Young Adult Lit and Teen Violence

Below is an excerpt from article I found about the importance of young adult literature and helping teens cope with difficult issues. Read the article and comment. Do you agree with the author? Why or why not?

by Janet Alsup


As I write this article, the television news blares details about the latest school shooting in the United States, this time in California. Another adolescent boy managed to kill two fellow students and injure 11 others before he was taken into custody. By now, this scene is eerily familiar. We have seen similar pictures from Colorado, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Arkansas, and we have heard about numerous other potential shootings that have been stopped in the nick of time.

This latest school shooting brings to our attention yet again that something is wrong in our schools and perhaps within the psyches of our teenagers. The perpetrators of these shootings share certain characteristics: they are adolescent white boys from suburban, middle-class families who, for whatever reason, were bullied, teased, and ostracized by schoolmates until they finally "cracked." What is perhaps most important is that they rarely talked to anyone about their feelings of isolation and emotional pain. Peers describe them as loners, without many friends, and uninvolved in extracurricular activities.

If we can identify these characteristics and create profiles of these violent teens, why can't we change their behavior before they act out? Teachers and administrators, parents, and university teacher educators have asked themselves this question many times, but there appears to be no simple answer. So we keep asking: Why can't we help these students? How can we help them?

English and reading teachers, like teachers of every discipline, have their own strategies for easing students through this time of "storm and stress," and their tool is often books. A recent novel by Todd Strasser, Give a Boy a Gun (2002), tells the story of a school shooting at fictional Middletown High. The two young, male perpetrators end up dying (one shoots himself and another is beaten to death by fellow students who finally overtake him), but only after shooting a fellow student and the school principal. Strasser narrates the events through a series of quotes from various characters who were witnesses to the shooting. He also includes several footnoted descriptions of real school shootings since the mid-1970s along with saddening statistics about gun deaths and the prevalence of teasing in U.S. schools. In this book Strasser makes a definite and powerful point about the seriousness of teen violence. However, I do not want to imply that asking students to read and respond to a book such as Strasser's can stop school shootings from occurring. Although this is a wonderful thought, it would be far too idealistic. There are clearly other issues that must be addressed in order to stop the problem, including the trivializing of peer teasing and the resulting humiliation that often leads to depression and anger. But what I do want to suggest is that reading literature can be an ethical as well as an intellectual process, and as such it can assist adolescents in coping with their tumultuous lives.

A poem

Ok poetry haters out there--
read this poem and tell me what you think the message is. This is a very modern poem, no Old English to decipher.

Even if you don't like poetry, I think you will be able to "figure this one out." What is the poet trying to tell us? (Then tell me why this poem is/isn't easy to understand.)

Then--and here's the part that's most important--find a poem somewhere and copy and paste it here. It needs to be one you semi-like and understand. Tell why you picked it. It can be funny or serious, as long as it's a poem. Make sure it's at least four lines long, and be sure to list the poet if you can.

Notice

Steve Kowit

This evening, the sturdy Levi's
I wore every day for over a year
& which seemed to the end
in perfect condition,
suddenly tore.
How or why I don't know,
but there it was: a big rip at the crotch.
A month ago my friend Nick
walked off a racquetball court,
showered,
got into this street clothes,
& halfway home collapsed & died.
Take heed, you who read this,
& drop to your knees now & again
like the poet Christopher Smart,
& kiss the earth & be joyful,
& make much of your time,
& be kindly to everyone,
even to those who do not deserve it.
For although you may not believe
it will happen,
you too will one day be gone,
I, whose Levi's ripped at the crotch
for no reason,
assure you that such is the case.
Pass it on.

Tuesday, October 19

Choose one of the following and respond. Be sure to respons to all of the questions.

(1) If you have seen the movie for the book you are reading, comment on what you think so far. If the book different? Better? Which do you like the best? Why? Why do we usually feel that books are better than movies?

or

(2)Do you like poetry? Why or why not? Do you read poetry outside of school? Do you write poetry? If so, what do you like about writing it? Why do you think poetry is the least appealing genre for most young adults? Poetry used to be very highly regarded among most people--men wrote poems for the women they loved--why has that changed? Or are you a guy who writes poems or a girl who has been lucky enough to receive one?

Welcome to the blog!

Hello guys!

I thought we could use this blog to write about some of the issues related to young adult literature and novels we are reading. I'm thinking we will post 2-3 times per week. Let me know if you have any ideas for posts/questions.

For this first blog, I want you to tell us about one the "best" books you've ever read. I don't necessarily mean your favorite--but what do you feel was one of the best--"Best Written" or "Best Story" or "Best Message" or "Best Evil Character" books you've read?

You choose what "best" award to give it, but be sure to explain why!

Mine is "Best Book that Made Me Cry." It is Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson. It is a story about a mother/son--and it will really surprise you. It is very unlike most of his books, and I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a good cry!

So what's your "Best"????