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ALAN Online News January 2017
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From the Saturday morning breakfast with S.E. Hinton to the Sunday evening reception, through two amazing days of speakers, panels, and breakout sessions, up until the handing over of the gavel from ALAN 2016 President Jennifer Buehler to Laura Renzi, the ALAN Workshop delivered.
Thanks to Jennifer Buehler for an unforgettable time in Atlanta. She and program consultants Patty Campbell, Michael Cart, Scott Filkins, James Blasingame, Marge Ford, Daria Plumb, and Laura Renzi put together a program that celebrated the diversity of YA audiences and addressed the need for more voices telling stories for young adults.
At the ALAN breakfast, Gary Salvner was honored with the ALAN Award for his contributions to the field of YA literature. Gary has served the group in practically every capacity including Executive Director, and he's connected hundreds of thousands of people with YA literature through the Youngstown English Festival. This year's recipient of the Ted Hipple Service Award was treasurer Marge Ford. When I first met her, I assumed Marge was an accountant who had ended up in English education. Instead she is the stalwart who took on a complicated job when no one else was able to step up. Keeping our accounts in shape is much more involved than simply writing checks, and Marge is our resident expert on all things financial. Thanks, Marge and Gary, for all you've done to ensure the continued presence of ALAN over the years to come.
Thanks as well to Emily Nafziger of NCTE who did an outstanding job of coordinating logistics at the Georgia World Congress Center during the conference and workshop. Another behind the scenes star was Noah Schaffer who volunteered once again to serve as our official photographer. You can see all his ALAN photos on our
Facebook page. Emily and Noah literally made this year's workshop memorable for those who were able to attend and those who could not.
Among those who unable to attend the Atlanta workshop were our friends Teri Lesesne, Walter Mayes, and Barb Ward. We wish them well and hope to see them next year in St. Louis.
Laura Renzi has already begun work on next year's program. You'll find the call for proposals for breakout sessions below. There will be additional opportunities to become involved with the workshop and with ALAN itself over the coming months. If you have been looking for a professional organization to be a part of, you won't find any better than the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE.
Best wishes for the coming year!
- Anne McLeod, Editor
ALAN Online News
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ALAN Workshop 2016:
A Message from Jennifer Buehler
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It’s taken me a long time to recover from this year’s ALAN Workshop, and I mean that in the best possible way. Every year I return home from ALAN with renewed energy for the work I do as a young adult literature advocate. This year, however, my sense of renewal was combined with a new sense of humility and wonder. If you were in Atlanta, what you experienced over two days reflected a year’s worth of planning and the contributions of countless volunteers. It also reflected the sheer passion that we in the YA community share for books, teens, and reading.
Publishers take note of this passion; that’s why they support us. But authors notice, too. One author told me during the workshop that ALAN is the conference that authors most want to attend each year, and it’s because of the tremendous enthusiasm they encounter when they meet us—the members of ALAN.
That point was brought home to me after the workshop was over. Amidst the wonderful emails and notes that have come my way post-ALAN, two stand out for their power to remind us of the role that YOU, our members, play in this event.
From a note handwritten by Carrie Mesrobian, Morris Award Finalist, co-host of The Oral History Podcast, and author of the forthcoming JUST A GIRL (HarperCollins, 3/17): "I want you to know how much it meant to me to be at ALAN this year, especially after experiencing it last year. For an author who doesn’t personally know a lot of teenaged readers to get to talk to such passionate and inspiring teachers and librarians who are daily working to build a nation of readers? Wow. The whole conference is like a tonic for my pessimistic soul ….Thank you for having Christa and me; I will always sing the praises of ALAN to every author and teacher I cross paths with in the future."
From an email written by Beth Eller, School and Library Marketing Director at Bloomsbury: "No matter how many times I try to prepare new authors for the ALAN program I don’t think they realize what an amazing event it is until they walk in that room and see ALL those people eager to hear what they had to say. And books, books everywhere! Standing by an author during an autographing and hearing people’s comments make it obvious what an engaged audience it is. I’d like to also give a shout-out to the moderators, at least those that worked on the panels I had authors on. They reached out to the authors with thoughtful questions and discussion points and that made the panels both lively and interesting."
I want to echo Beth’s praise for the moderators. This year’s group consisted of a non-traditional mix: some were ALAN veterans; others were ALAN newcomers. All of them were people who brought some special knowledge or connection to the books and authors on their panel, and all of them invested effort in planning and research behind the scenes. They read the books. They corresponded with the authors and publishers to develop a plan for the panel. They fine-tuned that plan in person at a meet-and-greet Sunday afternoon before the ALAN Reception. Finally their work came to fruition on the ALAN stage where they led conversations with intelligence, poise, humor, and humanity. The program theme would have been nothing without the moderators who brought it to life. A complete list of the moderators can be found here.
Now the planning cycle begins again with 2017 ALAN President Laura Renzi at the helm. You’ll be happy to know she’s already begun lining up authors for next year’s workshop. Thank you, ALAN members, for the part you play in our collective renewal.
- Jennifer Bueher, ALAN President 2016
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The ALAN boxes, packed and waiting at NCTE headquarters in Urbana, IL
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Emily and
The Outsiders totes in Atlanta
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Stats from NCTE Rep Emily Nafziger:
- The 2016 ALAN Breakfast and ALAN Workshop both sold out!
- Boxes and tote bags for registrants included 88 titles and 20,380 total books.
- On the program were: 62 authors, 3 editors; 2 book critics; 2 past presidents of ALAN; and 1 teen poetry group.
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More ALAN Workshop Highlights
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Keynote speaker Amy Sarig King
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Walden Award finalists, Neal Shusterman, Ryan Gaudin,
Ashley Hope Pérez, and award winners Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds. (Not pictured: Jennifer Niven)
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The Get Lit Players, teen poets from Los Angeles, brought the house down with their Youth-Led Revolution panel
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Jennifer Buehler and S.E. Hinton
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ALAN 2017: Call for Breakout Session Proposals
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From Laura Renzi, ALAN President 2017:
Young adult literature changes us; it touches us and heals us. Authors, editors, and illustrators create art that calls to the very part of us that needs friendship or comfort, laughter or love, understanding and voice. It holds our hearts as it appeals to our humanity and allows us to not just tell the stories, BUT TO HEAR, the stories that need to be told, in ways that gently bring us to our knees. At the 2017 ALAN Workshop, we will celebrate the world of young adult literature for opening our minds and changing our hearts, for giving voice to all adolescent experiences.
YA Lit opens our minds … to those who are marginalized and silenced. To different perspectives to historical events that we thought we knew, or were never taught in the first place.
YA lit changes our hearts… it provides healing in times of grief. It provides community when we don’t know where to go. It provides an opportunity for readers to engage in those tough conversations that are needed for growth.
YA lit gives voice to adolescence… in a world where chaos seems to reign, YA literature provides solace, a place to grieve, and a community in which to grow and learn and fight back.
We welcome breakout sessions that will spark conversation and explore the possibilities of young adult literature. Proposals may address, but are not limited to, the following questions:
Who are the authors and texts that have changed your mind or opened your heart to a new possibility, or a new way of thinking?
What book, authors, or media do you use to engage your students in difficult conversations about our society? How do you help them develop voice?
How does Young Adult Literature change your heart? What does this mean for you? For your students? What does it look like in your classroom or community?
Important Details
- Breakout sessions will be 50 minutes in length.
- All applicants must be members of ALAN (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English). You can join or renew your membership at http://www.alan-ya.org/join/.
- Electronic submissions are due no later than midnight (CST) on Friday, January 15, 2016 and should be sent to: larenzi@yahoo.com.
Proposals submitted by mail should be postmarked by Wednesday, January 13, 2016 and sent to: Laura Renzi 500 Main Hall 720 S High St. West Chester University, West Chester PA 19383
An electronic version of this application is available on the ALAN website at www.alan-ya.org.
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Introducing ALAN 2017 President Laura Renzi
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As the buzz from the ALAN 2016 workshop begins to settle, and we move to celebrating a new year, I wanted to take a moment to thank Jennifer Buehler for a FABULOUS ALAN 2016 workshop! She is a hard act to follow.
I have been a member of ALAN since 2005 when I attended my first ALAN workshop. After that I was HOOKED! As an ALAN board member, I served as a member of the elections committee, a program consultant for the ALAN conference, and as an ALAN state representative for PA.
I have been teaching now for over 20 years. I taught middle/high school English and social studies before getting my PhD at Ohio State University. I am currently an Associate Professor in the English department at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. I teach English methods courses, YA lit courses, supervise student teachers, and coordinate our BSED program. I seek to build safe communities in my classroom and work to help preservice teachers to understand the importance of community.
As I begin to think about and build the 2017 ALAN workshop, it is to this sense of community that I turn. For me, ALAN is so much more than a workshop I attend once a year. It has become a community for me, a community of people who are as passionate about young adults and reading as I am, friends that I keep in touch with throughout the year, and watch their families grow. It is with this sense of family and community that I am beginning to assemble the pieces for the 2017 workshop themed “Opening Minds, Changing Hearts, and Giving Voice to Adolescence.” I already have a few surprises for you – keep an eye out on ALAN website and Facebook for upcoming announcements. Oh, and don’t forget to put in a proposal for a break out session during the workshop. You can find the call and the break out form here.
Here's to a wonderful holiday season filled with magic and warmth.
Laura Renzi, ALAN President 2017
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Reviewers Needed for ALAN Picks
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From ALAN Picks editor Bryan Gillis
As the editor for ALAN Picks on the ALAN website, I would like to invite you to be a young adult literature reviewer for ALAN online. If you choose to be a reviewer, I will periodically mail you a copy of a new young adult book–the frequency will be determined by how many members volunteer–and ask that you submit the review via e-mail to Bryan Gillis at bgillis@kennesaw.edu within two weeks. I have included a sample review below.
If you are interested in this important work, please reply to this e-mail with your preferred e-mail address
and
mailing address. When a book is on its way to you for review, I will notify you. Thanks for considering this opportunity to serve ALAN.
Sample Review:
The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen
Feiwel & Friends, 2010
, 240 pp., $16.99
Experiments/Single Parent Families/Fathers/Science Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-312-37016-9
Fifteen-year-old Mason lives in a small town that is run by TroDyn Industries, a scientific corporation that readers soon discover is involved in some pretty strange experiments. Mason finds a group of catatonic teenagers on one floor of the nursing home where his mother works and becomes suspicious. When one of the teenagers, a beautiful girl named Laila, awakes and asks Mason for help, he obliges, and they are on the run from TroDyn. Mason soon learns that Laila is part of an experiment intended to turn humans into autotrophs- genetically engineered beings who get their energy
through the use of inorganic materials and photosynthesis.
Bodeen has created a fast-paced sci-fi thriller that comments on sustainability, world hunger, and medical ethics. More important,
The Gardener
is a fun ride that will keep readers on the edge of their seats throughout. Mason is an extremely likeable protagonist and readers will find themselves rooting for him as he faces some extreme challenges.
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YA Literature in the News
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Teen Vogue's reporting on the election and social issues received attention and kudos from mainstream media who were surprised that a magazine aimed at teen girls could deliver hard-hitting news and opinion pieces. (ALAN members may have been a bit less shocked.) Among the articles was this one in
The Atlantic Monthly by Sophie Gilbert.
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BookRiot and the
Los Angeles Times each featured articles in which authors discussed writing for young people in the post-2016 election period.
Book Riot's piece by Karina Glaser focused on authors concerned with creating female characters in middle grades fiction while the
LA Times article by Laura Stampler concentrated on authors of young adult fiction.
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ALAN Real Quick Picks December 2016
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Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell (Chronicle Books, January 31, 2017)
Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving met when they were children, and their romance grew over time into a true love they were willing to fight for. Loving vs. Virginia is a beautiful book-in-verse looking at the groundbreaking case of Loving vs. Virginia as they fought for the right to marry the person they love. Told in a documentary style with a lyrical verse narrative, Powell shows that beneath the story of the court case, segregation, prejudice, and injustice, the heart of the story is the Lovings' love for each other. - Kellee Moye
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (Dutton, February 14, 2017)
Marin is off to college - or did she run away from her California home? She’s prepared to spend holiday break in her deserted dorm, waiting out wintry chill and snow, but that solitary stretch is broken up by the arrival of the one person from her past who might be able to see into her lonely heart. WE ARE OKAY is a story of loss and reconnection, a character-driven winter’s tale of love and reconnection. - Anne McLeod
Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy (Bloomsbury, 2016)
LEARNING TO SWEAR IN AMERICA is a wild ride in which 17-year-old Yuri, a Russian physicist, works with a team of NASA scientists trying to save perhaps not the whole world but a healthy chunk of North America from an incipient asteroid strike. He’s also falling in love with Dovie whose unconventional family pull him into their own orbit. There’s plenty of humor and a just bit of swearing, as Yuri plays cat-and-mouse with government agencies with mysterious motives while he’s working to a serious deadline and attending his first-ever American prom.
- Anne McLeod
Gem & Dixie by Sara Zarr (Balzer+Bray, April 4, 2017)
Sisters Gem and Dixie are used to looking after themselves while their mother works and parties. When their feckless father reappears at their apartment with plenty of cash and leaves behind a mysterious backpack, they may just have their ticket out the door. Family drama and sibling bonds drive this story of a road trip that must somehow come to an end.
-Anne McLeod
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The ALAN Review
Advocacy, Activism, and Agency in Young Adult Literature
Volume 45: Issue 1 (Fall 2017)
Given their age and perceived lack of power in an adult-run world, adolescents can experience helplessness and cynicism, frustration resulting from not being able to address issues that anger or frustrate them or to evoke change in the face of obstacles over which they have little to no control. As teachers, however, we recall moments of insight and passion and optimism displayed by our students in response to literature. We believe that stories can empower readers, and we wonder just how far-reaching such empowerment can extend, especially in classrooms and libraries that invite young people to question, to argue, to imagine what is possible—and what they can do to achieve it. For this issue, we encourage you to share examples of how you promote advocacy, activism, and agency among students (and/or their teachers, families, etc.) using young adult literature. How are these efforts depicted and advanced by authors? How do readers witness and respond to such efforts? How might YAL be used to inspire action in the classroom and larger community? Can story serve to better our world and the lives of those who live here? As always, we also welcome submissions focused on any aspect of young adult literature not directly connected to this theme. All submissions may be sent to the editors of TAR prior to March 1, 2017. Please see the ALAN website for submission guidelines.
The ALAN Review "All" in the Family: Conceptions of Kinship in Young Adult Literature Volume 45: Issue 2 (Winter 2018)
The idea of family is complicated by the reality of life. While some may envision family as consisting of those to whom we are related by blood, others might hold a more inclusive definition. Family might be associated with home and safety and tradition and love or connected to feelings of betrayal and loss and loneliness and anger. Although our unique experiences with family might conjure differing definitions and perceptions along the continuum, we all likely have some type of emotional response to the concept. We wonder how YA literature might influence how young people make sense of their own families. How is family perceived and depicted—conventionally? contemporarily? What roles do parents and guardians, extended family members, siblings, neighbors, teachers, caregivers, etc. play in defining family? How and why have you valued and celebrated the funds of knowledge and lived experiences of those in our students’ families? As always, we also welcome submissions focused on any aspect of young adult literature not directly connected to this theme. All submissions may be sent to editors of The ALAN Review prior to July 1, 2017. Please see the ALAN website for submission guidelines.
English Journal Multicultural and Multivoiced Stories for Adolescents
Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warns of “The Danger of a Single Story” (TEDGlobal, July 2009). She writes: "The problem with the single story is that it creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story. . . . The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar." By weaving multicultural and multivoiced young adult literature (YAL) into the curriculum, teachers can avoid the danger of the single story. Culturally diverse young adult literature invites readers to explore new vistas. These stories engage readers in considering new perspectives to create understandings and build cross-cultural connections. Social media movements such as #weneeddiversebooks recognize and support the roles authors and their stories can play in representing the many voices of our adolescents.
In this issue, we explore how multicultural and multivoiced young adult literature can broaden adolescents’ perspectives and engage classroom communities in meaningful discourse. While the term multicultural texts can refer to readers’ race, ethnicity, gender expression, spiritual belief, sexual orientation, and languages/dialects, and multivoiced texts offer multiple narrative voices and perspectives, we leave both terms open for readers to interpret. In all, such texts both broaden and deepen adolescents’ understandings of themselves and the world. We invite you to share your research-based practices and classroom experiences with teaching multicultural or multivoiced young adult literature. How do we teach and interpret these texts? How do you use YAL to build cross-cultural connections in your classrooms? In what ways do students gain global perspectives through reading culturally diverse YAL? What stories have you used that connect students with the personal and the global? What are the criteria for evaluating a multicultural or multivoiced young adult book? Submission Deadline: January 15, 2017. Publication Date: September 2017. Please direct questions about this issue to Kelly Byrne Bull.
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See what's happening on our social sites:
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Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE (ALAN) |
cannemcleod@outlook.com |
www.alan-ya.org
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