From Percy Jackson and the Olympians (by Rick Riordan) to The Fault in Our Stars (John Green), many novels have been written that tell stories of adolescents. Some tell stories of adolescents trying to figure out their sexuality and relationships, both intimate and platonic. Others take it a step further and place adolescents in worlds filled … Continue reading Who Gets to Tell the Story? →

When I added this course to my schedule last semester, I have to admit that I did not put a significant amount of thought into it. There was a plethora of literature courses that I was able to choose from, but something about adolescence particularly piqued my interest. I figured, ‘Hey, I’ve been an adolescent, … Continue reading The End…Or Is It? →

My older brothers are seven and nine years older than me, so my experience growing up with siblings is somewhat different from many of my friends’, who have siblings closer in age. They were my built-in babysitters, for better or worse, and summers consisted of my brother lovingly locking me outside because I walked home … Continue reading The Sibling Bonds of Adolescence →

Everyone must agree that, with how abnormal the adolescent experience is, it's hard to truly capture every aspect and minute detail in any form, even from the perspective of a teenager. In most cases of these adolescent stories in literature, excluding some of the essays from the Lowell Mill girls, the people writing them are … Continue reading “If we just kill off the parents, the protagonist can do whatever they want”: The Role of Family in Adolescent Literature →

Over the course of this semester, we have read many novels following friendships, challenges, and identities in adolescence. I want to expand the conversation of intersectionality and diversity that we have touched on, specifically through the lens of friendship formation during childhood and adolescence. Through all of the friendships we have observed, the vast majority … Continue reading Intersectionality Among Adolescent Friendships →

When examining the term adolescence at the beginning of the semester, it was described as a period of independence, a transition into new responsibilities, and experimentation. However, when reading Dread Nation, Jane and her peers' adolescence is quite the opposite of this perspective, experiencing racism, battling the undead, and being manipulated by authority. A question … Continue reading Adolescence and Resilience →

Many of our discussions throughout the semester have been about the plight of adolescents in different stages of their teenage years. Generally, we have read about a single young person and the difficulties they face in their environment, socio-economic status, or discovering their sexuality. Most of what we have read has been told from the … Continue reading How the Gang Grows Up →

Throughout the entirety of this course, one thing has really stood out to me over everything else. It is the great divide between the adolescent years of a boy and a girl. In all of the books we have read, except for If I Ever Get Out of Here, the story has followed a girl in … Continue reading The Focus on Teenage Girls →

After reflecting on the books we read this semester I tried to find a question that could be addressed in each of the books as well as discussions we had in class. Something that stuck out to me was that all the books we focused on were mainly about girls except If I Ever Get … Continue reading Strong Women →

Freedom of religion was one of the driving factors in our country gaining its independence. This involves a separation of church and state. 200 years later, we still are struggling to see a separation between church and state with regards to the LGBTQ community. The church likes to impose their religious beliefs on politics and … Continue reading The Church and Sexuality →