted. There has been an increased focus on wellbeing in school-aged children, with programs targeted to building resilience and promoting inclusion. However, peer stigmatization lowers personal wellbeing by limiting social belongingness in young people with mental health concerns and this is often exacerbated by poor mental health literacy. This paper is based on a doctoral study that used a grounded theory methodology to explore adolescent responses to a novel featuring mental health concerns as a class text. This research showed that students prefer contemporary young adult novels in the English classroom to support mental health literacy due to its contemporaneity and relatability. This paper links these benefits with the role of teacher librarians in recommending young adult literature featuring mental health concerns for use in the English curriculum.

“You have to survive”: Reading trauma, survival, and adolescent resilience in N.H. Senzai’s contemporary young adult war narrative, Escape from Aleppo

ABSTRACT In recent years, millions of Syrians – one-third of them under the age of 18 – have sought refuge in neighbouring and far-off regions. This article explores the representations of the impact of trauma on young people and their prospects for healing in N.H. Senzai’s 2018 young adult novel, Escape from Aleppo. Recent scholarship on decolonizing trauma studies urges approaches that incorporate aspects of recuperation and resilience, focusing on the possibility of post-traumatic growth and healing. Situated at the intersection of trauma studies and young adult literature, this article examines the post-traumatic growth of Senzai’s young protagonist through negotiations with history that foster resilience and help Syrians to cope with distress. Representing survival through the conventions of the young adult genre, the novel balances two extremes – suffering and hopefulness – and provides an alternative response to trauma that highlights emotional growth through localized systems of knowledge available to young survivors.

Are You Mad? – Young Adult Literature, Mental Illness and the 'Mad Genius' in the EFL Classroom

Are You Mad? – Young Adult Literature, Mental Illness and the 'Mad Genius' in the EFL Classroom

Developing Engagement through Creative Work with Young Adult Fiction and Digital Storytelling – Findings from a Small-Scale Qualitative Study

Developing Engagement through Creative Work with Young Adult Fiction and Digital Storytelling – Findings from a Small-Scale Qualitative Study

Character in Young Adult fiction: The example of Lyra in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (1995-2000) and The Book of Dust (2017- )

Few studies have examined the question of characters and the specific ways in which they are treated in children's literature. Yet the construction of the character is all the more important in novels for children and teenagers as a large proportion of these books focus on Bildung and personal development through the exploration of the transition from childhood to maturity.I examine the treatment of character in these books through the case study of young Lyra, Philip Pullman’s new Eve in His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy (1995-2000). On the one hand, the treatment of the character of Lyra belongs to a rather conventional novelistic tradition in several respects. But on the other hand, it also benefits from more innovative elements related with the possibilities offered by fantasy, a genre which is still at the height of popularity with young adults. Daemons, for instance, are animal creatures in Lyra’s familiar yet different world who are closely connected to their human counterparts and disclose their owners’ innermost nature while playing the protective part of totemic animals. This metaphor is one of the devices in the trilogy, along with the alethiometer—a compass-like symbol-reader—, through which the character of Lyra is revealed to the reader.The fact that Pullman’s work belongs to the genre of young adult fiction is also essential. This literature targeting a liminal age group whose boundaries are increasingly blurred, fragments its young characters’ evolution ad infinitum by following them step by step towards adulthood as a way to better dissect the mutations and metamorphoses of adolescence. Even if His Dark Materials identified puberty as a turning-point in the young protagonists’ process of growing up and construction of identity, it is significant that Pullman, who had already added a small companion book—entitled Lyra’s Oxford—to the trilogy’s literary universe, is still trying to explore the multiple dimensions of Lyra’s constantly shifting character: while book 1 of The Book of Dust, Pullman’s new trilogy, La Belle Sauvage (2017), is a prequel to His Dark Materials, which focuses on Lyra as a baby—before the action in Northern Lights takes place—, book 2, The Secret Commonwealth (2019), takes a closer look at Lyra once she has become a young woman, after her meeting with Will in His Dark Materials.

ԹԱՐԳՄԱՆԱԿԱՆ ՄԱՆԿԱԳՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆԸ ՀԱՅԿԱԿԱՆ ԱՌԱՋԻՆ ԱՇԱԿԵՐՏԱԿԱՆ ՊԱՐԲԵՐԱԿԱՆՆԵՐՈՒՄ / TRANSLATED CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN THE FIRST ARMENIAN CHILDREN’S PERIODICALS

This article aims to examine the role and impact of translated literature as reflected in the first Armenian children's and youth periodicals ('St. Burastan. Sahakyan,’ 1851- 1853, Constantinople; ‘Tutak Haykazian,’ 1854-1855; ‘Erkaser,’ 1855, Smyrna). The primary objective is to identify and analyze the content of materials translated for teenage readers. This study serves as an extension of our comprehensive research on children's literature translated in Armenian publications during the pre-Soviet era. The methodology employed in this study incorporates both qualitative and quantitative analyses, along with a historical approach. As part of the comparative analysis, reprints and individual translations of literary works were also examined, as they play a crucial role in shaping independent children's and young adult literature. Translated literature significantly influenced the literary and social landscape of Armenian-European interactions, aiding in the dissemination and preservation of global literary heritage. The Armenian intelligentsia of the time believed that national education and awakening required the adoption and spread of the finest European Enlightenment ideals among Armenian children and adolescents. This goal was pursued through the translation of ideologically relevant literature, which was published in the newly emerging periodicals aimed at students.

(NE)KANONSKA ČITANJA: SAVREMENE TEORIJSKE KONTROVERZE I PROUČAVANJE ROMANA ZA DECU I MLADE U ČASOPISU DETINJSTVO (2000–2020)

The paper illuminates some aspects of the influence of the literary canon debate on the institutionalization of specific theoretical approaches in the interpretation of children’s novels. This genre, as evidenced by many thematic issues of the journal Childhood in the first de- cades of the twenty-first century, provides fertile ground for the institutional legitimization of literary theories whose postulates imply a demand for challenging or re- forming the canon, such as cultural Marxist, gender, postcolonial, and other readings that dominantly rely on the category of individual and collective identity. In this research, the role of the Childhood journal in the academic institutionalization of these methodologies is analyzed within the context of a specific paradox. The study of children’s and young adult literature has proven to be a favorable environment for non-canonical and anti-canonical readings, although the entry of these explorations into the academic framework is undeniably marked by a struggle for legitimacy and status of the subject of study. In simpler terms, while inviting to challenge the literary canon, the theory of children’s literature requested the authority for children’s and YA literature similar to that of the literary canon for adults. The aim of the paper is to describe the literary-theoretical paradigms on which the study of novels for children and young adults in the journal Childhood relies, using the major currents of literary theory on a global scale as a reference-comparative framework.

Young Adult Literature: From Romance to Realism, Fourth Edition

Young Adult Literature: From Romance to Realism, Fourth Edition

Realidade virtual, literatura e educação: narrativas imersivas para crianças e jovens

ABSTRACT In this article, we discuss the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for the creation and adaptation of stories aimed at children and young adult, focusing on the specificities of their usage protocols. We begin by introducing narratives in VR and their connection to the field of children and young adult literature. Subsequently, 360º videos targeted at children and young people are presented, along with the reading and engagement protocols that arise from their peculiarities. Starting from the field of Cinematic Virtual Reality (CVR), we discuss about the main challenges posed by this medium for the enjoyment of immersive works, based on the analysis of the work Invasion!, produced by the Baobab studio. Thus, we conclude that both the production and reception of narratives in Virtual Reality presuppose the management of the viewer’s vision and attentional focus, considering the reading protocols already learned and naturalized through other media.

Thinking-for-translating: Mannerof- motion in a parallel corpus of Henning Mankell’s crime novels

This paper analyzes the translation of Manner-of-motion in a Swedish>Spanish parallel corpus of crime novels by Henning Mankell (and more specifically, a selection of the Wallander series). Since Swedish is a satellite-framed language, while Spanish is a verb-framed language, the aim of the research is to identify translation techniques adapted to the issue of translating Manner-of-motion in an intertypological translation scenario. The results of this study are compared with previous research on the topic, which has focused mainly on general prose fiction and fiction for children and young adults. Our findings confirm that Manner-of-motion is omitted to a great extent in the Spanish translations, compared with the original texts in Swedish. Moreover, some differences are encountered in the translation of original fragments, including general and specific Manner-of-motion verbs.

International LGBTQ+ Literature for Children and Young Adults ed. by B. J. Epstein and Elizabeth L. Chapman (review)

International LGBTQ+ Literature for Children and Young Adults ed. by B. J. Epstein and Elizabeth L. Chapman (review)

Reading Young Adult Literature in the EFL Classroom and Beyond

Reading Young Adult Literature in the EFL Classroom and Beyond

Columns: Telescopes: Possibilities in Yal: “Liberating Futures” through the Eyes of Diverse YAL Authors

The column editor describes how this column will highlight diverse young adult literature authors in future issues.