Steven Bickmore
Robert Cormier’s I am the Cheese changed how I viewed novels written for young adults. I realized that the characters, the plot, and the narrative structure of this novel were as sophisticated as most of the books I read as a college English major. The novel was a finely crafted piece of literature that gripped the reader in a tale of suspense. I became convinced that young adult literature could not only help young readers learn to read and digest high quality “classic” literature, but that many of these novels were quality literature. They deserved to be read and valued on their own merits. I wanted my students to read books that appealed to them, books that they didn’t want to put down, books that they would read again. Ultimately, I wanted them to find the magic of reading that has continually forced me to pick up another new book and explore the world that opens up between its cover.
I spent 25 years teaching high school English classes ranging from remedial level 9th grade students to 12th grade Advanced Placement courses. At every level I included YA literature as self-selected literature, through literature circles, or as whole class readings. One year I placed Ender’s Game as the first novel in a Senior Advanced Placement class. Placing Ender’s Game first, changed the discussion of literature throughout the year. My research agenda includes investigating how preservice teachers come to YA Literature and the pedagogy they adopt in the classroom. I also write about promoting YA literature that not only attracts and speaks to its audience but also exhibits high literary quality. I now teach English Methods and Young Adult Literature courses at Louisiana State University.
Melanie Hundley
I fell in love with young adult literature my first year of teaching seventh grade at a middle school in Georgia. It was a textbook adoption year so when some of the textbooks were damaged, they were not replaced. I didn’t have enough textbooks for my students; what I did have was a terrific media specialist who helped me get class sets of young adult novels. Reading Where the Red Fern Grows, A Wrinkle in Time, Dogsong, Number the Stars, and Bridge to Terabithia with my students gave me a very different perspective on those texts. Those reading experiences and our deep, thoughtful discussions helped me reshape what I thought about literature, about teaching literature, and what texts were key to use with students.
As a classroom teacher, I used young adult literature in a variety of ways including reading workshops, as companion pieces to canonical literature, and in writing workshops as examples of the writer’s craft. In all of my courses, from 7th grade to AP, I incorporated YA texts to engage students in reading, writing, and critiquing the world. I now teach Writing Methods and Young Adult Literature courses at Vanderbilt University. My research interests include new media, technology and writing, and teacher education. I see a strong connection between changing literacy practices including the reading and writing of hypertext and the increase in non-traditional and multigenre YA literature.
Jacqueline Bach
I attended my first ALAN Conference in 1994. This experience, along with guidance from Dr. Pamela Sissi Carroll and Gloria Pipkin, convinced me to read young adult literature with my students. One year, after an especially grueling Julius Caesar unit and an obligatory week of state standardized testing, I gave my students two weeks to read whatever young adult novel(s) they wanted in order for them to “remember what they liked about reading.” At the end of two weeks, my students pleaded with me: “Why can’t we read books like this all of the time?” I now share that comment with my pre-service English teachers in the hopes that they, too, will listen to their students.
Since then, I have taught high school English in three states, a Young Adult Literature course, facilitated book clubs whose members read young adult novels, and worked with teachers on incorporating YA Literature into their curriculums. My current research with YA Literature includes how it can be used to conduct professional development with teachers on social issues and its representations of transgender and gender variant characters. I am in the process of introducing young adult literature to school counselors and administrators in the hopes that they can also benefit from what we know about this field.
