Teaching Young Adult Literature Today introduces the reader to what is current and relevant in the plethora of good books available for adolescents. More importantly, literary experts illustrate how teachers everywhere can help their students become lifelong readers by simply introducing them to great reads-smart, insightful, and engaging books that are specifically written for adolescents. Hayn, Kaplan, and their contributors address a wide range of topics: how to avoid common obstacles to using YAL; selecting quality YAL for classrooms while balancing these with curriculum requirements; engaging disenfranchised readers; pairing YAL with technology as an innovative way to teach curriculum standards across all content areas. Contributors also discuss more theoretical subjects, such as the absence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young adult literature in secondary classrooms; and contemporary YAL that responds to the changing expectations of digital generation readers who want to blur the boundaries between page and screen.

IntroductionSection I. Where has YAL been?Chapter 1: Young Adult Literature: Defining the Role of Research Judith A. Hayn and Amanda L. NolenChapter 2: The Changing Face of Young Adult Literature: What Teachers and Researchers Need to Know to Enhance Their Practice and InquiryJeffrey S. Kaplan Chapter 3: Literacy Teacher Education and the Teaching of Adolescent Literature: Perspectives on Research and PracticeSusan E. Elliott-Johns Section II. Where is YAL Now?Chapter 4: Identifying Obstacles and Garnering Support: Young Adult Literature in the English Language Arts ClassroomKelly Byrne BullChapter 5: Using Young Adult Literature to Motivate and Engage the DisengagedMichelle J. Kelley, Nance S. Wilson, and Melanie D. Koss Chapter 6: Dystopian Novels: What Imagined Futures Tell Young Readers about the Present and FutureCrag Hill Chapter 7: Out of the Closet and into the Open: LGBTQ Young Adult Literature in the Language Arts Classroom Laura Renzi,Mark Letcher, and Kristen MiragliaChapter 8: Multicultural Literature: Finding the BalanceJudith A. Hayn and Melissa Comer Chapter 9: Updating Young Adult Literature Reading Lists While Retaining Quality TitlesLisa Hazlett Chapter 10: Crossing Boundaries: Genre-Blurring in Books for Young AdultsBarbara A. Ward, Terrell A. Young, and Deanna Day Chapter 11: The Bestselling Adult Novelist and Young Adult FictionSteven T. Bickmore Section III: Where is YAL Going?Chapter 13: Beyond the Language Arts Classroom: The Dynamic Intersection of Young Adult Literature and Technological, Pedagogical, and Content KnowledgeColleen Sheehy and Karina R. Clemmons Chapter 14: Reading with Blurred Boundaries: The Influence of Digital and Visual Culture on Young Adult NovelsLinda T. Parsons and Melanie Hundley Chapter 15: YAL in Cyberspace: How Teachers are Following TheirStudents into New Literature James Blasingame