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Is there a canon for Young Adult literature? Helen Sykes IFTE Conference Auckland 2011

Is there a canon for Young Adult literature? Helen Sykes IFTE Conference Auckland 2011

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Is there a canon for Young Adult literature?

Helen Sykes

IFTE Conference Auckland 2011

What is a ‘canon’?

Introductory activity:

Rock and roll hall of fame

From Parker & Morrison, Masters in Pieces: The English Canon for the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2006

Some of the questions asked

Who compiled the list? What kind of people seem to have been

excluded from the list? How might the list have been different if

some of those people had been able to vote?

Should every vote have equal weight? Why are there very few titles from recent

years?

Is there a canon of Young Adult literature?

Sub-title:

In particular, of those Young Adult books used in secondary English classrooms

My ‘canon’ of books that work in the classroom

Some golden oldies Some of the most exciting recent titles Some little known gems

Drawn from a range of types of text, including visual texts, verse novels and non-fiction

To suit a diverse range of readers

Source of some of these recommendations

Choices for English: books, films and other texts that work

by Deb McPherson, Helen Sykes and Ernie Tucker

Nelson Cengage Learning, Melbourne, 2009

Some classics

The original golden oldies

Bridge to Terabithia The Cay Island of the Blue

Dolphins I Am David The Silver Sword Tuck Everlasting Mrs Frisby and the

Rats of NIMH Goodnight Mister Tom

In Australia

Playing Beattie Bow Pastures of the Blue

Crane Storm Boy Lockie Leonard

Human Torpedo

Adult classics for middle secondary

To Kill a Mockingbird Nineteen Eighty-Four Animal Farm Brave New World Of Mice and Men The Catcher in the

Rye Lord of the Flies The Old Man and the

Sea

More recent ‘classics’

So Much to Tell You Tomorrow When the

War Began Unreal Strange Objects The Chocolate War Breaktime Holes

The Changeover Memory

The Watertower The Rabbits

Some of the most exciting recent titles

Wordless picture book

The Arrival

by Shaun Tan

Picture books for older readers

The Island

by Armin Greder

Significant use of visual text

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

by Brian Selznick

A perfect class set novel Years 7 to 9

Trash

by Andy Mulligan

Funny, moving, thrilling – with multiple voices and a superbly unexpected ending

Senior fiction – transformation of Othello

Exposure

by Mal Peet

Previous titles: Keeper The Penalty (Tamar)

A beautiful picture book

Mirror

by Jeannie Baker

Junior secondary fiction

The 10 PM Question

by Kate De Goldi

New Zealand author

Challenging title for good readers

Rich characterisation

Junior secondary fiction

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Beautifully written horror story

Junior secondary fiction

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark

by Glenda Millard

A great text for Melbourne schools

Junior secondary fiction

The Loblolly Boy

by James Norcliffe

New Zealand author Timeless fantasy

Junior secondary

Krakatoa Lighthouse

by Allan Baillie

International bestseller

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

by John Boyne

Especially for less able readers

Once

by Morris Gleitzman

Sequels Then Now

Middle secondary fiction

Little Brother

by Cory Doctorow

High interest American Very contemporary

Middle secondary fiction

Liar

by Justine Larbalestier

The most unreliable narrator in YA fiction

Senior fiction

Butterfly

by Sonya Hartnett

Adult fiction Especially for older

girls Great author study for

talented readers

Junior to middle secondary fiction

Where the streets had a name

by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Previous titles:

Does My Head Look Big in This?

Ten Things I Hate about Me

Junior to middle secondary fiction

No Safe Place

by Deborah Ellis

Previous titles:

The Parvana trilogy

The Heaven Shop

Middle secondary fiction

The Dead I Know

by Scot Gardner

Especially for boys

Junior to middle secondary fiction

The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Mary E. Pearson

Good sci-fi Genetic engineering

Junior to middle secondary fiction

Macbeth and Son

by Jackie French

Did Shakespeare deliberately distort history?

Some little known gems

Middle secondary fiction

Deadline

by Chris Crutcher

American High interest Excellent class set

title for mixed ability

Senior fiction

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

by Mohsin Hamid

Adult fiction

Extended monologue in the voice of a Pakistani man

Senior fiction

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing

by M. T. Anderson

Verse novel

Cold Skin

Steven Herrick

Verse novel

Motormouth

by Sherryl Clark

For primary school readers

Short story collection

Interpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri

Junior secondary fiction

Mahtab’s Story

by Libby Gleeson

Picture book

Ziba Came on a Boat

by Liz Lofthouse, illustrated by Robert Ingpen

Junior secondary fiction

Tamburlaine’s Elephants

by Geraldine McCaughrean

A short story collection

Town

by James Roy

13 inter-related stories