The Power of Books: Teachers’ Changing Perspectives about Using Young Adult Books to Teach Social Justice

This study examined teachers’ knowledge about social justice and their perspectives and understandings about the use of young adult books to teach social justice. The participants were 14 graduate students in a graduate literacy course. The course provided learning experiences about social justice, including the use of young adult books. These learning experiences were designed to deepen students’ understanding of how to address social justice issues with students in the elementary, middle and high school classrooms. Using qualitative measures, the researchers found changes in participants’ understanding of social justice and the use of young adult books as a powerful resource for teaching social justice. All four discussion groups noted a change in their thinking with the themes of awareness and acceptance evident in their responses. For two books, Shine (2011) and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007), what stood out for three of the four book discussion groups were the many social issues evident in the books. In the book Shine (2011), some participants felt that the social issues were not fully addressed, and others focused on the “dark” topics in the book including language usage, sexual molestation, and parental abuse. In their discussion of Trafficked (2012), three of the four groups felt that the book raised their level of awareness and gave them a new perspective about the issue of human trafficking. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) changed the thinking of all four groups of students about Native American culture and reservation life in regard to cultural assimilation and disparities that continue today. However, the experiences of the participants in reading the three books also deepened their understanding that some books address social justice issues in very strong and powerful ways—ways that may result in constraints that need to be acknowledged regarding appropriate classroom use. The participants in our study reported that they acquired a more detailed and more in-depth knowledge base about social justice. This was especially evident in their growing awareness of social justice, in perhaps their personal acceptance of the issues, and in their comments about taking action that might lead to change in existing problems surrounding social justice.