Newberry Award-winning books
In our adolescent fiction unit, we explored Newberry Award-winning books and connected them back to the topic of juvenile delinquency. During this unit, we were required to choose a book that fits into the category of adolescent fiction, analyze it, and create a presentation. The book that we chose for our project wasn’t required to be a Newberry Award winner or relate to juvenile delinquency. My partner and I chose to do the book The Fault in our Stars by John Green. This book follows a sixteen-year-old girl named Hazel and her lover Augustus. Hazel and Augustus both have cancer and meet each other at a cancer support group. The two of them embark on a roller coaster of emotions as they search for the author of their favorite book, Imperial Affliction. Hazel and Augustus travel to Amsterdam, searching for the author Peter Van Houten and Augustus shares some heartbreaking news to Hazel and their worlds fall apart. Although this book doesn’t’ t follow the theme of juvenile delinquency, there are many viable themes that are presented throughout this book, such as, love, family friendship, identity, and isolation. This book would be good to implement in the classroom as students are starting to mature, helping them understand the importance of finding your true identity, along with the importance of family, friendships, and love. This assignment was one of my favorite assignments all year. I particularly liked how we looked into juvenile delinquency and that many times, it can be seen through literature. For this project, I wish that my partner and I would have chosen a book that had some juvenile delinquency within the book so I could’ve engaged more into the topic.
Through this adolescent fiction book unit, I was able to become more familiar with the ways juvenile delinquency is presented in literature and how literature can have a positive impact on those in juvenile detention centers. This unit opened my eyes and has shown me that teachers can help a child by intervening as soon as they see behaviors that are or could lead to juvenile delinquency. I believe that it is essential for teachers to recognize those behaviors and try to redirect the child before their behavior advance them to more consequences. Looking at the teacher who is teaching at-risk students in the juvenile detention center really helped me realize the power of literature and how much of an impact a teacher can have on a child’s life. After this unit, I have an open mindset on the impact literature can have on juveniles, and one day I hope I can help a struggling child overcome delinquency through literature.