Young Adult Literature Final Discussion

1. Consider these arguments against children’s literature below. Do you agree or disagree? Pick one book from this semester and imagine that you are having to justify its inclusion in the district’s curriculum. Imagine that the school board is arguing against you. Try to respond to at least two of their criticisms as you defend your book of choice.

I think the list of arguments is not practical. Some of them make no sense. I think that is what shows you that people don't want to read them, therefore, don't understand the meaning behind them. The book I chose was On The Come Up by Angie Thomas.  If this was in a district I think they would say something along the lines of “On the come up does not have any permanence. That the things that happen in this book don't happen today and aren't common anymore”. I think this is very wrong because one, Black people are still being blamed for things, there is still violence and the world isn't fair with every race. Take Geroge Floyd for example, that happened, we don't know why but it still happened. In the book On the come up, Bri goes through something with guards as well. She was bringing gum into her school and the guards thought that she had brought drugs and so they tackled her. She was scared to go to school for a long time and once she went back she didn't feel safe. Parents after hearing what happened to her complained to the school. They didn't think the school was fair to everyone. They explained that if that situation had happened with a white person the guard wouldn't have tackled them. This proves that these situations are still happening. Another thing that is not as sad to talk about is the popularity of rap music. So many teens these days listen to rap music day and night. It's how they get through life. I think if Bri would have released her song in “our world” it would have gotten the same popularity. 

2. Define children’s and young adult literature.  Use your notes and powerpoints found on the Course Home Page and Content, your books (mention and quote from at least two, one a children’s book and the other a young adult book), and your own realizations to craft a definition of children’s and young adult literature. 

There are similarities and there are differences between children's literature and young adult literature. They are both fun and share meaningful topics with young kids and young adults. Young adults can read children's books at a different level than children. Children have a creative imagination and that makes it fun for adults to read with them because they see things we don't. Children's books have certain aspects that help children be interested in them. Authors use light, color, lines, shadows, shape, texture, and space to engage their readers. One example of this is in an Arthur book I read during this semester. The author made it look very realistic and made you know who the main character was. He used simple colors to help you focus on the main things as well. The words are simplistic and very relatable to kids. In the book Arthur’s off to School by Marc Brown, Arthur is talking to his sister and they have this conversation, “stop copying me” said Arthur. “I'm practicing for next year,'' said DW, when I go to school”. “That's silly,” said Arthur. "Is not" said DW. “Oh yeah”, said Arthur. “Well, can you copy this. He grabbed his backpack and rushed out the door”.(Brown 4). This is a good example that shows how kids copy their siblings and learn from them. 

Both Children's literature and young adult literature can be fantasy. Fantasy can be a very good way for both ages of people. Fairytales are a good example. Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm made the fairytales first but they were very dark. That might make it fun for adults. They to see the versions they know and grew up with and how much they changed. Children on the other hand wouldn't like them. That's why we changed them to make them happier and more appropriate for them. I learned from the fairytale unit that there are so many different versions of each story. Sometimes young adults or adults might get sick of them so the one we read was very fun. If a kid was to read them they would never want to read fairytales again. 
Young adult books are about children's books because they start to learn more about the world. They learn about things that might be happening today or have happened in the past. Young adult books have a lot more realism in them than children's books. The Book Thief is a book about the holocaust. It’s a book that you wouldn't want children reading. You would have to give them a ton of background information. “I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”(Zusak 550). This is a quote that I think is very meaningful in the book thief. It's at the very end of the book and I think it does a very good job of showing how death felt. This is also a quote that children wouldn't understand. Young adults take this quote and it makes them think a lot. I also think it does a good job of describing Liesel and the holocaust. The holocaust is a hard topic but this book made it interesting. The thought of having death as the narrator is something that I would never have thought of. We had talked about death and how his emotions made him appear more human and I think that's something children wouldn’t understand yet.