HOW YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE CAN PROMOTE THE 3 ASPECTS ? BRING YOUR EYES DOWN

Reading YAL can promote the 3 aspects that is self-knowledge, knowledge of others and knowledge of a world view. For self-knowledge, as Sandy Asher (1992) said, “ [Books] give you the words to explain yourself to yourself, words you can use to create your own life, to recognize your options and to make your choices, to separate as an individual and to reconnect as a member of the human race”. Through this, students will learn to react with the characters as well as develop an understanding of themselves.

For knowledge of others, it helps young people to broaden their perspectives and to move out of an egocentric way of thinking to consider other perspectives and values. By applying this, readers know that they are not alone. They will find situations and character with whom they can identify. This will make the reader and the text a strong connection.

For knowledge of a world view, it allows readers to have various experiences that heighten their understanding of the human condition. Through this, they will see a different perspective of the world and treat it as a source of information. This will make the reader to gain better insights from the world point of view.

READING YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE CAN HELP ADOLESCENTS ?

Reading YAL can help adolescents to understand themselves and their interactions with others by learning what the characters achieve or did in the book. For example a student might be facing a social problem such as bullying and he or she has the problem as the character in the book. When the student reads the book, he or she will begin to understand the character more and in return learn what the characters has achieved from the book. By learning from the character from the book, he or she will take the lesson as a challenge from not getting bullied in school. In other words, they will associate themselves as in the character in the book. As a result, it will help them to become a better person.

MY EXPERIENCES IN HIGH SCHOOL AS A READER AND THE TWO BOOKS WHICH GAVE A STRONG IMPACT ON ME. WANT TO MORE. JUST SCROLL DOWN

When I was in high school, I always read a lot. I enjoy reading and whenever I go anywhere, I will always have a book with me. I remember having this 2 particular books entitled The Hardy Boys series and The Secret Seven. The Hardy Boys is a series of juvenile criminal detection books, chronicling the fictional adventures of teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy whereas The Secret Seven is a fictional group of child detectives created by Enid Blyton. I really love both books and it has mystery as well. I still remember those books till now. I would say that is an unforgettable book. Both books had a very strong impact on me and it has influenced me in many ways. One of the ways is to be strong, brave and accept challenges. It also has strong themes such as survival, confidence and many more. I even went to the extent of wanted to be like the character in the story where they go on a mission finding a secret cave, hiking and many more. It is basically an adventure story and a bit of thriller. There is also a movie being made from The Hardy Boys and it is exteremely beautiful the way the characters being portrayed. I always prefer to read the book and then watch the movie. It will sort of give me some suspense and meaning.

YOUNG ADULT BOOKS WHICH I LOVE TO READ

Young adult books and authors that I want to read.

a) Stephenie Meyer
* Twilight
* New Moon
* Eclipse
* Breaking Dawn

b) Mitali Perkins
* Secret Keeper
* First Daughter: White House Rules
* First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover
* Rickshaw Girl
* Monsoon Summer
* The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen


c) Jacqueline Woodson ( If you come softly )

d) S.L. Rottman ( Hero )

e) Robert Cormier ( The Chocolate War )

f) Katherine Applegate ( Home of the Brave )

g) Judy Blundell ( What I Saw and How I Lied )

TYPES OF LITERATURE WHICH I ENJOY THE MOST IS .....

There are many types of literature which I enjoy reading and my all time favourites are realistic fiction, poetry, short stories and drama. Among these favourites, the one I enjoy the most is realistic fiction. For me realistic fiction is like a life for me. I get to sympathize or empathize with the character and want to know what is going to happen next. Most of all I get to see how the character is being portrayed. As in characters, there are different shades and each of these shades has its own uniqueness. This is what makes the story more real and vivid to me.

DEFINITION OF YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

For someone who is unaware of YAL, I would define YAL as books written specifically for youths. It also caters for adolescent audience about the lives, experiences, aspirations and problems of young people. Furthermore, YAL are always searching for something and through YAL, they will begin to understand themselves much better. It has strong themes like identity, cultural values, diaspora, social issues, school life and teenage problems. When students look at these aspects, they will know that it is an everyday thing which they face in life.

WHAT IS THE RATIONALE FOR USING YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE ?

The rationale for using YAL is to help readers in their quest for self as well as to guide them to see themselves in the broader context of their society, culture and world. It helps the students to understand themselves more better as well as to produce a wholesome human being. Through YAL, students will have a broad perspective of the world and their self as well. Most of all, they will gain more insights and improve themselves to become a better person.

EXPERIENCES WITH YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

So far I have never had any experiences with young adult literature. The most I have had is with adult literature which comprises fiction, non-fiction, memoir, short stories and many more. To be frank, after taking Literature in ESL, it is like an eye opener for me on this young adult literature. Since I did not read much on YAL, I often associated it with children’s literature. I thought that the ‘young’ here meant for children and not for grown ups. But now after being exposed bit by bit to YAL, I know what YAL is all about. There’s a lot of nice books under this category and even after reading Teaching Young Adult Literature by Brown and Stephens, I came to know more about it. Oh my! What I have been doing all this while! Anyway it is not too late and it is time for me to go to Kinokuniya and browse some selections. As my mum and dad always said, ‘It is always better know than nothing to know’ and I know it is very true.

READING AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE YOUNG ADULT

Today we learnt on the Reading and Moral Development of the Young Adult. The moment I saw this handout, I was very excited because this is the moment which I have been waiting for. Now my dream has come true. The lecture goes like this. Introduction, Q & A and some jokes. Isn’t that something different. When we came to the reading appreciation stage, there is a unique word which is being called as the ‘unconscious delight’. I begin to reflect what this strange word is. Lots of thoughts came to me like is it delicious or something to do with changes. Anyway since Dr. Ed is there, there would be answer to it. When Dr. Ed explained it, then only I came to know that it is what we did in our early life. For example, reciting rhymes like ‘Humpty Dumpty’. I begin to laugh when it came to that because it sounds like some fat person walking unconsciously. Now I know what I have learnt during my early childhood. But I do remember some rhymes like the above. Others I do not know since it is 2009 and it is in a far, faraway galaxy. Or perhaps I have stored it somewhere in my brain. He! He!

3 ARTICLES TO READ

This time we have to read three articles which has been assigned by Dr. Ed to read. The three articles are as follows.

a. Paran, The Role of Literature in Instructed for Language Learning and Teaching. An

Evidence-Based survey.

b. Kramsch & Kramsch. The Avatars of Literature in Language Teaching.

c. Carter. R, Literature and Language Teaching. 1986 – 2006.

WOW! Lot to read.

BOOKS FOR MY COURSE

Today, I went to Syarikat Perniagaan Sri Serdang to collect the books for our literature class. When I looked at the amount of books and articles to be read, my head begin to spin. Now I know what is like to be a masters student. But I really love to read and since I love books, I am happy to get something new out of it. As the saying goes ‘Do not judge a book by its cover’, my saying would be ‘Do not judge a book by its thickness and amount until you open it’.

BACK TO BASICS

Today we learnt some basics in literature. Most of the things I have learnt from my undergraduate course and now it is like a flashback for me. To be frank, I have not lost all but some of the teachings from Dr. Ed. It is now high time for me to open my books and go through all the literary terms and notes. I do still remember the referential and the representational language but the most I remember is the ‘plum’ activity. I remember during that time when all of us had lots of fun and laughter after doing this activity. It is in fact a memorable task. Lots of thanks Dr. Ed for bringing our attention to the ‘plum’ task.

HI, I'M BACK!

Hi everyone! It has been since a long time did blogging and in this year of the ox, I am going to create a special blog for my masters programme. This year, I will be meeting new friends and I am looking forward to share and discuss anything in literature. So guys I hope you will enjoy a good time learning and interacting with our literature lecturer, Dr. Edwin. I have came back to my second home (UPM) and I am very excited and glad to have you as our lecturer. I am looking forward to this course and I can’t wait to see what young adult literature has to offer for me.

Cheers!