ABSTRACT
When I came to the United States from Palestine in 2002, I was amazed at the abundance of available books written expressly for children and young adults. While I was a graduate student, I took courses in both children’s and young adult literature, and I discovered for the first time that certain books exist that are written solely for American adolescents. In one particular graduate class, we were required to read a number of novels addressing topics related to the lives of contemporary American young adults, such as teen friendships, romances, family relationships, drug use, and even school violence. Through these books and other assigned readings, the class explored the value of integrating young adult literature into the English language arts curriculum, primarily to motivate “reluctant” teen readers who have little interest in canonical texts.
