A learner, no matter what age, benefits from reading and writing and acquiring a rich love of literature early on in life. As a parent, we should purchase books like they are the bread and butter of our child's future because they are. As educators, we should discuss books with our kids like they are TikTok’s greatest hits and really work to engage literacy as if it is fabric to our students’ souls. As a teacher of literature, reading, writing, library learning, we should think of literature as having a rich history of classics but take proper and responsible care to curate and share the most current, most celebrated, most awarded-winning literature with students. 

It’s imperative. Essential even. 

As educators, we should want kids to crave the latest books like they crave the newest movie releases or most trending video games. For as educators, we will succeed in immediate and measurable ways when we advocate for placing the best titles in the hands (and minds) of our students.  Reading proficiency is possible when we focus on helping kids read the most contemporary literature: most current, most award-winning, most engaging, because this is where the best writing may be experienced, examined, dissected, and lead kids to understand how to improve their own writing in a snap. 

Author Biographies

Right now publishers like Nancy Paulsen (editor/publisher of The Bridge Home) and Arthur Levine (Querido, Publisher of the award-winning title, Everything Sad is Untrue, Editor of the Harry Potter series) and Kwame Alexander (Newbery Author, Crossover, now Versify, Publisher), and the Librarian of Congress’ National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature like Jason Reynolds (Long Way Down) and Jacqueline Woodson (Harbor Me) are at the top of their game. They know readers. They “know, know” story. As Reynolds’s says, “If the narrative is currency, we can’t just focus on external narratives, you have to focus on the internal as well” (King, 2020). 

How We Improve Reading as Writing

We know the current discussions in our world: equity, diversity, depression, pandemic safety, and these industry leaders are crafting the finest, most delectable literacy feasts for our kids. We need to pay attention. We need to honor concerns in the #BlackLivesMatter and #WeNeedDiverseBooks movements.  Publishers do. Arthur Levine (2021) says, “[He] sees this search for great writers from around the world as a continuum with Levine Querido's search for diverse, powerful, unique voices and visions from the multitude of cultures closer to home.” As educators, we must, too. We cannot just move away from the table and turn down what will be a more satisfying meal. These creatives are our chefs, our NBA stars, the folks poised and ready to shoot free throws with us at the free-throw line. We must be ready to hear their words, feel their passion, and fuel young minds. We must be ready to help kids love and understand literature and help them apply it to their own writing. We should honor, respect, support, promote and work with these creatives to help our students. They will help us move kids toward caring enough about what is being said to join the conversation.  

Teaching reading and literature “requires a deep knowledge of excellent books and the willingness to carefully curate a classroom library that provides appropriate choices for all students,” (NCTE, 2018).  It means showcasing the newest and brightest writers like they are the NBA stars on and in our literary court like we are all positioned for tip-off. We need to nurture our fan base. Recognize tomorrow’s thinkers and future innovators as unique and worthy of the best—and rebound for those learners who need a lift or slam dunk or dribble in a new challenge for those who demand higher skills. 

Jason Reynolds’s is the NBA star of kid lit as much as Shaquille O’Neal is now a highly respected businessman with a doctorate of business off the court.  O’Neal is now positioned to make that three-point shot from any dimension, any area of his life, on or off the court, in all directions. As educators, we need kids’ positions like this. We need to search for that Harry Potter series like Levine did and find a title that will help our students grow as readers and individuals. A current title. The titles professional authors study in order to publish today.

Educators and Librarians Unite, Powerful Story Meets Today's Reality

Just how do educators and librarians unite to decide on that just-right book? What do you do when you have 200-300 titles of an older text on hand, but know there's a better text for students to read? Let's explore Tangerine as an example; Springboard uses it in its latest ELA textbooks for seventh grade, and yet, it was written in 1997. That title is way off for any connection to the lives of our students who grew up on technology. So, instead of using it, we should look for and finance a newer, award-winning text.  Let's consider a title that did well when it was introduced in the world, we, right now, have our former Librarian of Congress’ National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jacqueline Woodson who has released two really awesome titles that speak to struggles kids have and speak to diversity as well. Consider Harbor Me, released August 28th, 2018, speaks to the many current concerns middle-grade students face:  deportation, acceptance, finding your pack, and “celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students shares their stories,” (Amazon). Or consider her even more current title, Before The Ever After, released September 1, 2020, which speaks to a son who learns to live with a father's legacy: he ran a rock-star career in football but fell to the sidelines from one too many concussions. Both are excellent, contemporary titles, shorter for our more reluctant readers, and of the moment. Both speak to issues our middle-grade students face today and are not some ten or twenty years old. 

Not only does Harbor Me begin with a gut-wrenching first line, “We think they took my papi,” it’s a powerful story. It’s the story of six kids, who are assigned to a chat room, or safe place, to discuss what's bothering them ”—everything from Esteban’s father’s deportation and Haley’s father’s incarceration to Amari’s fears of racial profiling and Ashton’s adjustment to his changing family fortunes” and they become the support system they so desperately need.  As educators, we teach that the key to awesome essay writing is to share a strong main idea, a strong thesis statement, in order to craft a better paper. As educators, it’s important to remember our own advice. Today’s literature is carefully crafted for today's readers. Today’s readers. Not ten years ago, like in Mockingbird, not the over twenty years ago we experience in Tangerine. Now. As educators, we know that poetry can boost reading awareness so exposing kids to freeverse narratives? A huge benefit to our bottom line as reading advocates.

Select Titles Like Main Ideas, Like Thesis Statements

Even when books are available, still in good condition, and recommended by a program that’s been purchased, we need to explore newer options. I’ve heard, “There’s not a budget for that,” or “This is on the recommended list” (often due to age and availability), but what we fail to see—and need to see— is that the book selected no longer rings true or speaks to today’s readers, our students. That’s a huge consideration when we spend a lifetime exploring the latest trends in technology and the best pedagogy and biggest advancements for teaching the writer’s craft. In doing this, it only makes sense to also consider the most important element in teaching: the novel itself, the very material we use to teach with. 

Analysis and Comparison 

Explore Tangerine by Edward Bloor, for a moment. This is the story of a legally blind boy who grapples with the abuse of an older brother, who remains the focus of the family. It’s Erik’s “football dream,” his future options and opportunities that are on the line throughout the novel, instead of Paul, who is the main character and relatively an invisible member of his family.  From a reader's point of view, at least this reader, Paul doesn’t come across as legally blind. He sees the tangerine field in great detail and sees deep into the faults of his family and notices great opportunities for himself: helping himself get on another soccer team, helping out in the Tangerine groves, and even helping to make proper penance for Luis Cruz’s death by the hand of his brother’s friend, Arthur, at his brother Erik’s command. However, by adverbs alone, we can mark this book as outdated. We rarely use them in writing literature today unless it is to shift style and draw attention to what is being said. The parents are involved in so much of this novel, which is also an outdated approach to writing, and this book really reads with a white privilege slant. Handicapped, which is the smallest and most overlooked diversity, shows up here but it is far from authentic. 

Authenticity and Relevance Remains Key

Authenticity is a big deal, whether fiction or nonfiction. The notion that an IEP about his vision defect would keep Paul off of a sports team is simply untrue.  And the name-calling and fear-notions between “the haves” and “the have nots” highlights the racial slurs we are currently working to eradicate from our society. What's clear is that this book, if written today, would have ended far sooner than its 308 pages. If written today, cell phones would have captured some of these incidents. One video shared of the blackjack weapon swung against Luis Cruz’s head and his death would have been documented, reported, and dealt with. Text messages among “upstanders” would have alerted staffers. The long story short? This book has seen its day. It’s our obligation to support our current authors and award-winners with as much care as we attend to and serve our students. Even in fiction, we must still bridge a reader’s reality and weave together a world that rings true for them right now.

Make Strong Connections to the Author’s Craft

If we explore the author’s craft, we would see that Tangerine, when compared to current titles like Long Way Down, like Harbor Me, like The Bridge Home, we find great reason to feel great about sharing a title being written today. 

Really hear Jason speak to what connected him to literature. What wasn’t written for him? Consider, now, our task in book selection. The importance of it:

With Long Way Down, it’s easy to teach PLOT. The story begins with an undeniable and identifiable inciting incident: the death of a brother.  The exposition introduces the main character: little brother, “Will / William / William Holloman,” on the scene, exploring his feelings as much as the ideological notion that “three rules” suggest it rests on his shoulders to avenge his brother’s death. Rules?

"There are three: don’t cry, don’t snitch, and “if someone you love 

gets killed, 

find the person 

who killed 

them and 

kill them” (Reynolds, 2017). 

The Rising Action noted on the plot diagram as a steep mountain of setbacks is, ironically, in this book presented as the 67 seconds in elevator floors the main character travels, gun in the waistband, deciding to kill or not to kill. It’s a pretty intense ride with that ode-to-a-Christmas-Carol surprise that ghosts of his past visit him and “speak” to his actions and character. The Climax? He steps off that elevator with his brother’s soul within him, and we hear one thing on the page... and we can discuss the Falling Action and the Resolution. It opens a conversation, as Jason Reynold suggests. With this freeverse novel, teachers can discuss PLOT as much to how it is written, the power of poetry (as Reynolds is one of the best I’ve witnessed in my 20-something career in publishing and teaching) as well as the structure of a book, it’s a book structured by descending elevator floors, and the reality that our actions and decisions define our life. That’s a pretty powerful conversation to have with middle schoolers who are defining and redefining themselves. Every. Single. Day. 

If we explore the author’s craft in The Bridge Home, a 2020 Walter Award Younger Category winner, and just the one element of good writing, it would be dialogue. This book is a diverse title that speaks to the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement, written by a native of India about some of the most perplexing issues in India: homeless youth. But when it comes to teaching dialogue to students, there are discrepancies between professional writing practices and the teaching of writing. I’ve seen many lists that share how to tag dialogue. I’ve seen double dialogue tags on sample MAP tests, which would undeniably confuse a reluctant reader into remembering who is speaking. I’ve also heard that saying, “Said is dead” being shared. And I cringe. That’s simply untrue.  “Said” as a dialogue tag is invisible and keeps the focus on what and how it is being said. What should our focus be? My experiences show that we should be very clear about certain aspects of teaching dialogue:

1. Dialogue is character. 

2. Know the difference between an Action and Regular Tag—and how to punctuate it. 

3. Use said and asked often, and use the unexpected to communicate or highlight an important moment in a story. And, in older grades, the notion that you might 

4. Conceal to reveal, or share around a notion or topic in a way that reveals the topic for the reader. 

5. Give each speaker an identifiable character trait and speaking focus. 

These five things improve engagement. Allow the reader--even the most reluctant ones--in. It's easy to see that the dialogue in The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2019) deserves a standing ovation.  It does all these things. Four friends, four different perspectives: Viji focuses on safety and caring for Rukku above self; Rukku, who has down syndrome, focuses on sense and logic;  Arul focuses on spirituality, and Muthu focuses on fun, humor, and entertainment. In this novel, Viji and Rukku leave an abusive home. Experience the dialogue tags her, and how powerful the Action Tags are:

“‘Thank goodness you are here at last’' she [Celina Aunty] said. ‘What kept you out so long?’

‘Told you they'd be fine, Aunty,’ Muthu said. ‘Why were you so worried? Because this is the first time Akka [Sister] and Arul have ever been out in the dark without me, or something?’

'That must be it.' She tousled his hair and smiled at us. 'But please, next time you want to stay out late, warn me so I don't get scared?

I promised I would.’” (Venkatraman, K147)

That Action Tag, that small gesture Celina Aunty makes, brings this scene to life for the reader. Muthu’s humor elevates the moment, while Viji’s response alerts the reader that this moment is heartfelt. There’s a sense of family here that moves beyond bloodlines and leads the reader into a scene where Viji confronts her father, the abuser. If we taught Action or Regular Tags, kids would be able to explore these notions of slapstick and speaking around what they directly want to say and assist them in really create a scene of their own making. Yes, really create and craft writing.

What Remains True as True: Newer Books Should Be Used in Class

As NTCE (2017) suggests we do in preparing teachers, we, too, educators should do:

 “Teacher education programs have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to

• introduce preservice teachers to books for children and teens;

• develop preservice teachers’ understanding of the inherent value of these books for both general reading and classroom use;

• raise preservice teachers’ awareness of the power of these books to affirm lived experience, create empathy, catalyze conversations, and respect the questions, challenges, and emotions of childhood and adolescence;

• call preservice teachers to embrace the roles of reading advocate and book matchmaker alongside their work as implementers of the curriculum;

• inspire preservice teachers to commit to reading these books throughout their professional lives;

• cultivate in preservice teachers a commitment to teaching these books in ways that honor their literary quality as well as their potential to spark personal and social transformation;

• build preservice teachers’ capacity for continued growth, learning, and development as advocates of children’s and young adult literature.” (NTCE, 2018)

While this is only a small example of my fifteen-year exploration of how to reach and write for and with reluctant readers, we can see why the selection of the best-in-craft, the best most revered texted, that speak to today’s tweens will make a profound and lasting impression on our students, open conversations with them, and help them well into their future.  

Explore just the one book on my list: Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri. It’s an award-winner. Arthur Levine is the editor/publisher. Daniel Nayeri is an editor in his own right, as well as an author. Two great powerhouses supporting this spine. It carries Arthur’s new house: Levine Querido and delivers what he’s promised to do: Bring new voices to the bookshelf. In only a few pages, it’s easy to see this will be as engaging as it will be original. Why not share this new cultural book that gives voice and perspective to a teen’s life? That's what we do as educators. It’s what we should focus on most—or as much as we do the most engaging activities—when it comes to selecting reads for classrooms.

Which Text Should We Use in the Classroom?

All the newest and best-selling books are the ones to use. I think we are long overdue to drop the idea of selecting one book or holding on to books for some ten years. That’s crazy. We are in an era of real change when it comes to writing: more graphic novels, hybrids, illustrated at many age levels, and beautiful nonfiction. Now is the time to really enervate kids about how reading can help develop them into their future best selves. And, the truth is that we wouldn't ask kids if they want to go watch a 1969 film in the theatre, so we should consider, carefully, what we select so they connect and get excited about those new titles, about the next in series or next big novel. We owe it to our students to give them our best, creme-de-la-creme of author selections and topics. Because as educators, we will succeed in immediate and measurable ways when we advocate for placing the best titles in their hands (and hearts).  Students should be exposed to the greatest writing from today’s top authors. But we must take the time to craft our main idea, our own thesis statements when it comes to teaching literature and literacy, and select the most contemporary, most current, most award-winning, most engaging—best of the best—writing being published today. If we do this, students will experience, examine, dissect, and understand how to improve their own writing. Long story short? Books change us and have staying power, so we should spread that power with care, integrity, and heart.

References

Bloor, Edward. (1997). Tangerine. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: New York, NY.

Erskine, Katheryn.  (April 15, 2010). Mockingbird. Ed. Patricia Lee Gasch. Philomel Books/Penguin-Random House: New York, NY.

King, Gayle. (January 13, 2020). Jason Reynolds named ambassador for young people’s literature. CBS This Morning. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ2RD6f0ULQ

NTCE. (July 9, 2018). Preparing Teachers with Knowledge of Children’s and Young Adult Literature. NTCE.  Retrieved from https://ncte.org/statement/chiladollitguideline/

Penguin-Random House. (January 4, 2018). Jacqueline Woodson Named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Nancy Paulsen Books. Retrieved from https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/tag/nancy-paulsen-books/

Reynolds, Jason. (August 28, 2019). Dear, Dreamer. SFO Museum on youTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/koEawIKdqtI

Reynolds, Jason. (October 24, 2017). Long Way Down. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books: New York, NY.

Venkatraman, Padma. (February 5, 2019). The Bridge Home. Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin-Random House: New York, NY.

Woodson, Jacqueline. (February 5, 2019). Harbor Me. Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin-Random House: New York, NY.

Woodson, Jaqueline.  (September 1, 2020). Before the Ever After. Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin-Random House: New York, NY.