Text Messages: Recommendations for Adolescent Readers

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Episode 6 — The Post 9/11 Landscape

Teen readers will encounter page-turning suspense and hard-hitting social commentary in these books exploring the political and cultural landscape of our post-9/11 world. Tune in to hear how graphic novels place the events of 9/11 in historical context, how war stories put a human face on the costs of military conflict, and how young adult novels imagine roles that teens can play in working for a better world.

After listening to this episode, be sure to print out this list of recommended titles to take to the library or book seller.

Recommendations in this episode include

Nonfiction titles

• The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon (Hill and Wang, 2006)
• A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki, and Paul Buhle (Metropolitan, 2008)
• War Is...: Soldiers, Survirors, and Storytellers Talk about War edited by Marc Aronson and Patty Campbell (Candlewick, 2008)
  
  Fiction titles
  
  
• Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers (Scholastic, 2008)
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor, 2008)
• Streams of Babel by Carol Plum-Ucci (Harcourt Children's, 2008)
• Hero-Type by Barry Lyga (Houghton Mifflin, 2008)
  
• In the Name of God by Paula Jolin (Roaring Brook, 2007)
  

Published September 1, 2008

About the Host

Jennifer Buehler taught English for ten years before entering a doctoral program in English Education at the University of Michigan. As a high school teacher, she developed an extensive classroom library to engage and inspire her ninth graders as readers. Watching her students select reading materials led Jennifer to expand her own reading accordingly, allowing her to match books successfully with teens’ wide-ranging tastes and interests.

While teaching high school, Jennifer earned a master’s degree in children's literature at Eastern Michigan University.  During that time she learned to conduct classroom research with the help of a teacher-research group.  As a result of this research, she developed a handbook for parents that shared insights about the growth and development of her students as readers.

An avid reader of books for teens, Jennifer now shares her knowledge of young adult literature in professional development workshops with area teachers and in university classes with future teachers. She is also an active member of NCTE's Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN).