Three ways to sneak Reading for Pleasure into the KS4 classroom
I think (hope?) many of us can agree that GCSE set text lists do not inherently encourage students to become readers. By exposing young teenagers to books deemed ‘classics’ or ‘great’ and requiring detailed analysis, we often in fact risk putting them off reading. This is, unfortunately, especially true for those not from a reading background …. Read More
Young Adult fiction: not just for young adults…
So, I’m not a young adult. I haven’t been for a while now. What I am, though, is a fan of young adult fiction (which, by the way is NOT a genre). Research tells us that many buyers and borrowers of YA do not, in fact, fit within that age bracket themselves. This is not, …. Read More
YA Review: Hideous Beauty by William Hussey
genre(s): contemporary representation notes: LGBT (m/m) read it for: a great combination of a well-written gay romance and a thriller/mystery, bundled with realistic and easy-to-relate-to explorations of YA relationships with friends and family Dylan is forced to come out after his secret relationship with Ellis is exposed on social media, but to his surprise, everyone is …. Read More
YA Anthology feature: Proud, compiled by Juno Dawson (review and link to teaching resources)
Proud is Stripes Book’s third YA anthology and the second to consciously focus on a representation gap in the YA market. Like last year’s A Change is Gonna Come, this book is a triumph and strongly recommended as an addition to classroom and library shelves. The genius of boosting representation by anthology is in the implicit …. Read More
YA Book Feature: A Change Is Gonna Come Anthology (review plus teaching resources)
I have added to and adapted this slightly since its original run. There is more here for A Level Language in particular. Age range: YA (12+) Themes: as this is an anthology, these are really varied, but include: love, sexuality, racism, islamophobia, bereavement, refugees, OCD, friendship, punishment, fantasy, time travel, fairness, identity. Narrative style and genre: …. Read More
