English 485: Expedition Adolescence

  My essential research question: Why have dystopian novels been such a popular subgenre of YA fiction, especially throughout the 2010s?  Focus Questions:  Why do teenagers like reading dystopian novels?  Why are dystopian YA novels so widely appealing (adults often read them too)? What makes dystopian literature such an effective medium for telling stories that are especially salient for YA readers? What kicked off the “trend” of YA dystopian literature?  What are the common features within these types of books? Are dystopian novels becoming more or less popular as time goes on?   What kind of dystopian YA literature has been written in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic?  Do teens feel that we live in a real-life dystopia more than ever? Are we done with the “renaissance” of dystopian YA literature?   Overview of the topic and why I selected it:  I have always loved dystopian fiction, starting with when I read the Hunger Games seri...

  La Linea is a short but sweet story about a journey through Mexico and other areas, to reach " La Linea" or the line that separates Mexico from the US. The book is a fantastic read that while is fiction, depicts the real struggles that many individuals face when decding to cross the border. Like other books in this class, the intention of the novel seeks to educate those who don't know about these struggles while also working as a hopeful narrrative. I think the novel would work best in the classroom, especially if the topic is specifically about immigration and the many problems that exsit in the world.  I would recommend this book to others as a great read. 

 I am writing my research paper about how Covid has affected adolescents in the classroom. I will focus specifically on how it has increased levels of anxiety in adolescents, which can relate to many of the books we have read since they all deal with some sort of anxiety. 

I find it impressive that Jaramillo was able to convey the feelings of the characters and invoke responses in the readers with so much showing and very little telling, using such simple yet eloquent sentence- structure all the while. The anger I felt at the racism, corruption, unfairness, and injustice of the whole situation...it made me want to break something. I mean honestly, Miguel was dead-on when he was talking about how the desert was enough to make it hard for them to cross; it boggles my mind that people can be so racist, heartless and oblivious that they make it so hard to do something illegal that should be legal, that they  kill people for trying to flee from a country where they don't have what they need, along with terrorizing them. Where does this stupid law even come from? If people want to come here for a better life, why not let them? Why not offer resources so there's not poverty to begin with? Why not work together? Jaramillo's imagery was vivid in desc...

 In what ways do adolescents get impacted by societal norms and expectations? Do these pressures have their own benefits? How do these expectations affect adolescents later in life? Careers? Families? Are some pressures necessary and if so, when? How much responsibility can be placed on society itself? Has the norm and expectations changed over time? Are there less or more of them? How do these expectations/norms tie in with bullying between adolescents? I'm sure everyone has been impacted by societal standards whether it be beauty, education, family dynamics. Being raised in a Slavic household, I myself have faced a lot of pressure to do good in school while helping in the house and raising my three younger brothers. Attending church and other religious pressures have been a part of that as well. Most of the time, you are just expected to give up your mental and physical well-being just to please your family, teachers, friends, and even the general public as well. It becomes a lot...

 La Linea was a very eye-opening book for me. I knew that immigrants from the Mexican border had a very hard time crossing into America but never realized just how treacherous and damaging the journey truly was. Both my mom and dad came here as immigrants (my dad being illegal for quite a few years), but the hardest thing for them was to get on their feet financially. We never notice how privileged and lucky we are until we are faced with this kind of reality where leaving the country is almost necessity instead of whimsy.  I think this is a great book to teach to any grade level middle school and up. Although we all agreed that the ending was a bit unrealistic, it helps that the siblings made it all the way because if not for them going through all of that, the reader would not be able to get an overview of all the possible things that can happen along the path to la linea.  Speaking from the perspective of just someone who picked this book up for fun, I would not recomm...

Essential Research Question Throughout the years, in what ways has adolescent literature teachers choose to assign affected the mental health of students and their desire to read? Other questions 1) Who decides what to teach? (I'd assume it's the teachers, as that's how it's been in college, but I can't remember for high school if it's the teachers who created the curriculum, or other staff, or neither, or both, if it's different for certain schools, so I plan to check) 2) How are, and how should whoever is assigning the books make these decisions? Are they aware whether or not they're harboring any unintentional biased towards certain groups or topics? 3) If they are, in what ways can they resolve this issue? 4) Do most teachers consider how it might affect their students' mental health, or only how it will affect their learning literature? (In most cases I've experienced, teachers are more concerned about the latter. This class is one of the f...

 Can YA Literature Help adolesencets deal with or inform thier identity 1 What topics surroudning Identity to YA books talk about  2 How do YA books discuss the topic 3 Does the book have a clear theme with Identity  4What ways or methods do the characters use to form thier identity  5Are other issues addreased that realte to identity ( Race, sexuality, gender)  Absoloutely true Diary of a Part- Time Indian, Doppleganger, Stargirl, American Born Chinese. These books deal with the topic of Identity in many different ways.  I am going to use sources that are as closely related to the topic of identity in adolescents as possible, as well as sources that talk about things realted to identity such as lgbt topcis, and mental illness when applicable.  My claim, is that YA books can help adolescents form thier identities.  Potential issues with research will be how modern the topic is, it might signal a lack of study on the topic to a greater degree, at l...

 I did not get that far into this book. It was so real and on-point, making it that much more dangerous to myself and anyone that might be struggling with anorexia or, really, any eating disorder. Full disclosure, I did have a breakdown at some point and knew immediately that I would never teach this book to any middle or high schoolers. They are so very impressionable and this kind of awareness of calorie counting and competition can easily start a child on a path to starvation and self-hatred. Although I do wish people understood this illness more and could sympathize, there is no amount of awareness that is worth losing yourself over. It is so heartbreaking to think of younger people doing something like this to themselves and I know from experience that if I had not learned about eating disorders as in-depth as I did (thanks to people like Eugenia Clooney and such), it would not have affected my life. I am sorry for being so transparent by the way... there was never a chance fo...

I never put a whole lot of thought into this topic before, because I don't know much about it. I'm ashamed to say this, given that everyone else has a valid reason for putting it down, but this book wasn't hard to read because I have an eating disorder; I don't. Nor do I know anyone personally who does. I do obsess about my weight and appearance, partially because I've been bullied, and partially due to personal preference, but it's different; I don't starve myself...though I did instantly know the numbers Lia was listing were calories before I even finished reading the sentence, because I used to be super strict about the calories I ate...and still keep track of it, though not quite as vigilantly...but anyone could've guessed that, given what the book is about. I feel stupid even bringing it up. The reason it was hard for me to read was because it worsened my depression, and my nightmares, made them even more disturbing and frequent than they already ar...

 The issue of young people facing different eating disorders in today's society is tragic. I have a friend who faces this exact struggle, so the book was very hard to read. For that reason, I did not finish the book.  However, what I did read was very well written - I can tell the author would have knocked the rest of the book out of the park. The topic of eating disorders is still pretty stigmatized in our culture and should be talked about more, in my opinion. 

  Unfortunately I cannot provide quotes or an in depth analysis because I did not get far in this book, but I have another interesting conversation to explore instead. I think this book has the potential to be harmful to adolescents who face the same challenges as Lia.  It is so effective at communicating the raw truths of what it is like to be within the depths of an eating disorder that those suffering from such an affliction would undoubtedly be triggered by its contents.   As we see with Lia and Cassie, letting someone into the “inner world” of what is happening with one’s eating disorder is a way to hold oneself accountable.  As in the case with Lia and Cassie, they would intentionally trigger one another to encourage further destructive behavior.   I fear that the realism of Wintergirls would serve as an “intentional trigger” that those suffering with eating disorders might use to continue their behavior.  The helpful lessons learned by Lia withi...