Focus on Adolescent Literacy:
Recommended Reading

Professional development collection

IRA Literacy Study Groups Adolescent Literacy Module (includes books, articles, discussion guides, position statements, and other resources for personal or school-based professional development)

Books—New titles and bestsellers

Click on a title to find a detailed description, and to browse contents and sample chapters.

Comprehension Strategies for Middle Grade Learners: A Handbook for Content Area Teachers, by Charlotte Rose Sadler

Discovering Their Voices: Engaging Adolescent Girls With Young Adult Literature, by Marsha M. Sprague and Kara K. Keeling

Informed Choices for Struggling Adolescent Readers: A Research-Based Guide to Instructional Programs and Practices, by Donald D. Deshler, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, Gina Biancarosa, and Marnie Nair

Puzzle Them First! Motivating Adolescent Readers With Question-Finding, by A. Vincent Ciardiello

Reading the Media: Media Literacy in High School English, by Renee Hobbs

Standards for Middle and High School Literacy Coaches

To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader: Engaging Teen and Preteen Boys in Active Literacy, by William G. Brozo

Books—More titles

Browse through the recommended reading archives to see more titles on this topic.

Parent booklets

Books Are Cool! Keeping Your Middle School Student Reading

Parents, Teens, and Reading: A Winning Combination

Articles

Each issue of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy includes articles of interest to those working with students ages 12 to 18. Highlighted below is just a sample of recent articles. Browse the current issue, archives, and selected articles collection to find more.

“Evaluating the interventions for struggling adolescent readers,” by Douglas Fisher and Gay Ivey (Nov. 2006; vol. 50, no. 3)

“Three foci of an effective high school generation 1.5 literacy program,” by Scott N. Forrest (Oct. 2006; vol. 50, no. 2)

“A vision for adolescent literacy: ours or theirs,” by Carol M. Santa (March 2006; vol. 49, no. 6)

“The literacy educator’s role in suicide prevention,” by Douglas Fisher (Feb 2005; vol. 48, no. 5) FREE!

From Reading Research Quarterly, the field’s leading source of high-quality research:

Breaking news! “Multiple Dimensions of Achievement: Defining, Identifying, and Addressing ‘the Gap’”

Get an advance look at this special section on closing the achievement gap — especially among adolescents — to be published in the July 2007 edition of Reading Research Quarterly.

“Mapping literacy spaces in motion: a rhizomatic analysis of a classroom literacy performance,” by Kevin M. Leander and Deborah Wells Rowe (Oct/Nov/Dec 2006; vol. 41, no. 4)

“Reading representation of themselves: urban youth use culture and African America textual features to develop literary understandings,” by Wanda Brooks (July/Aug/Sept 2006; vol. 41, no. 3)

“Instant messaging, literacies, and social identities,” by Cynthia Lewis and Bettina Fabos (Oct/Nov/Dec 2005; vol. 40, no. 4) FREE!

Find more articles on adolescent literacy from Reading Research Quarterly in the recommended reading archives. In addition, the archives includes articles on adolescent literacy from Reading Online, IRA’s freely available e-journal, which published original features and peer-reviewed articles from May 1997 until June 2005.

From Reading Today, IRA’s membership newspaper:

“Newbery winner spawns controversy,” (June/July 2007) FREE!

“‘Nation’s Report Card’ show overall decline in reading test scores for 12th graders since 1992,” (April/May 2007) FREE!

“Adolescent literacy: the hottest topic,” (Feb/Mar 2007) FREE!

“Spotlight shines on adolescent reading” (Feb/Mar 2007) FREE!

“Boys and books,” (Aug/Sept 2006) FREE!

“Older students need reading support, too,” (Jan/Feb 2005) FREE!

Find more articles on adolescent literacy from Reading Today in the recommended reading archives.