Young Adult Lit: To use or not to use?

In an attempt to get students to 'just read!', Mr. X (anonymous Chicago Public School teacher) loads up a cart of books from the library and rolls it into his classroom. The independent reading challenge has begun! Students are to pick a book, and will be given about 20 minutes per class period to engage in independent reading. The students are not reading a novel or book as part of the curriculum for that semester.

The book cart is full of young adult lit for the students to choose from. Most of the titles I had never heard of. The titles that I did recognize made me turn my head and wonder if this was appropriate reading level material for 11th grade students. Books like "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", "The Lovely Bones", the R.L Stine "Fear Street" series, or a new series titled "Drama High" by L. Divine (which I have plenty to comment on) just to name a few.

The question I then ask myself is, "at what reading level does the average CPS 11th grade high school student read?" There is no conclusive evidence readily available to the inquisitive citizen (me), but after speaking with many CPS teachers, it seems students fall way below their grade level in reading ability.

So, do we give the students books they can read but are way below the grade level reading ability as well as hold little to no academic value? Or, do we continue to come up with innovative and creative ways to teach the classics and curriculum texts so that students will understand, all the while risking their overall interest in life long reading?

I think we must first be incredibly aware of what independent reading materials the students engage themselves with. I am a huge fan of young adult lit, but I also believe that some of it is crap. For example, the new "Drama High" series. I picked up one book and within the first 30 pages, the 'crew' has discussed their pregnant friend who is lying about who the baby daddy really is, smoked weed at least three times, skipped class, and the protagonist has forgotten to pick up her baby sister because she's busy making out with her boyfriend in the parking lot.

I am not naive and am highly aware that this narrative speaks a great deal to the average student in any given Chicago Public School. And thus I can see how many students would feel a connection to the books and become interested. However, these are the kind of books the students should read as they fall asleep, or on vacation, or over the summer. If we allow students to read this kind of literature as part of their curriculum, we must still be able to teach them the difference between good literature and chum literature, aka "beach reads" or "fun reads". I am guilty of indulging in one too many Janet Evanovich books, but I know the difference between great literature and the Stephanie Plum series.

However this is where I am torn. Not all people are in love with literature. However, being literate is an essential tool to living successfully in our society. So, do we turn kids away forever from being a life long reader by forcing them to read curriculum materials, or do we allow them to continue to read the fun garbage reads that won't necessarily challenge their minds? Part of me feels it is just wonderful to see certain students with a book in their hand, immersed in a story that is not their own. The other part feels like it is my job as a teacher to somehow get students to feel this way about curriculum texts and classical literature.

Conundrum! What if we as teachers chose texts that are academically valuable, that may make students struggle a bit, but that are still considered young adult literature. For an 11th grade class, I would ditch RL Stine and "Drama High" to be replaced with "Harry Potter" and "Tuck Everlasting". I would put controversial books such as "Night" or even "Middlesex" along with some non fiction that brings up different values such as "The Body Project" or "Feminism is for Everybody". This way we are incorporating 'good' literature, still engaging our students' interest, and straying away from the boring curriculum texts that kids dread picking up.