Young Adult and Black Literature in the Secondary School: A Review of Three Resources for Teachers

Teaching Adolescent Literature: A Humanistic Approach by Sheila Schwartz (Rochelle Park, N.J.: Hayden Press, 1979) provides a useful compendium of the most popular literature written for young people over approximately the past 10 years. Schwartz defines adolescent literature as "any literature read by adolescents" (p. 2), and has, in part, selected works for examination from recommendations of the American Library Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.

The books she deals with are not the traditional classics, which she rejects as largely boring and irrelevant. While one need not agree with her bias, the English teacher can still find her book enormously valuable for the summaries and critiques it offers, thus allowing the teacher to read for herself those which might seem to offer the most for her classes. The criteria by which Schwartz determines whether or not a book merits inclusion in a school curriculum relate to such issues as the work's capacity to "affirm the best in human beings," to "develop moral perspective," to help young people understand themselves, become more mature, deal with such sensitive subjects as death and sex and see how their experiences are similar to other people's (p. 11).

In the opening section of the book, Schwartz outlines her philosophy for the teaching of adolescent literature, suggests appropriate methods, and presents a sample learning activities packet and a series of lesson plans. There are seven main sections in the book, each dealing with 15 to 30 books which center upon a common theme. These are minorities, regions and locales, the outsider, sex, violence, family life and lifestyles, and science fiction. Each chapter is further subdivided into component subjects; thus "The Outsider" discusses the mentally ill, the dying, the physically different, the incarcerated, and the addicted. Many of the books which Schwartz recommends deal with sensitive subjects—prejudice, teenage sex, pregnancy, homosexuality, drug addiction, and violence. One would hope that the classes studying these books would be taught by someone with sufficient maturity, compassion, and judgment to encourage openness and yet avoid sensationalism. The major value of this book is that Schwartz gives the reader enough information about each book, tempered by her own humane and common sense evaluation, to enable a teacher to make an intelligent selection. She briefly summarizes the plot and explains what a youngster can learn from reading a particular book; for example, "They can learn about the need to reflect . . . about the need to appreciate those who love us; about the need to fulfill ourselves in our own terms while life still remains" (p. 44).

Schwartz makes a point to clarify her reasons for omitting certain books. In keeping with her emphasis on a humanistic approach, she disparages those books she considers nihilistic, totally pessimistic, and failing to show the hope and affirmation that counterpoise despair. She also rejects books which would confuse students as they attempt to develop a sense of morality because those books do not truly distinguish between good and evil. She criticizes books written solely as money-makers, such as those based on sensational television movies. She gives equally short shrift to books of brief topical appeal or those presenting only shallow values of life.

It is essential to recognize that Schwartz makes her recommendations on the basis of content. She views the psychological and social issues presented by these books as a springboard for class discussions devoted largely to "values clarification." For her, the purpose of interaction between a student and literary work is that "through the medium of literature he [will be] forced to confront his own value structure, apart from and in relation to the dominant one in society" (p. 9). She implies that the advantage of these books is their ability to counteract unjust social attitudes, such as racial prejudice or sensationalizing of the mentally ill. While she cites Kosinski on the role of the school as a medium for training young people to "become thinking individuals" (p. 10), the whole thrust of her book is that the only thinking skills which count for...