Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: identification, actualization, or education: why teach YAL? / Janet Alsup -- Who are the teens reading YAL? African American young adult literature and Black adolescent identity: developing a sense of self and society through narrative / Joy Dangora -- Depictions of Chinese Americans in young adult literature: American born Chinese and beyond / Nai-Hua Kuo -- Composing themselves: the discursive (de)construction of queer identity in six young adult novels / James R. Gilligan -- Teaching through the conflict: examining the value of culturally authentic Arabic young adult literature / Nisreen M. Kamel Anati -- Culture and language: the two tongues of Mexican American young adult literature: companion chapters. Funds of knowledge and Mexican American cultural values in Ma YAL / William J. Broz -- Mestizaje: forging identity through hybridity / Ren�e Salda�na, Jr. -- Why should teachers teach YAL? Engaging and enchanting the heart: developing moral identity through young adult fantasy literature / Aliel Cunningham -- Beyond the comics page: pedagogical opportunities and challenges in teaching graphic novels / Lisa Schade Eckert -- Pedagogues and demigods: captivity, pedagogy, and young adult literature in an age of diminished expectations / Jeff Spanke -- Perspective giving and taking in the secondary English class: considering the case of Erin Gruwell / Jeanne Smith Muzzillo -- Why are teens reading YAL? The appeal of young adult literature in late adolescence: college freshmen read YAL / Gail Zdilla -- 1 female reader reading YAL: understanding Norman Holland's identity themes thirty years later / Janet Alsup.