Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with Health Issues - Hardcover

Bowman, Cynthia Ann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313305315 ISBN 13: 9780313305313

Publisher: Greenwood, 2000

Synopsis

Today, traditional illnesses and high risk behaviors of adolescents have become interrelated through the multitude of physical, social and emotional changes young people experience. Good literature which gives adolescents the truth has incredible power to heal and to renew. This reference resource provides a link for teachers, media specialists, parents, and other adults to those novels that can help adolescents struggling with health issues. Educators and therapists explore novels where common health issues are addressed in ways to captivate teens. Using fictional characters, these experts provide guidance on encouraging adolescents to cope while improving their reading and writing skills.

With the advancement in medicine, traditional types of health issues such as birth defects, cancer, and sensory impairment have shifted to more behavior related problems such as depression, alcoholism, and eating disorders. All of these issues and others are examined from both a literary and psychological perspective in thirteen chapters that explore health issues through fiction. Each chapter confronts a different health issue and is written by a literature specialist who has teamed up with a therapist. In each novel, these experts define the central character's struggle in coming to terms with an issue and growing in response to their difficulties. Annotated bibliographies of other works, both fiction and nonfiction, explore these same issues give readers insight into helping teenagers with similar problems, and provide the tools with which to get teenagers reading and addressing these problems.

About this title

About the Author

CYNTHIA ANN BOWMAN is Assistant Professor of English Education at Florida State University./e She is Chair of the CEE Commission for the Preparation of Teachers with Disabilities.

Reviews

Each chapter in this excellent resource highlights one or two core-reading selections supported by strong pedagogical rationale. The first chapter addresses birth defects and disabilities focusing on Rodman Philbrick's Freak the Mighty. Included are sections about the book's literary attributes, a synopsis of the plot and characters, strategies for teaching and counseling, follow-up activities for students, an annotated list of approximately 30 recommended titles (both fiction and nonfiction), and references. Each chapter is written by a different teacher/therapist team and includes a similar discussion on topics such as blindness and deafness, disabilities, cancer, diabetes, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, clinical depression, eating disorders, HIV/ AIDS, alcoholism, and Alzheimer's. Featured titles include Michael Dorris's Sees Behind Trees, Gary Paulsen's Tracker, Chris Crutcher's Ironman, Steven Levenkron's The Best Little Girl in the World, Fran Arrick's What You Don't Know Can Kill You, Jan Cheripko's Imitate the Tiger, and Norma Klein's Going Backwards. Cross-referencing is aided by an extensive index, and profiles of each contributor conclude the volume.
Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313305315
• ISBN 13: 9780313305313
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336