Samantha Brancato

Laura Patterson
EL 344-01
11 May 2015
Purposeful Showcasing
In creating this anthology, I was presented two difficult tasks: finding a
purpose and picking the works. Keeping in mind that I am an English major
seeking secondary education certification, I wanted to highlight teaching the
texts to students. As such, my selected texts are American Born Chinese by
Gene Luen Yang, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and The Coldest Girl in
Coldtown by Holly Black. My purpose behind choosing these texts is that
they will show students different ways to present cultures, genders, and reallife issues via literature. Aside from that, the focus is on exploring how each
storys diversities shape characters, setting, plot, etc.
American Born Chinese is my first choice because it is a graphic novel.
I love teaching graphic novels in the classroom because of how versatile they
are. They can present really unique perspectives through text and images.
Graphic novels can be standalone texts or they can supplement others. For
example, Romeo and Juliet The Graphic Novel (John McDonald et al.) can be
used to supplement the original text because it actually is the original text,
but illustrated. Taking it to a somewhat different level, there is a manga
version called Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet; it is still William
Shakespeares text, but with illustrations by Sonia Leong. These examples

reflect the capabilities of graphic novels to provide supplementary images to

help readers understand a text and appeal to many people who may enjoy
literature or who may be reluctant readers. American Born Chinese, however,
can stand alone, just like Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Looking at cultural
stereotypes through the use of comedic images brings awareness to the
issue while making the topic easier for readers to handle. It shows my
creative writing students that cultural awareness can be made interesting
and more understandable. Not only that, but it can show my students that
literature is not confined to just words on a page; literature is many things.
Speak was by far my favorite book in my Literature for Young Adults
class. Having gone through something similar in my own life, I felt that this
text handled the topic of rape in a sensitive, understandable way, especially
for a younger audience. It is certainly not easy to discuss taboo subjects in
conversation and writing it down in a book is no different. However,
Andersons style allows the topic to shine through using a relatable
character, Melinda, and adolescent-friendly language. I feel that this is a
good choice for my students in order for them to get a taste of realistic
fiction. It also shows them that, as a writer, they really can talk about
serious, potentially life-threatening issues via fictional works. The format in
which it is presented really demonstrates that chapters are not the only way
to space out sections of a novel. Instead, breaking portions into small,
cleverly named chunks can add a level of style that helps readers appreciate
the story even more. Aside from this, the book uses a familiar setting: a

school. Using familiar settings can demonstrate to my students the power in

familiarity; familiar things are not necessarily boring, but rather can be used
to draw readers in and make them see what you want them to see and feel
like they are in the story themselves.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is my final pick simply because it is an
interesting piece of genre ficton. I want my students to know that they do not
have to discuss real world issues in their writing if they do not want to and
that real world issues do not have to be the focus. As such, this story is a
great example of fantasy/horror fiction, which demonstrates another point:
cross genre fiction exists and is something students can play with. A great
thing to point out to my students is that they may not intend to include real
world issues in their stories, but they may still be present. The Coldest Girl In
Coldtown reads as a fictitious work about a vampire hiding from her family to
avoid hurting them. Issues presented in this novel are running away from
home, underage drinking, etc. I want students to know that it is okay for
there to be such a coincidence in their literature because authors do not
always realize that there was such and such a theme or motif or plot line.
Authors might not have envisioned their novel to be primarily focused on,
say, a boring, plain girl whose life is spiced up by dating a vampire. Another
important note to this piece is that genre fiction can be anything. It can be as
general as science fiction or as specific as slipstream or cyberpunk. There are
so many genres and subgenres that the possibilities are endless.

Characters, setting, and plot development are important to keep in

mind in any work of literature. As such, I would have my students imagine a
character that they really like, fill out a character sheet for them, then fill out
another sheet on a character who is the exact opposite. Opposites make
good conflict in fiction. To further demonstrate setting the story up, I would
want my students to choose a conflict and then create a setting based on it
that would highlight it. The last component would be plot, which is driven by
conflict. My students would create a list of twenty ways to keep the same
conflict going either through a protagonists trial and error or through a
series of small conflicts that keep pushing the main one. I want my students
to understand that there are strengths and weaknesses with each type of
story, authors styles, the method used to present each story, and the
general content of each story. I believe that teaching my students the
differences between each of the three stories will really allow them to
understand why each one is effective, or not so effective, in its own way. In
addition, I want my students to notice that what one of them thinks is great
may not be as great to another student because knowing an audience is
important to shaping the entire story from method of presentation to plot
and characters.
Over all I feel that my anthology cannot even begin to showcase
everything that can be done in young adult literature since the scope is so
enormous. However, this small sampling of works highlights what my
creative writings students will be able to do, how to do it, and why it is

effective or ineffective to follow certain techniques. American Born Chinese,

Speak, and The Coldest Girl in Coldtown are each unique in their own ways.
From panels of images, to taboo issues, to fictitious worlds, these three
pieces stand out as prime examples of the diversity of young adult literature.
I stand by my choices because these stories really demonstrate the creative
power my students have in their writing and that they can present cultures,
genders, and real-life issues via literature in different ways.