Secondary English teachers often struggle to infuse their classrooms with literature from the canon along with the proliferation of young adult texts that are often more relevant to their students. Not since Joan Kaywell's edited volume Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics (1993), and her updates a decade later, has there been a definitive work combining these texts as complements to each other. This two-volume work offers unique options for teachers, with chapters organized chronologically by the publication date of the canonical text, providing a wide array of pairings with unique approaches to pedagogy within the strictures of the National Council of Teachers of English. Each chapter is organized with an introductory section; a summary of texts (without an emphasis on the canon); and instructional activities (with options) for before, during, and after the unit. Chapters also include extension activities and substantive lists of relevant references. This book will be valuable to veteran teachers who have at least some graduate work relating to further canon study and a broad understanding of relevant young adult texts. Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews

This book is an essential resource for English teachers who want to use BOTH young adult literature and canonical texts in their classrooms without sacrificing either. The world has changed dramatically since my last edition of Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics was published in 1993 and Greathouse and Malo-Juvera provide a timely update that reflects current issues and features recently published young adult titles. Young Adult and Canonical Literature: Pairing and Teaching provides practical methods for teaching, in chapters written by the new vanguard of educators in the field of young adult literature. This is a must have book.

Joan F. Kaywell, professor of English education, University of South Florida

Greathouse and Malo-Juvera’s edited volumes of Young Adult and Canonical Literature: Pairing and Teaching, artfully assembles an array of essays presenting a dynamic collection of texts, old and new, in dialogue, which will prove stimulating for both teachers and students. It will be a wonderful resource for decades to come. The book takes a commonsensical approach and avoids being unnecessarily trendy or replete with jargon, which adds up to a refreshing look at canonical texts with an appreciation for enduring themes in more contemporary literature.

Josephine A. McQuail, rofessor of English at Tennessee Tech University, William Blake Scholar, and editor of Janet Frame in Focus: Women Analyze the New Zealand Writer (2018, McFarland Publishing)

The debate is over. If you are not pairing YA with the classic you are missing the opportunity to connect Tiffany D. Jackson to James Baldwin, Walter Dean Myers to Tim O’Brien, and Angie Thomas to Emily Brontë. Greathouse and Malo-Juvera have done it again, by collecting chapter authors who provide guidance for those who might still be resisting this pedagogical opportunity.

Steven T. Bickmore, Associate Professor of English Education, University of Nevada Las Vegas; curator, Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday Blog