Rein of Renegades is an introduction to the young adult contemporary fantasy novel of the same name. It is prefaced with an explication of various drafts written throughout adolescence. I am trying to reclaim things I've misplaced or dropped. Over the past few years, I've had much too many trinkets to carry. There went the melodramatic allegations from my teenage writing voice, cracked on a classroom floor. There went the ability to sit, stomach deep, so steadily grounded in another world, this escape blurred with the strawberry ice cream I dripped onto the campus concrete. Writing the ideal love becomes complicated, jaded, too realistic when the hands writing it are always reaching for someone who never reaches back at the right time

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In this study, the social experiences of a young adult growing up as an only-child were explored. A single case study with a female only-child, 23 years of age was used to elicit the themes related to these social experiences. The conceptual framework utilised for this study included the concepts of social identity, social relations and social learning, which incorporated the various social agents and contexts explored in this study. Data was generated through multiple sessions, which consisted of the participant’s life story, people and places maps, as well as unstructured and semi-structured interviews. In addition, field notes and observations were recorded in a reflective journal. The data was analysed and interpreted through thematic analysis, which involved an in-depth selection of themes evident in the participant’s written and verbal expressions. The results of the study were presented in the form of themes, subthemes and categories depicting the social experiences of the participant. The primary themes that seemed to have influenced the social experiences of the participant were her relationships (specifically that with her primary caregivers) and her experiences (attached to these relationships). This study yielded an additional category, which can be seen as contributing to the literature on the social experiences of only-children. This category focused on the cultural influences of the participants’ family, which seemed to be significant in shaping her identity. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

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Retellings of classic fairy tales have become increasingly popular in the past decade, but little research has been done on the novelizations written for a young adult (YA) audience. Critical multicultural analysis determining the effect of race, gender, disability, and more has been completed for both original fairy tale retellings and fairy tale retellings for children, but scholars have neglected popular YA novelizations. This study aims to determine how traditional masculinity and femininity affect agency in both male and female characters in YA novelizations of Cinderella. To examine the role of traditional masculinity and femininity in young adult novelizations of Cinderella, a qualitative study was designed to look at the five main archetypal characters of Cinderella, the prince, the stepmother and stepsisters, and the fairy godmother. The study used critical multicultural analysis as defined by Botelho & Rudman (2009) to examine uses of agency and other utilization of power from the characters, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (1974) was employed to determine traditionally masculine and feminine traits exhibited by characters. Each novel was analyzed on an individual level to determine how traditional masculinity and femininity affected the agency of the characters, after the books were examined on a broader level to establish themes found across the selection. The general trend seemed to indicate that traditionally feminine traits hinder the agency of female characters while affecting male characters less or not at all. The analysis is followed by a discussion about the implications for both educators and readers of young adult literature.

La recherche suivante propose une étude approfondie des représentations des handicaps dans les romans français et italiens pour les adolescents écrits dans les trente dernières années, notamment à partir de 1980, âge d’or de la littérature à destination des adolescents, par une mise en lumière des caractéristiques principales et des enjeux sur lesquels leur écriture se fonde. En particulier, en allant au-delà de la simple analyse littéraire des représentations de cette diversité propre à la condition humaine, cette thèse vise à souligner les intentions idéologiques, sociales, politiques, philosophiques et pédagogiques de cette production, selon un parcours historique et comparatif entre les littératures française et italienne.Grâce à cette perspective transversale, elle montre comment les représentations des handicaps présentes dans les deux productions littéraires ont subi une évolution en lien avec leur contextualisation historique et culturelle et avec la prise en considération culturelle, juridique et sociale de la notion de handicap.Point de départ possible pour une meilleure connaissance du sujet, la littérature est un des instruments capables d’aider le lecteur adolescent à se rapprocher du handicap, en dépassant la notion de différence et en promouvant celle d’altérité. / The following research proposes an in-depth study of representations of disability in the French and Italian novels for young adults written in the last thirty years, especially from the 1980s, the golden age of young adult literature, by bringing into light the main features and issues its writings are based on.In particular, by going beyond the simple literary analysis of representations of this diversity specific to the human condition, this thesis aims to point out the ideological, social, political, philosophical and pedagogical intentions of this production, according to a historical and comparative path between French and Italian literatures.Thanks to this transversal perspective, it shows how the representations of disability in both literary productions have undergone changes in line with their historical and cultural contextualization, taking into account the legal and social concept of handicap.By being a possible starting point for a better understanding of the subject, literature can be a useful tool to help the young adult reader to approach the notion of disability, by overcoming the notion of difference and promoting the one of otherness.

This qualitative research study used a theoretical framework of third-wave feminism and reader response theory to examine two research questions: How do girls and women relate to the female protagonist in dystopian young adult literature (YAL)? and How are the responses to dystopian YAL similar and different for the targeted teen audience and the adult audience? A group of four teenaged girls and another group of three adult women read and discussed the YAL dystopian text Uglies. For this project, I collected participant journals and transcripts from individual interviews and book club discussions. I selected quotations from each data source that highlighted the participant’s reactions to the protagonist. Data were analyzed in two phases. In phase one, I used discourse analysis, and in phase two I used constant comparative analysis. The analyses revealed that participants from both groups identified with the protagonist’s attempts to improve society, which aligns both groups’ responses with inclusive aspects of third-wave feminism. However, other aspects of feminism were incorporated into their answers as well. The women participants demonstrated a broader societal concern, such as those shared by second wave feminists. The girls, in contrast, were firmly situated within individualist aspects of third-wave feminism. Whereas, the women related to the protagonist on both a personal and broader societal level, the girls related only on a personal level. Findings from this research extend reader response theory by showing that responses to literature are strongly shaped by generational position.

This paper will study realism in young adult literature, focusing specifically on those books in which young adults accept parenting roles. First, professional literature about realism will be reviewed from a· historical perspective, then criteria for realism will be examined. New criteria will be synthesized and applied to six novels. An annotated bibliography of novels in which young adults accept parenting roles will be presented.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Through an analysis of the depiction of female protagonists in young adult dystopian and speculative works of fiction, this thesis establishes leadership studies as a theoretical framework for literary study. Leadership studies is a relatively young branch of academic inquiry, using interdisciplinary approaches to investigate the phenomenon of leadership. From psychology, sociology, and philosophy, to education, business, and history, leadership studies has both drawn from and provided insight into a variety of disciplines; however, these theories have not yet found their way into conversations about literature. My thesis pulls leadership studies away from its corporate connotations to establish it as a valid and valuable addition to our literary analysis repertoire through a demonstration of its potential to further conversations about texts. This analysis is positioned within the contexts of children’s literature, feminist theory, and practices of reading for ideology, anchoring leadership studies in already-established modes of inquiry while demonstrating how this field offers valuable insight into them. My focus on dystopian and speculative young adult novels reflects the recent surge in dystopic/postapocalyptic texts that feature strong female protagonists, presenting potential leadership strategies for young girl readers during an important stage of development. Thus, this thesis uses leadership studies to further our analysis of how agency, power, and gender are represented within children’s literature.

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