Adolescent Realities: Engaging Students in SEL through Young Adult Literature offers a connection between young adult literatures and social and emotional learning. Students have many SEL needs, and this book focuses on exploring SEL through the experiences of characters in contemporary books published in the last few years. Each chapter offers a specific focus in SEL, a middle school and high school book for teens to read, and a guided plan that can be adapted to fit the needs of educators, counselors, and parents. A great tool for guiding teen book clubs or workshops, Adolescent Realities has the potential to make teens aware of how to apply SEL in their own lives.
Judith A. Hayn retired as professor emerita in teacher education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock after 50 years in public school and university teaching. She has published widely in the field of young adult literature. Holly Sheppard Riesco has been an ELA teacher for 15 years and is currently working on her PhD at the University of Arkansas.
Before students can learn academic content, their social and emotional needs must be addressed. Many school districts, finally, have begun investing in social and emotional learning (SEL) professional development for faculty, staff, and administration, putting students before test scores. Adolescent Realties: Engaging Students in SEL through Young Adult Literature is poised to be foundational in this caring work in English Language Arts classrooms but also, uniquely, in other content areas. This book will help students understand their own social and emotional learning as they read through/with the lives of the characters in the thought-provoking texts the authors have selected. Books can contribute to our social and emotional growth. This is going to be one of those books.--Crag Hill, associate professor, Rainbolt Family Endowed Education Professor, University of Oklahoma, and co-editor of The Critical Merits of Young Adult Literature: Coming of Age and Critical Explorations of Canonical Young Adult Literature: Identifying and Critiquing the Canon This book is a much-needed resource that uses social and emotional learning competencies as a frame to teach some of the best multicultural young adult novels. Adolescent Realities offers comprehensive, creative, and cohesive units to guide those who work with teenagers every step of the way with challenging and engaging activities. Filled with practical strategies, this book is an essential addition to any educator wishing to incorporate SEL to support students' developing identities and life skills.--Jacqueline Bach, professor, Louisiana State University; author of Reel Education: Documentaries, Biopics, and Reality Television
