RationaleConfer

Young adult novels have both dazzled and guided teens, as well as adults, for over a century. Novels such as //Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,// and //To Kill A Mockingbird// are classics that still live on in our schools today. Along with these classics, teens today are reading books like //Perks of Being a Wallflower, Go Ask Alice, The Chocolate War, Maniac Magee,// and //Speak//. The list of these brilliant novels, full of lessons and experiences about growing up, can go on. For years authors of these books have been telling tales about life as at was in so many different points in history.

This unit plan will closely analyze the characters, themes, and historical backgrounds of three different young adult novels. Each of these novels is from a completely different time period. Students often read stories or novels that are more than 100 years old and may never truly appreciate these time capsules. My unit will cover two similar yet different novels, //The Catcher in the Rye// and //Perks of Being a Wallflower//. Many of the feelings and issues addressed in these novels were shocking for the time periods. Students will be encouraged to bond with these characters and imagine life in that periods of time. I believe that so much of history and literature go hand in hand and many times no connections are ever made between them in the classroom. Students will, by the end of this unit, be able to compare characters and themes and also find similarities in these young adult novels. This unit's purpose will be to encourage students to delve into our history through a classic novel, but also to see it in a present day perspective through //Perks of Being a Wallflower//. We will be applying the literature, historical backgrounds, and those themes to our world in 2011. We will address the similarities and differences of the times, while focusing on the main characters feelings and actions. The curiosity and deep emotional characteristics of the characters are still applicable today as they were in 1950 and 1999.

Big Questions:

1. Where in today's world do we see deep emotional darkness like the characters in these novels?

2. How have these characters become more acceptable or unacceptable today than they were at the times that they were written?

3. Do Young Adult novels, no matter what historical period they come from, still have the same affect then and throughout time as they do today?