The coolest thing about becoming a secondary education teacher: I get to read YA novels and call it "research."
I kid you not.
At a recent meeting for prospective MAT (that's Masters of Arts in Teaching) students, we were ENCOURAGED to read young adult literature because, and I quote "it's a gateway into the mind of an adolescent." I'm sure you YA writers are squeeing with excitement at this. To think, that TEACHERS are reading about love triangles and were-creatures and sparkly vampires to better understand their students.
Honestly, it makes me giddy that this was one of the suggestions to the new recruits, even if I thought, "Well, duh. All high school teachers should read YA so they know what their students are into." But then it made me realize that I never ONCE saw any of my teachers with a YA book. It's a shame, really. We might have had more to talk about. But then, back in my day (yeah, I'm ancient), I didn't really understand what YA literature was. It was just stuff I read for fun, while the teachers prattled on about how awesome Of Mice and Men and The Last of the Mohicans were.
And, call me crazy, but I seriously hope that I will be able to introduce some YA novels into the required reading and, you know, actually DISCUSS them on an intellectual level. Ah, daydreams.
Now, back to my current YA novel.
That's the reason my mom started reading Harry Potter. She was still substitute teaching at the time. She picked up the first book (book 2 had just come out) just she could find out what they were talking about (then realized it was actually pretty good). It's good for teachers to know what kids are into whether it's MG or YA or adult. But it shouldn't have to be considered research. Enjoy it!
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