Ricki Ginsberg is an Assistant Professor of English Education at Colorado State University, USA.

Wendy J. Glenn is Professor and Chair of Secondary Humanities at University of Colorado Boulder, USA.

Introduction: The Critical Power and Potential of Multicultural Young Adult Literature

Ricki Ginsberg and Wendy J. Glenn

Chapter 1: Positioning Theory

Exploring Power, Social Location, and Moral Choices of the American Dream in American Street

Jennifer Buehler

Chapter 2: The Social Mind
Using Drama to Walk through Racism in Out of Darkness

Patricia Enciso, Nithya Sivashankar, and Sarah Fletcher

Chapter 3: Neoliberalism

A Framework for Critiquing Representations of the "Superspecial" Individual in Marcelo in the Real World

Sean P. Connors and Roberta Seelinger Trites

Chapter 4: The Dominant/Oppositional Gaze

The Power of Looking in Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

Emily Wender

Chapter 5: Multiethnic/Multicultural/Multiracial Alloys

Reading the "Mixed" Experience in Little and Lion

Cammie Kim Lin

Chapter 6: Borders and Borderlands

Interrogating Real and Imagined Third Spaces using If I Ever Get Out of Here

Ricki Ginsberg

Chapter 7: Understanding Racial Melancholia

Analyzing Race-Related Losses and Opportunities for Mourning through American Born Chinese

Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides

Chapter 8: Interrogating Happiness

Unraveling Homophobia in the Lives of Queer Youth of Color with More Happy than Not

Alyssa Chrisman and Mollie V. Blackburn

Chapter 9: Queer Reading Practices and Ideologies

Questioning and (Not) Knowing with Brooklyn, Burning

Ryan Schey

Chapter 10: Complicating the Coming Out Story

Unpacking Queer and (Anti)Normative Thinking in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Angel Daniel Matos

Chapter 0.11: Theories of Space, Place, and Navigational Identity

Turning Inside Out and Back Again in the Exploration of Immigration

Wendy J. Glenn

Chapter 12: Teaching #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName

Interrogating Historical Violence Against Black Women in Copper Sun

Chonika Coleman-King and Susan L. Groenke

Chapter 13: Critical Race English Education

Engaging with Hip Hop, Resistance, and Remix in All American Boys and Viral YouTube Videos

Rachel L. Rickard Rebellino, Karly Marie Grice, and Caitlin E. Murphy

Chapter 14: Critical Language Awareness

Unpacking Linguistic and Racial Ideologies in The Hate U Give

Christina Marie Ashwin and Sara Studebaker

Chapter 15: Critical Comparative Content Analysis

Examining Violence, Politics, and Culture in Two Versions of I Am Malala

Amanda Haertling Thein, Mark A. Sulzer, and Renita R. Schmidt

Chapter 16: Deconstructing the Superhero

Interrogating the Racialization of Bodies using All-New, All-Different Avengers Vol. I

Francisco L. Torres

Chapter 17: Arts-Based Approaches to Social Justice in Literature

Exploring the Intersections of Magical Realism and Identities in When the Moon Was Ours

Christine N. Stamper and Mary Catherine Miller

Chapter 18: Afrofuturist Reading

Exploring Non-Western Depictions of Magical Worlds in Akata Witch

Rebecca G. Kaplan and Antero Garcia

Conclusion: Recognizing and Speaking to the Challenges that Come with Courageous Teaching

Wendy J. Glenn and Ricki Ginsberg

Acknowledgments

With a focus on fostering democratic, equitable education for young people, Ginsberg and Glenn's engaging text showcases a wide variety of innovative, critical classroom approaches that extend beyond traditional literary theories commonly used in K-12 and higher education classrooms and provides opportunities to explore young adult (YA) texts in new and essential ways. The chapters pair YA texts with critical practices and perspectives for culturally affirming and sustaining teaching and include resources, suggested titles, and classroom strategies. Following a consistent structure, each chapter provides foundational background on a key critical approach, applies the approach to a focal YA text, and connects the approach to classroom strategies designed to encourage students to think deeply and critically about texts, themselves, and the world. Offering a wealth of innovative pedagogical tools, this comprehensive volume offers opportunities for students and their teachers to explore key and emerging topics, including culture, (dis)ability, ethnicity, gender, immigration, race, sexual orientation, and social class.