Emerging Adolescence in Engaged Reading Communities

This article examines what students do when they are engaged in reading stories that resonate with them. The narratives that draw them in often contain topics and language that make adults nervous, particularly at this age. Students use these books and the characters within them as tools for self-reflection, as cautionary tales, as ways to understand other people better, and to develop empathy. We provide instructional implications related to a wide range of texts and teacher talk that invites productive conversations. This article can be used as a resource for teachers and, by extension, parents who are unsure or apprehensive about what students might do with texts and conversations in which they are exploring new social worlds and identities that are beginning to evolve from childhood into adolescence.