Young Adult Books - The Teacher Bees Blog

Young Adult Books

Books with social justice messages geared towards young adult readers

Books about Book Bans

Books about Book Bans

Over the past few years, worrying trends of book censorship have emerged, with challenges to books in schools and libraries increasing markedly since before the pandemic. This year, the American Library Association indicated that 414 attempts were made to censor library materials from January to August 2024, while 1,128

Homebody

Homebody is a graphic novel memoir about Theo Parish's life as a nonbinary person. This coming of age book shows how they navigated their own identity and came out as a transgender and nonbinary. They called this process "coming home to myself wherever that may be"

Graphic Novels by Asian Authors - Improving Representation in my Classroom Library

Graphic Novels by Asian Authors - Improving Representation in my Classroom Library

I have the feeling that students are looking for mirror books that reflect their own experiences as Asian Canadians. As a result, below are four new graphic novels that reflect in different ways the experiences of Asian students at my school.

Accountable: Supporting students in an online world

Accountable: Supporting students in an online world

Debating whether or not to ban cell phone sidesteps a much more important discussion focused on how schools, communities and government can act to help young people engage respectfully and purposefully in their digital spaces.

Books about Japanese Incarceration in WW2

Books about Japanese Incarceration in WW2

Recently I have been trying to update the novels in my human rights literature circle, focusing on themes relating to power and privilege. These days there are a wider selection of human rights themed books to choose from, ones where the author's own experiences or history help inform

How to Change Everything

How to Change Everything

How to Change Everything: The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54304052-how-to-change-everything], by Naomi Klein with Rebecca Stefoff, is essential reading for young people who want to better understand the climate crisis. It covers where we are in

Popular Graphic Novels with 2SLGBTQ+ Characters

Popular Graphic Novels with 2SLGBTQ+ Characters

In the past few months, my students have become entranced with the Heartstopper series. They have binged the Netflix series, read through the webcomic online, and devoured the copy of Volume One that is in our classroom library. They have convinced their parents to buy them copies and asked the

Indigenous Storytelling Literature Circle

Indigenous Storytelling Literature Circle

In the past, when teaching my students about Indigenous perspectives, I have often taken an approach that focuses on human rights. We spend time learning about colonialism in Canada and focus on texts [https://teacherbees.ca/indigenous-stories-in-graphic-novels/] that support that understanding. While I still think it is important to do

I Am Not Starfire

I Am Not Starfire

There are a lot of reasons to love I Am Not Starfire [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56120074-i-am-not-starfire?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=2xSshJEVzN&rank=1] , written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Yoshi Yoshitani. The art is fantastic, the characters are sharp, and

Black Water, On the Trapline, and Kīwew

Black Water, On the Trapline, and Kīwew

One amazing thing about the writer David A. Robertson is his ability to write compelling literature for any age group. Some of his most recent work demonstrates his versatility as he focuses on his relationship with his father and connecting with his Cree identity in Black Water [https://www.goodreads.

A Girl Called Echo: Road Allowance Era

A Girl Called Echo: Road Allowance Era

A Girl Called Echo: Road Allowance Era [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57907128-road-allowance-era?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=4sXAsT0TQd&rank=4] , written by Katherena Vermette and illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, is the fourth and final volume in the Girl Called Echo series [https:

The Stone Rainbow

The Stone Rainbow

The Stone Rainbow, by Liane Shaw, tells the story of Jack Pedersen, a gay teenager who is living a small town. A few people know he is gay, but otherwise Jack is committed to keeping this part of his identity a secret until he can move to the bigger city.

The Magic Fish

The Magic Fish [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42394599-the-magic-fish?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=kyzNs1EE29&rank=1] , written by Trung Le Nguyen, is a beautiful graphic novel about Tiến and his mother, a Vietnamese refugee. Tiến wants to come out to his parents as

Pet

Pet [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38612739-pet?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=1mKAmrtQOH&rank=2] , written by Akaeke Emezi, tells the story of a Black transgender girl who must uncover a monster who is endangering her friend. The main character Jam lives in a city

Surviving the City: From the Roots Up

Surviving the City: From the Roots Up

Surviving the City Vol. 2: From the Roots Up, written by Tasha Spillett and illustrated by Natasha Donovan, is a graphic novel that explores the intersections of Indigenous culture and gender identity. It builds on the previous volume [https://teacherbees.ca/surviving-the-city/] to show the struggles of an Indigenous teen

Piecing Me Together

Literature Circle

Piecing Me Together

Piecing Me Together [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25566675-piecing-me-together?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=T5AcnMoIGn&rank=1] , by Renée Watson, is a young adult novel that examines issues of race, privilege and identity for a teen girl from a poor neighbourhood. Jade, the book'

Black Lives Matter

Young Adult Books

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter. Some people view this as a controversial statement. It shouldn't be. Black people in Canada experience systemic racism [https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/06/01/racism-exists-in-canada-these-are-the-stories-from-people-who-have-lived-it-as-eyes-turn-on-us-after-george-floyd-death-in-minneapolis.html] . It is present in the education system [https://theconversation.com/the-crisis-of-anti-black-racism-in-schools-persists-across-generations-120856] . It is present when Black

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Middle Grade Books

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You [https://teacherbees.ca/this-place-150-years-retold/] is a remix of Ibram X. Kendi's book Stamped from the Beginning. Jason Reynolds, an acclaimed author for young people, remixes the content to create a vital text for teaching students about racism. Most of the book focuses on

A Girl Called Echo - Volume 3

A Girl Called Echo - Volume 3

For teachers looking to bring Canadian history to life, with particular emphasis on Métis history, be sure to check out volume three of A Girl Called Echo [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42667980-northwest-resistance], written by Katherena Vermette and illustrated by Scott B. Henderson. The series [https://teacherbees.ca/a-girl-called-echo/

The 7 Generations Series

Young Adult Books

The 7 Generations Series

The 7 Generations Series [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8070816-stone], a graphic novel series written by David Alexander Robertson and illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, recounts the life of seven generations of an Indigenous family, stories that span from the beginning of the 19th century to 2010. The series

The Failings of Climate Change Fiction

The Failings of Climate Change Fiction

Young adult and middle grade fiction are useful tools for teaching about tough issues. Problems like the refugee crisis [https://teacherbees.ca/refugee-books-for-middle-years/] or poverty are difficult and stories are important to help us better understand these issues and to give them a human face. Unfortunately, there has been scant

Anger is a Gift

Anger is a Gift

Anger is a Gift [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36142487-anger-is-a-gift], by Mark Oshiro, tells the story of Moss Jefferies, a black Latinx teen, and his activism against police brutality at his high school. Traumatized by the murder of his father by a police officer during his childhood, Moss learns

White Rose

White Rose [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39884755-white-rose?from_search=true], by Kip Wilson, is based on the true story of Sophie Scholl, a member of the German resistance during World War II. This novel in verse tells the story of the White Rose Society, a group of German

On the Come Up

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas's follow up to the hugely successful The Hate U Give. It tells the story of sixteen-year old Bri, an aspiring rapper who aims to make it big and solve her family's financial troubles. Early in the story, Bri is

Moon at Nine

Earlier this year I was asked to read Moon at Nine [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18854738-moon-at-nine?ac=1&from_search=true] , written by Deborah Ellis. Our school inherited a number of copies and my principal thought they might be a good fit in our grade seven human