Letter: Young People’s Literature

Students watch the video of Jacqueline Woodson accepting her National Book Award for Brown Girl Dreaming.

The class discusses what the category Young People’s Literature means to them. They can examine previous winners, defunct and changing National Book Award categories from previous years, and how the award “labels” a book for good or bad.

Discussions and free-writes can also include what kinds of books students read when they were young; the connotation of Young People and Young Adult; and the ways many books now break these categories by attracting broader audiences (The Hunger Games; True Blood; Harry Potter; etc.)

This article (link in the Overview) by Steven VanderStaay examines the genre of Young Adult fiction/nonfiction. It’s a good starting point for discussion on what characteristics of Young Adult literature can be found in Brown Girl Dreaming. Several of the features are NOT present, and students can easily argue that Woodson’s book should or should not be considered Young Adult literature.

Students draft a letter to the National Book Foundation’s board chair. They can begin by expressing their interest in the book, reflecting on how the label makes them feel, and demonstrating a stake in how the book is labeled. Students use quotations from the Vanderstaay article for evidence.

Students examine who their audience is by looking up the current board chair of the National Book Foundation. They then do online research on the individual’s career and/or personal life, in order to analyze the reader’s Needs, Values, and Attitudes.

Students then re-draft using feedback on:
-meeting the audience’s needs, values, and attitudes;
-correct letter formatting
-clear narrative & personal stake
-accurate and clear use of quotations, summary, and argument

Students submit their final, polished letters.