An Escape

I'm a book geek and proud of it.  I'm also a huge fan of YA literature, which is not always embraced by educators as being quality literature.  I'm convinced that these people simply have not picked up recent YA literature and base their opinions solely on Twilight (I like Twilight, it just doesn't need to be taught!).  I like to classify reading in my classroom into three categories: entertainment, life, and cultural literacy.

I do believe there are some books that students should be exposed to, yet, I do not agree that the books "we" have chosen as being culturally relevant are always on target.  Last time I checked, white males are not the only people in our society.  I do not mind teaching Shakespeare, Homer the blind poet, and all that good jazz.  However, we owe it to students to expose them to non-white male authors who provide a cultural literacy about the current world, too.

Too many students have a profound hatred for books, and I can understand why.  We over teach novels, we tell them what to think about the novels, and when they ask why they have to read it, we answer because we have to.  That's not good enough. 

We need to carefully examine the literature we teach and take some risks.  I recently read The Fault in Our Stars which made me ache with a desire to live, to love, to take risks, and to embrace the sorrow that is an inevitable piece of the human experience.  It is a book that deserves to be taught.  It should be taught. 

So, as a literacy specialist (yes, I have a master's in reading!), here are my suggestions for current YA reading that is about the human experience:

Sold
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Divergent
Bound
Never Fall Down
Split
Twisted
Boy 21
Between Shades of Gray
Jellicoe Road
Speak
The Piper's Son 
Shatter Me 
Copper Sun
Ophelia

A list for entertainment!

The Immortal Instruments (series)
Beautiful Creatures (series)
Under the Never Sky
Froi of the Exiles (could go above too!)
The Infernal Devices (series)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Legend
Jane
Matched (series)
Delirium (series)

Now, I need to get back to reading Cinder :)