Reading and Writing Pathways through Children's and Young Adult Literature

301 Pages·2022·10.115 MB·English

by  Alicia Curtin

Reading and Writing Pathways
through Children’s and Young
Adult Literature
This thought-provoking book will provide student teachers, teach-
ers and researchers with a toolkit and theoretical framework for
teaching literacy through children’s and young adult literature. It
features innovative ideas for developing student and teacher expe-
riences with literature and popular culture texts in the classroom,
providing practical examples and teaching aids throughout.
Taking a collaborative approach, Curtin explores how teach-
ers and learners can engage with literature and its authors for the
development of literacy in classroom practice. Connecting reader
and writer identities and worlds through interviews with and sug-
gested classroom activities from authors themselves, this text com-
bines author, teacher and learner perspectives in the development of
creative pedagogies that extend understandings of literacy beyond
reading, writing and text.
Exploring fairy-tales, comic books and graphic novels; chil-
dren living in literature (i.e., texts which portray children, their
lives and experiences); popular culture; young adult fiction and
non-fiction and digital texts such as blogs etc., this text develops a
sociocultural understanding of literacy as a lived and contextually
dependent practice where meaning is derived through relationships
between people, settings and culture. Different contexts for literacy
are explored, including reading and writing strategically (to learn
about literacy and literature), widely (for personal purposes) and
deeply (to transform understanding) (Short, 2011).
This text is an invaluable resource for teachers, researchers or
anyone interested in reading and writing stories. The author inter-
views will also be of particular interest to older learners as a way to
develop their understanding of their own reading and writing prac-
tices. Pedagogies can be adapted to any age group, ranging from the
early years to young adult.
Alicia Curtin is a Lecturer and Programme Director of Edu-
cation Gaeilge at the School of Education, University College
Cork, Ireland, and researches and writes in the areas of learning,
identity, assessment, neuroscientific perspectives on literacy, cre-
ative approaches to pedagogical design and innovative pedagogi-
cal research methods. Her work employs sociocultural theories to
problematise and explore these central aspects of learning in ways
highly relevant to education, teaching and our understanding of
learning itself in all of its forms, inside the classroom and beyond.
Reading and Writing
Pathways through
Children’s and Young
Adult Literature
Exploring literacy, identity and
story with authors and readers
Alicia Curtin
Cover image: Getty images
First edition published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Alicia Curtin
The right of Alicia Curtin to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-82100-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-82101-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-01354-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003013549
Typeset in Bembo and Helvetica Neue LT Std
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank sincerely and deeply the contributing chil-
dren’s and young adult literature authors for sharing so openly and
honestly their reading and writing stories, experiences, practices
and ideas. To Cethan, Deborah, Joan, Judi, Kevin, KJ, Máire,
Margaret, Marita, Michelle, Neal, Patricia, Paul, Roddy, Shaun
and Todd: thank you for your time, interest and engagement with
this text and the potential reading and writing identities, experi-
ences and worlds of its readers.
I would like to thank Kathy and Mary for sitting me down and
telling me that I should write this text. Thank you Kathy also for
helping me understand literacy and learning as I now come to
explore it in this text. Thank you to everyone in the School of
Education at University College Cork for your constant and heart-
felt encouragement, support and stories about literacy and learning.
Understanding literacy as a sociocultural practice you will no doubt
recognise yourselves in various spaces and places within this text.
Finally thank you to Willie John, Joan, April and Barry for mak-
ing this journey with me.
v

Contents
List of interviews xiii
List of boxes xv
Introduction 1
Going with the tiger: Reading and writing strategically,
widely and deeply
PART I
Reading and writing strategically to learn
about literacy and literature
1 Understanding reading and writing as multimodal
literacies: Mapping literary and literacy pathways
through text 13
About this chapter 13
About the authors 14
Introduction 15
Multimodal pathways through the intuitions of childhood
and young adulthood: Understanding text as a visual
object, multimodal event and sociocultural artefact 18
From breadcrumbs to story fragments: Mapping the worlds
of Shaun Tan through an understanding of reading,
writing and mode as strategic personal tools for
thinking and meaning making 24
vii
Contents
Reading and writing picture books and multimodal texts:
Exploring intermodal and intramodal meaning in the
emotional portraits and parallel stories of Margaret Wild 41
Conclusion 51
2 Exploring multiple perspectives on reading and
writing in culture: Arts as storied inquiry into
aesthetic literacy and personal identity practice 56
About this chapter 56
About the authors 57
Introduction 58
Aesthetic moments and strategic reading and writing in
cultural stories: Observing and transforming literacy practice 60
Exploring the work of Patricia Forde through inquiry-
based approaches to reading and writing in culture:
Literacy as a cognitive, psychological, linguistic,
sociocultural and socio-political act 64
Writing our lives as storied works of art: Arts-based
inquiries as a theoretical lens for exploring identity
and affect in the work of Máire Zepf 76
Conclusion 90
PART II
Reading and writing widely for
personal purposes
3 Reading, writing and genre as personally resonant and
sociocultural practices: Telling the human
story of literacy as personal and social practice 97
About this chapter 97
About the authors 98
Introduction 100
Understanding narrative and genre as frameworks for
personal interpretation and social action within
personally resonant and sociocultural reading and
writing practices 102
Narrating inner stories and relational identities: Text as
a complex and flexible personal meaning making
machine and the work of Todd Hasak-Lowy 107
viii
Contents
Genre and (auto)biography as personal learning artefacts
for making the familiar strange in the scripts and
stories of Paul Fleischman 118
Conclusion 129
4 Reading and writing for pleasure in reciprocal and
affinity-based story communities: Exploring digital
literacies, humour and authentic spaces for the sharing
of stories 133
About this chapter 133
About the authors 134
Introduction 135
Affinity spaces for reading and writing for pleasure:
Digital literacy in reciprocal reading and
writing communities 136
From readers to writers: Exploring the stories of Joan
Holub through fan fiction and remix in virtual and
physical affinity spaces 141
The poems are told for you: (i)Poetry, parody and comedy
in reading and writing for personal purpose and the
poetry of KJ Shapiro 155
Conclusion 165
PART III
Reading and writing deeply to transform
understanding
5 Reading and writing through the lenses of critical
literacy, social justice and historical perspective:
Cultural, social and historical contexts for literacy and
identity 173
About this chapter 173
About the authors 174
Introduction 176
Real world interventions as literacy practice: Connecting
critical literacy, social justice and identity 178
Going deeper into history through narrative nonfiction:
Learning as identity, critical literacy and social justice
in the stories of Deborah Heiligman and Michelle Markel 182
ix