Teaching the Young Adult Novel

American Literature Symposium – “The American Novel:  Forms, Genres, Traditions”

Nov. 5-7 Santa Fe, NM

For a panel at this year’s ALA symposium in Santa Fe, please share your teaching experience with the Young Adult Novel:  what challenges occur when presenting this genre to students?  How do you handle potentially “triggering” material candidly but sensitively?  Which novels have formed cornerstones on your syllabus and why?  What role do you give to earlier texts (19th-c to post-WWII period), and how do you connect contemporary works to broader literary traditions (e.g., romanticism, realism, the gothic)?  Abstracts and CVs to foertsch@unt.edu by July 6, 2026.