Working with values through folktales

by Gisela Koval

“Because of the conflicting values adolescents encounter in a rapidly changing world, they should have the opportunity to trash out their reactions, consider the pluses and minuses, and try to determine where they themselves stand so that they will be better able to deal with ideas of all shades” (Konopka 1973, 302)

Adolescence is a period in life full of changes and new challenges. These two characteristics influence not only teenagers’ behavior but also their attitude towards learning and, to be more specific, towards reading.  Because of this, young adults should be exposed to significant reading material which, apart from entertaining them, should offer a wide view of the world. Furthermore, reading material for adolescents should deal with topics and issues related to adolescents’ emotions and experiences as well as problems that may arise in their near context. Taking this into account, Sarah Herz and Gallo Donald (1996), propose that the issues and topics of the stories should be those “that all students can benefit from reading and discussing”  

Apart from being characterized by challenges and changes, adolescence is also characterized by the construction of the value system. furthermore, De Vos (2003) claims that “This search for a personal value system is related to the significant mental growth that is a factor in middle adolescence” . This is an important aspect to take into account, especially by teachers, when they need to decide what reading material would be the most suitable for their classes. 

Folktales are an interesting idea to help deal with values in the classroom because they offer a positive message and the characters generally have to take decisions and behave according to their  values in life. These stories have been “polished and shaped throughout time, and only the best, the most relevant, and often the most appropriate have been passed down through the ages and set in print”(De Vos, 2003).

There is great variety of folktales to work with; “Crow brings daylight” is one of them. “Crow brings the daylight” is an Inuit myth   featured in “ Land of the Midnight Sun”, a concert band piece composed by Vince Gassi. This is the story of an adventurous Crow who travels back and forth between the northlands and the south. In one of his travels, the Crow meets an Inuit community who does not know about the existence of daylight and promises them to bring some of it.  

Although the plot of the story is fictional, it can be related to the student’s personal experiences. They surely have been involved in similar situations in life: to lie, to tell the truth, to take the decision of helping somebody or not and to take a risk in order to achieve a goal. So, they can debate about this issues which are connected with values and behavior. In this context, this essay will demonstrate how, by reading a folktale: “Crow brings the daylight”, adolescents can learn more about values, reflect upon them and their own actions

Values and folk tales

The main character in “Crow brings the daylight” is a bird with a well- defined attitude: he is willing to help. He promises the Inuit people to bring some daylight for them to enjoy, as they live in the North , in a constant darkness. To achieve his commitment, the Crow travels to the Southlands, to a village where there is always daylight. In order to get some daylight for the Inuits, he has to lie and cheat on a child. In the end, he gets what he wants from the southern village. The Crow arrives to the Inuit community with the promised daylight, but he does not tell anybody about what he had to do to get it: to lie, to cheat and to fool a little boy.

When The Crow is asked to bring daylight to the Inuit community he says:  "I am too old, […] daylight is very far away. I can no longer go so far”. But the pleadings of the people make him reconsider, and finally he agrees to make the long journey to the south. Adolescents can be involved in these kinds of dilemmas many times; they have to consider whether to take a risk or not in order to achieve a goal or not. Both, adults as well as adolescents can be involved in this situations, but adolescents will be the ones in taking more time to decide and  maybe the ones in considering the situation more in  depth because of their lack of experience.

Besides, De Vos (2003) states that “they may imitate adult’s behavior or may follow others’ pieces of advice”.  With reference to this, Scharf (1978), in his review of Kohlberg’s conventional level of moral judgment, states that young adults during early adolescence have fixed definitions of social duty, confirm with firm social rules, and a respect for formal authority” [...]. Apart from this, rejection is a critical step for young adults in the process of defining themselves an autonomous value base”. Taking  Scharf’s ideas into account, it could be said that  “Crow brings the  daylight” could help adolescents to recognize the positive side   of helping and may offer “insights into the motives and pattern of human behavior” ( Ibid);  the story  will be showing and highlighting  good behavior

In addition, the protagonist of the story has another and contradictive well-defined characteristic of personality: ambition. On the one hand he is willing to help, on the other hand, he is willing to do it at any cost. That is why when he arrives to the Northlands he encourages a little boy to lie to his father . The crow encourages the boy to lie by whispering in his ear:"You want to play with a ball of daylight”. The boy repeats the phrase to his father and gets what he wants. In that way, the Crow gets the precious light he needs for the Inuits. Then The Crow whispers again: "You want to go outside to play”. The boy echoes his words to his father and again gets what he wants. While being outside, The Crow seizes the ball of light from the kid and flies away to the South. This particular passage of the story can make adolescents reflect upon cheating in order to get what they want. It can make them “organize and evaluate attitudes and ideas to build their own value  system” (De Vos, 2003). It can also help them to be critical about their own actions. Being critical, in this context, will mean to “bring more rigorous analysis to problem solving” (Pennycook, 2001). This analysis can be openly carried out in the classroom as a post- reading activity in order to exchange thought and share different ideas. A very clear and appropriate example to illustrate this, are debates. If teachers involve students in debates, they will give them the possibility to express their point of view about a particular subject. In debates, students can express their opinion about the actions carry out by the main character of a story ; they can question themselves what they would have done, or if they would have done things in a different way. Students can discuss for example what they would have replied to request of Inuit community; in that specific situation The Crow says "The daylight is very far away. I can no longer go so far." In another passage of the story, The Crow encourages the boy to lie to his father by whispering in his ear: “You want to go outside to play.”, in this case students can be asked if they justify the fact of cheating somebody in order to get what they want. These examples can be closely related to young adults’ everyday life because they can be involved in similar dilemmas and in that way they can express their opinion easily.

It is also important to mention that “One of the major tasks confronting young adults is the development of a sense of personality”. This search involves deciding “what is important or worth doing and formulating standards of conduct for evaluating one’s own behavior as well as the behavior of others.” (De Vos, 2003). ‘Crow brings daylight’ may help in this searching , because  it exposes certain behaviors that can be analyzed and examined  in order to get the learning of positive aspects in life.

Many people believe that folktales open a door to a world of values. They are not wrong since folktales involve characters who have to take decisions, to act according to their feelings or, in some case, to their convenience in order to get what they want to . They are useful to work with values in the classroom because “Young adults examine the values [...] they have accepted uncritically and absorbed from their adult role models and accept, discard and remold these values until they have established a value system that reflects the person who they are becoming( De Vos, 2003). Folktales can offer young adults models and examples of behavior, thinking and reasoning. “Crow brings daylight” fulfill all these characteristics. Teachers can guide students through different activities in the classroom in order to give them the possibility to express themselves ; but, they are the ones who will construct day by day, story after story and experience  after experience their own value system.

References

• Kanopka, 1973, as cited in De Vos Gail, 2003.
• De Vos, Gail, 2003, “Storytelling for young adults”, chapter 1: “Storytelling and the young adult”
• De Vos, Gail, 2003, “Storytelling for young adults”, chapter 2:  “Telling the tales”
• Herz, Sarah and Gallo, Donald, 1996, “From Hinton to Hamlet: Building bridges between young adults literature and the classics”
• Scharf, 1978, as cited in De Vos, Gail 2003
• Pennycook, Alastair, 2001, Critical applied linguistics- A critical introduction.
• “Crow brings daylight”, wwwamericanfolklore.net 

Ideology in “Bloody Mary”: using a folk tale to develop students’ critical literacy and thought

by Florencia González

Some of my friends, five of us, cramped ourselves into a small bathroom in my friend Cathryn's House. We ended up saying Bloody Mary (more like chanting it) about 20 times or so for anything to appear. When we did finally see something it started out as a green glow)then the darkened portrait of a face became more visible, by that time half of us were screaming so we knocked each other down trying to get out of the bathroom and then I flipped on the light. It was a welcome relief. (Told on Internet, Dec. 21, 1999)[Original punctuation]

This narration written by an adolescent on the Internet refers to the popular story known as “Bloody Mary”. This story is part of the American folklore, that is to say, it is a folk tale, “a tale or legend originating among a people and typically becoming part of an oral tradition.” (Collins English Dictionary). As most traditional tales, the exact origin of this legend can not be established. Nonetheless, it is possible to set the events told in the tale during the witch-hunt period in North America (from about 1480 to 1750). As regards  the written versions of the story, from the 1960s on, several variants of “Bloody Mary” appeared. 

Taking in consideration one of these many written versions of “Bloody Mary” which tells the story of an old lady accused of murdering a group of girls from a village, it is possible to state that the legend may be appealing to adolescents for several reasons: the component of horror, black magic and suspense; its simple plot and short extension; and mainly because it challenges the reader to test his/her courage in front of a mirror. Besides its attractive features, “Bloody Mary” can be used in the classroom with adolescents because it offers an interesting opportunity to approach a folk tale critically. This paper will explore how the selected legend can be applied in the classroom to develop critical literacy and thought in adolescents. Bloody Mary’s underlying ideology will be discussed with this aim.

Adolescence, critical literacy and thought, and ideology

Before advancing towards the discussion of this story in particular, three variables need to be explained:

a) Critical thought is developed during adolescence and can be defined as the combination of rationality, self-awareness, honesty, open-mindedness, discipline and judgment. (Daniel J. Kurland, 2000).

b) Critical literacy “is the ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships” (Kurland, 2000). The development of critical literacy skills enables people to interpret messages with a critical view, challenging the power relations within those messages. The purpose of critical literacy is “to be aware of the structures that serve as norms as well as to demonstrate how these norms are not experienced by all members of society” (ibid).

c) Ideology: according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, ideology is:

1. The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture.

2. A set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of a political, economic, or other system.

To show the close link between the concept of critical literacy and ideology, it is worth highlighting Pennycook’s idea of the latter.  Ideology for those with a linguistic background is a “particular framework of knowledge that is tied to social power and may be manifested in language” (A. Pennycook, 2001). Foucault’s idea of ideology is also interesting. He says that it “always stands in virtual opposition to something else which is supposed to count as truth.” 

The story: discussing the ideology of “Bloody Mary” 

The written version of “Bloody Mary” considered in this paper explains how in a village where many girls had disappeared mysteriously, Mary, an old woman who lived alone in the middle of a forest, was accused of being a witch and the responsible for such disappearances. She was burned at the stake by the villagers. The legend says that it is possible to summon her evil spirit by chanting her name three times in front of a mirror. 

The points of analysis that may be used to develop critical thought and literacy are: women’s and men’s role, values and justice.

Women’s and men’s role

She lived deep in the forest in a tiny cottage and sold herbal remedies for a living.

In order to have a critical view of the story as regards women’s role, students will have to think about the context of this text to make connections and reflect about the main character situation at the time of the British colony in America. The acceptable role of a woman during that period was not living alone and being independent. The place of women was in the family as a mother or grandmother, that is to say, next to a man; and, for the most unfortunate ones ( those who can not get a husband) just as an aunt or sister in charge of younger brothers; nephews or nieces; and/or their old parents. The old lady of this story was not a typical woman because she found a way to survive without a man. The status of women has changed through time. Students can think about their own context and up to what extends society has changed to give women a different place. 

Suddenly, a sharp-eyed farmer gave a shout and pointed towards a strange light at the edge of the woods.

If there is a “hero” in this story, it is clear that this role is played by a man. One who is very skilful with guns and can defend his town from witches. This is a very traditional view of the function of men in a society: to protect their people. On the other hand, there isn’t a heroine in this story and the main role played by a woman was the role of the witch. Through literature, one is able to trace the evolution of society, because texts are a reflection of the cultural group that produced it.  A good exercise in the classroom can be to contrast this story with others which follows chronologically in which there are men using magic and competing against evil not represented by a women. 

Values

Still, it was noted that her haggard appearance had changed. She looked younger, more attractive.

When the girls started to disappear, some men went to Mary’s house to ask about them. They noticed that there was a change in Mary’s appearance.  

Values are part of ideology. They reflect Bloody Mary‘s society. In the quotation above one important value is mentioned: beauty. It has always been one of the values that women desire to be endowed with by nature or artificially, because an attractive appearance can be a means to ensure a good suitor. Furthermore, beauty was used by women to influence men. In this sense, beauty and power can be closely connected. This point can lead the students to a discussion about this value and others that can be found in the story to compare them with the values of our society nowadays. They may observe that appearance is still very important in the present, not only for women but also for men. The standards of beauty may have changed but it continues to be linked to power.

Revenge and Justice

The far-sighted farmer had loaded his gun with silver bullets in case the witch ever came after his daughter. Now he took aim and shot at her. The bullet hit Bloody Mary in the hip and she fell to the ground. The angry townsmen leapt upon her and carried her back into the field, where they built a huge bonfire and burned her at the stake.

Finally, the idea of justice which is always related to ideology and critical literacy can be put into question here. Again considering the context, adolescents can think about the way people proceeded at those times when they thought a crime was committed. There wasn’t any trial, jury, judge, lawyers, or evidence previous to declare a person guilty or innocent. At this regards, adolescence is a stage of idealism in which justice has a lot of weight in the scale of values. They can discuss about the differences between the systems of justice they know and that of the story. 

Through the examples taken from this legend, it is possible to see that teachers and students can critically explore the ideology within a folk tale. If the main goal of this paper is achieved, the folk genre will be used in the classrooms for its potential for this kind of analysis. As a consequence, not only will adolescents be stimulated to think critically and understand the inner layers of a text which conveys ideological messages to the reader, but also they will be able to approach tradition critically.

References:

• Urban legends. Retrieved October 2011 from http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/horrors/a/bloody_mary.htm
• Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003. Retrieved October 2011 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Folk+tales
• Wikipediea. Retrieved October 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt.
• Daniel J. Kurland, (2000).Retrieved October 2011 from http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_thinking.htm
• The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. 
• Pennycook, Alastair (2001) Critical Applied Linguistic: A critical introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.
• S.E. Scholosser. Retreived October, 2011 from http://americanfolklore.net

I’m All Right: A Ghost Story that can be considered a case of young adult literature

by Natalia Diquech

Choosing stories for adolescents has become a difficult task. Nowadays, teens have a variety of tastes and interests concerning literature. Books or stories that are appealing or interesting to some young adults may not be appealing or interesting for some others. Actually, the issue of choosing appropriate literature for teenagers has become fashionable in the last decades with the development of the concept of adolescence. According to Gail de Vos (2003), “adolescence is the term psycholinguistics an educator use to identify the developmental stage marked by the onset of puberty and the end of structural physical growth.” Concurrently, the term adolescence is synonymous with young adult. The latter is described by Pedak (1978, 45) as a “member of the public who is in the transition from childhood to adulthood; usually between the ages of thirteen to eighteen.” Consequently, all types of literary forms started to emerge in the last couple of years with the purpose of appealing young adults. Therefore, the idea of young adult literature (YAL) emerged. YAL has been considered by same authors, such as Ken Danelson and Alleen Nilsen (1987), as “anything that readers between the approximate ages of 12 and 20 choose to read”.  

Nonetheless, Robert Small Jr, dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Radford University,  points out that many books attracted teenagers by default during the 1920s- 1950s, but nowadays YAL gained popularity among readers and there is a series of characteristics that are unique to young adult novels (Sarah Herz & Gallo, Donal, 1996). The most important characteristics Small points out in “The Literary Value of the Young Adult Novel” are that:

- The main character is a teenager.

- Events and problems in the plot are related to teenagers.

- The main character is the centre of the plot.

- Dialogue reflects teenager speech, including slang.

- The point of view presents an adolescent’s interpretation of events and people.

- The teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature and independent.

- The novel is short, rarely more than 200 pages.

- The actions and decisions of the main characters are major factors in the outcome of the conflict.

- universal topics: alienation from one’s society or group; survival or meeting a  

  challenge; social and/or political concerns about racial or ethnic discrimination;  

  social concerns about AIDS, teenage pregnancy, divorce, substance abuse, family conflicts, dealing with death and political injustice.

Nevertheless, what happens when the story or the book chosen does not share all or some of these characteristics? Can they be considered a case of YAL?

The ghost story called “I´m all right”, written by S. E. Schlosser (2005), tells about a man called Johnny who enlists in the marine because he has always dreamt to become part of the Army. After serving for several years in different wars, the man is finally killed in action and he appears in his mother’s dream telling her that he is all right. The legend, retold from the point of view of Johnny´s mother, deals with topics such as love, patriotism, hope and dead. 

Apparently, the story does not share many of the characteristics espoused by Small; even so, we might argue that the story contains topics of interest for teenagers.  This essay will analyze if the ghost story I’m all right can attract young adult students.   

As it has been pointed out above, I’m all right seems not to be a story directed to young adults because it does not share most of the characteristics stated by Small for instance the main character is not a teenager, events and problems in the plot are not related to teenagers and the story does not represent an adolescent´s interpretation of problems and events. Yet, teenagers may be attracted to the story because they can be the heroes in the story and they can live safely the experiences of the character. This is connected to Holly Koelling´s idealism (2004). Koelling points out that “teens often place themselves in the hero’s role and fantasize about it, which can produce an idealism that leads to positive actions in life or and idealism that mistakenly produces a sense of strength and immunity to the consequences of life.” In the legend, Johnny is a man how fights for his country with great bravery and passion. He is supported by his family and he has become a hero for them. However, his decision brought him a terrible end and he lost many important things. Following Koelling´s idealism, teenager can consider this fact as something glorious and inspiring for their life. But at the same time, the legend can serve them to think what they want to become in life knowing that there are certain chooses in life that can change their destinies:

“He was in danger many times, but somehow he always made it through unscathed, although he lost a few friends along the way. This deepened him and I saw a new maturity in my son that made an already proud mother even prouder.” 

This extract shows how the main character, Johnny, is placed at the centre of the stage. Adolescents through analyzing and discussing the legend can fell connect with the character and feel connected to the story as well. 

Moreover, the story deals with a universal theme such as death. The male character, through the story, is constantly facing death until he is killed in action. Throughout this legend, students can deal with the topic of death. Teen can discuss this topic among them and talk about their fears and concerns on the grounds that young adults feel more comfortable when discussing certain topics with people within their age. According to Small, this topic is one of the many universal themes that YAL deals with (Sarah Herz & Gallo, Donal, 1996) because through literature young adults can safely experience feelings and emotions. Additionally, “death” is a theme of particular interest to teenager because they are in a period in which they are afraid of losing their beloved ones and they also wonder about their own death. 

Concerning genre, I’m all right has been label as a ghost story, which leads to another important topic of interest for teenagers. Adolescents like to read about the supernatural. They are constantly searching for new things. More precisely, they want to experience new things. This is the reason why adolescents are caught by the supernatural. Teenagers are interested in things that go beyond their understanding. In addition, literature about the supernatural has become popular among young adults in the last decade and this can be observed in the story:

“Johnny's words filled me with a great joy and a terrible fear. The military had sent him home, hadn't they? (Hadn't they?!?) Something in his beloved face told me that this was not an ordinary visit. That he hadn't come home the normal way. My heart thundered in my chest and I began to tremble, dread making my limbs feel heavy. Tears sprang to my eyes, and Johnny gently wiped one away with his finger. "I came to tell you that I am all right," he said quietly. "Take care of my girls for me."

This passage shows how Johnny´s mother realizes that the man who appears in her dream is not her son but the ghost of her son. She realizes that Johnny is dead since she notices that there is something odd in his face which makes her feel frighten. By adding this element, the story becomes more appealing to young adults because it is related to nowadays teen’s interests 

Despite the fact that the story “I’m all right” does not contain a teenager as the main character and the events and problems in the plot are not related to adolescents, we might argue that the legend can be considered a case of young adult literature because it   allows teenagers to place themselves as heroes in order to experience safely the characters problems or dilemmas. Additionally, the genre and the topic in the story may be appealing to adolescents because they lead to discussion. Adolescents are able to express their feelings and emotions by analyzing the story. Besides, both, the topic and the genre, are connected with today´s young adult’s interests and concerns.        

References

• “Storytelling for Young Adults: A Guide to Tales for Teens”, Gail De Vos (2003).
• “Make Sense of teens as growing people and as readers”, Holly Koelling (2004).
• “From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics”, Sarah Herz & Gallo, Donal (1996).

Young adult Literature: analyzing some of its topics and characteristics in the urban legend “Golden hand” by S.E. Schlosser.

by Cristian Matas

“He tried to scream, but it was cut off suddenly by a terrible pressure against his throat, cutting off his breath. The world went black.”

Young Adult Literature (YAL) comprehends those texts (novels, short stories, urban legends etc.) appreciated by adolescents and whose topics are usually not preferred by the adult public: like “cars, sports and romance novels” (Small, 1992). Young readers may enjoy reading if the material chosen reflects the interests and problems they might have. Small also points out that in order to catch the attention of this massive group of readers, YAL has gradually developed some original characteristics, for instance, having a young protagonist, a limited number of characters, a teenage dilemma (such as fear) a compressed time span and a catchy and simple plot. According to Small, YAL should not avoid controversial topics that are related to teenagers such as sexuality, substance abuse, identity and death so as to establish a better connection between the reader and the story. Herz & Gallo (1996) connect the topic of personal identity to “a wide range of social issues as for instance family life, ethical decisions, violence and urban conflicts” among others.

During the last decades this literature has developed into many different styles and characters, taking into account the needs and interests of the young adult readers (Herz & Gallo, 1996) and creating peculiar genders combination of humour, horror, warning, embarrassment, morality or appeal to empathy (Koelling, 2004). One of the many genders included in YAL is surely represented by urban legends, since they fulfill many of the YAL characteristics and this kind of stories deal with certain topics usually found in this kind of literature. These features have a strong presence in the story written by S. E. Schlosser. This paper will analyze those characteristics and topics in the urban legend “Golden Hand” by S. E. Schlosser in order to use them as tools to engage young adults in reading. 

Many people may ask what an urban legend is about. The phrase "urban legend" entered the popular lexicon in the early 1980s with the publication of folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand's first book on the subject, “The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings” (Norton, 1981). David Emery (2010) explains urban legends as a type of folklore, beliefs and stories of ordinary people ("the folk"). One way to differentiate them from other narrative forms (like popular fiction, TV dramas or novels) is to compare where they come from and how they are propagated. Norton states that urban legends are primarily transmitted from individual to individual, and only in atypical cases via mass media or other institutional means. Urban legends are the essence of storytelling since they can have as many variants as there are tellers of a tale (Emery, 2010). This pleasure to tell stories heard by someone, or happened to a friend of a friend leads directly to the world of young readers previously mentioned. YAL is embedded with the nature of beliefs (Lord, 2011). In fact, young adult catchy elements in urban legends are surely represented by the source of these myths: “they seem to come from nowhere” and by the presence of the unexpected “a twist in the story that is outlandish but just plausible enough to be taken as truth” (Kayne, 2011).

In the urban legend “Golden hand”, it is evident from the beginning that the source of the story is unknown and the aspect of a spooky story is enclosed in each part of the narration. The atmosphere of a city block myth surrounds “Golden hand”, where a woman with a golden hand is murdered by a neighbour. The main character plans a lot of stratagems in order to seduce and kill a woman he has discovered having a golden hand. He succeeds in his plan and finally murders the woman and gets the valuable hand from the body. Nobody suspects him of murder but, one night he receives the visit of the dead lady coming to find her stolen hand back. Scared to death for the apparition of the murdered lady, he cowered backs against his sheets but the unnatural strength of the golden hand presses his face against the pillow and suffocates him. The next morning the housemaid finds him dead with the golden hand clutched around his throat.

“Golden hand” is filled with elements that could easily catch the attention of young adults, whether sitting by the camp fire or listening to a story before going to bed. The author creates a perfect “Halloween atmosphere” in the introduction by saying, “It was a dark night. Clouds covered the moon, and the wind was whistling down the chimney and rattling the shutters of the town house”. “Golden hand” is a creepy story and has the ingredients of an urban legend that has passed from mouth to mouth and that can eventually be modified by other tellers. At this point, it is essential to clarify ‘what kind of adolescents’ would be interested in this story. If we consider the definition of the Young Adult Library Services (YALSA) of the American Library Association (ALA) that consider a young adult "someone between the ages of 12 and 18", then, this urban legend would be appealing for teens who particularly like mystery which implies an intellectual challenge (Bucher & Manning, 2006). In other words, while young adults can escape from reality, mysteries are, in a sense, a simulated reality that these readers can control. Bushman (1997) agrees that when the readers solve a mystery, they may feel a renewed sense of esteem and confidence that they may not have had in their life where things are beyond their control. Bucher & Manning emphasize that a mystery often presents a problem, (most specifically a crime or a specific ill against a character or community) at the beginning and then offers clues that the readers can put together in order to hypothesize about a resolution. This story would also be attractive for adolescents who may enjoy reading a short, simple and catchy plot so as not to get bored. For instance, the narration of the events can fill young readers’ expectation because they can feel represented by the main character who nurtures curiosity towards the mysterious lady as much as the incredible discovery he has made: the golden hand. Despite the common like situation that is portrayed in the story, which could take place in any neighbour, nobody seems to be aware of what is going on. The elements of the unexpected, so typical to urban legend in order to catch the young readers’ attention, are spread all over the story, since the glimpse of the main character’s eyes when he realized the hand of the lady is gold made. It looks like the spontaneous surprise of a teenager who finds something that anybody else has. The engine of the story is represented by greed which is also the sparks of the twists in the plot (“He never paid much attention to the neighbours living on his city block”). The lust to possess the golden arm moves all the actions and it is like the connection line between the elements of surprise and the elements of fear that closes this tale as a ring when the phantom appears: “The glowing phantom moved closer to him, her once-lovely face twisted into a hideous green mask”. 

A fear can be less likely to disrupt a person's everyday life, and one can either learn to avoid the uncomfortable situations or learn how to relax and master them (Becker, 1973). Becker comments that young adult readers may feel attracted by scary stories due to the anxiety that fear generates and all these feelings can encourage the reader to continue reading till the end of the story. As for fear, it is impossible not to mention death as one important topic in “Golden hand” because the main character dies at the end victim of greed. The author describes this death by saying: “He tried to scream, but it was cut off suddenly by a terrible pressure against his throat, cutting off his breath. The world went black”. A young adult's reactions to death and its aftermath may be similar to that of an adult but "with fewer resources and abilities and less maturity to deal with them" (Glass, 1990, p. 160). In some cases, young adults may withdraw, but at the same time be aware of the need to form intimate relationships and to care for others (Erikson, 1968), which also contributes to identity formation (Brown & Gilligan, 1992). Gail Radley (1999) states that death -that "unmentionable" subject of contemporary culture- is portrayed for dramatic effect and often without accompanying the reactions that an adolescent may experience. As Small states, it is relevant for YAL to deal with such a controversial topic since death is part of life and, in some way including that theme can show credibility in a story. 

Another central topic that can be found in “Golden hand” is loneliness. The author describes the main character as a single lonely man who does not care about other people: “He never paid much attention to the neighbours living on his city block”. At the beginning, it seems that the main character is a lonely man but it is not clear why, which turns to be part of the mystery in the story. He shows interest for the woman only because of the golden hand. In other words, it appears that he has some problems to socialize with people. A study carried out by Cassidy & Asher (2008) indicates that feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction can be reliably assessed with young adults, and that adolescents who are socially rejected by their peers are significantly lonelier than other teens. They also affirm that teenagers get through a constant search during their adolescence in order to find out where they belong to. In connection to that, Herz & Gallo consider that young adult literature has always included between its themes human alienation and identity (“Who am I?”, “Where do I fit in?”). Then, it is significant that “Golden hand” contains those themes in order to establish a connection with young readers and also to fulfil certain elements to be considered young adult literature (Small, 1992).

Teenagers particularly love mystery and creepy stories because they feed their imagination. The young adult literature writer Brittany Lord (2011) believes that any historical fiction in the young adult book section contains something based off an urban legend since even pure fantasy books have their own urban legends. For example, Lord considers that all sorts of reproduction of urban legends can be found in the “Harry Potter” series, especially about the ghosts and how they died. It is also true the assumption that when speaking of tales, the character of fear is always connected with the transition to the adulthood (Hearne, 2000). In fact, according to a previous research in Argentina, horror stories are one of the most appreciated genders of literature among young readers (Matas, 2011). In “Golden hand”, adolescents can find some of the folktale elements that can stimulate their minds and make them enjoy when reading. 

REFERENCES 

• Emery, D. “What is Urban legend?” Accessed October 2011 from http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/urbanlegends/f/urbanlegends1.htm
• Bean, T. W. “Using Young adult literature to enhance comprehension in the content area”.  North Regional Educational Laboratory 2003. Accessed October 2011 from
http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/literacy/young.pdf
• Becker, Ernest. The Denial of Death . New York: Free Press, 1973. Accessed October 2011 from http://www.deathreference.com/A-Bi/Anxiety-and-Fear.html
• Bucher, B.  & Manning, M. L. “Young Adult Literature and the School Curriculum 2”. Pearson 2010. Accessed October 2011 from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/young-adult-literature-school-curriculum/?page=2
• Bushman, J. Young Adult Literature in the Classroom-Or Is It? English Journal. March, 1997. P. 40-45. Accessed October 2011 from http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resources/Literature/Canon/Bushman-YA%20Lit.pdf
• De Vos, G. “Storytelling for Young Adults. A Guide to Tales for Teens”.  Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2003.
• DeMinco, S. “Young adult reactions to death in literature and in life”. Accessed October 2011 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n117_v30/ai_20870822/
• Cassidy, J. and Asher, S. R. (1992),” Loneliness and Peer Relations in Young Children”. Child Development.  Accessed October 2011 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01632.x/abstract
• Fabb, N. & Durant, A. “How to Write Essays, Dissertations and These in Literary Studies.” Longman. New York, 1993.
• Herz, S. & Gallo, D. “From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature And The Classics”. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996.
• Koelling, H. “Classic Connections: Turning Teens on to Great Literature”. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004.
• Kayne, R. What are urban legends, L.S. Wynn, 2003-2011 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-urban-legends.htm
• Lord, B. Pursuing the Muse. Accessed October 2011 from
http://brittanylord.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/urban-legends-and-young-adult-fiction/
• Matas, C. “Young adult literature: Exploration of some of its themes in the horror short story “Dead like me”. Buenos Aires, 2011
• Rackley, B. What is Young Adult Literature? 2010. Accessed October 2011 from
http://www.columbiatribune.com/weblogs/great-books-teen-readers/2011/jul/07/what-is-young-adult-literature/
• Radley, G.” Coping with Death in Young Adult Literature”. Accessed October 2011 from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/fall99/radley.html
• Schlosser, S. E. “Golden hand”. Accessed October 2011 from  http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2009/10/the_golden_hand.html

Dangerous games: a comparison between teen’s behaviour and the characters of a ghost story.

By Renée Fredes

Have you played Ouija when you were an adolescent? In general, adolescents love this game, as it happens in the short story Amber. The young adult short story Amber is a ghost story excerpted from Spooky Texas (Tingle, T., Moore, D, Miller G., 2005) that shows an aspect of teen’s behaviour through the adolescent characters of the story.

The term young adult is defined by Pedak as “a member of the public who is in transition from childhood to adulthood; usually between ages of thirteen and eighteen” (as cited in De Voss, 2003). It has been found that Young Adult Literature (YAL) is very popular among adolescents. The main characteristics of this literature are stated by Small (1996) who considers that “a teenager is the main character of the story and the events and problems in the plot are related to teenagers. In addition, the actions and decisions of the main character are major in the outcome of the conflict” (as cited in Herz & Gallo, 1996). Amber can be used as YAL which means that this is a text that can be suitable for teens to read because it includes many characteristics that belong to YAL.

Different researches have shown that nowadays students are reluctant to read the classics texts, so teachers can use short stories as supportive reading in class. This paper compares the story character’s behaviour and that of adolescents. It also proposes to use Amber from the point of view of YAL in the classroom to engage students in reading. 

In this story, a group of five girls decide to play Ouija in spite of the fact that it is considered a dangerous game. The girls begin to play late at night and the planchette begins to move spelling the word “help”. They have made contact with an eight- year-old girl called Amber who is asking for help while the planchette spells the words water, danger and Alabama. The girls want to call the 911 but it was too late because Amber had disappeared. The next morning the news announced that in that place there had been flash floods and a girl called Amber had died.

Through the short story Amber, teens can realize that sometimes adolescents have the impulse to face dangerous situations without taking into account the consequences. According to Koelling (2004) “teens in the 10th grade become physical risk takers. They seek adventure and a wide range of experiences”. Though Ouija is said to be a very dangerous game, the five girls decide to play it all the same. Koelling (2004) herself writes,” Teens like to explore the unfamiliar, they like to learn.” The narrator anticipates this situation with the following words: 

“Oh, you hear the stories about how dangerous Ouija boards are but hey- it’s just a game”.

The characters in the short story feel free to play but one of the characters goes through a very strange situation, 

“Suddenly, a kind of electric shock buzzed through my fingers. I gasped and tried to pull my fingers from the planchette, but they were stuck.”

Koelling emphasizes that when adolescents are about 14 years old they are asserting independence, developing personal beliefs of right and wrong and will challenge other’s beliefs. These kinds of situations happen among adolescents in real life because in spite of knowing what is right and wrong they want to explore the limits.

During adolescence, many aspects of human beings are developed. In Profesor Robert Havighurst’s view, “to embrace a personal value system and demonstrate mature behaviour are some of the aspects that lead teens to adulthood”. (as cited in Koelling, 2004). The characters of the short story show a mature behaviour when they discover that they have made contact with a girl who is in problems while playing Ouija. They try to help her immediately calling the 9-1-1. They are really worried as it is expressed in the following example:

“Call 9-1-1, Mary cried suddenly. Quick, Amber is in danger”.

As mentioned previously, adolescence is the moment of life when the values that teens have acquired from childhood are challenged. Gail De Vos (2003) states, “young adults remold these values until they have established a value system that reflects the person who they are becoming”.

It’s important for EFL teachers to engage students in reading by means of stories that are meaningful for them. Gail De Vos is right in that “through stories young adults are able to try out their own fantasies without experiencing real life consequences”. In the short story Amber, the character has a new and risky experience playing Ouija. Teenagers can experiment the same feelings as the characters’ by reading this short story.

As mentioned previously, the short story Amber can be suitable to be read in the classroom because it shows how adolescents can behave in a dangerous game situation. This story can be a mirror where students can be reflected and, in that way, enjoy the reading. 

Adolescents and the characters of the short story Amber have many similitudes in their behaviour. Taking into account that adolescents seek adventure and new experiences, this ghost story can fulfil these needs. Teachers can take advantage of the interest that this short story produces in the adolescents to engage them in reading.

References

• De Vos, G (2003) Storytelling for Young Adults: A Guide to Tales for Teens. Westport, TC: Libraries Unlimited.
• Koelling, H (2004) Turning Teens on to Great Literature Westport, T C Libraries Unlimited.
• Herz, S & Gallo, D (1996), From Hilton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and The Classics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
• Tingle, H, Moore, D, Miller, and G (2005) Spooky Texas. Texas Tech University Press.

DANCING WITH THE DEVIL: An analysis based on some aspects concerning the adolescent stage

by Guadalupe Bustingorri

During the adolescent stage changes appear as regards feelings and physical appearance. There is also a powerful search for personal identity and peers´ acceptance, plus the fact that sexual issues are strongly present. DANCING WITH THE DEVIL, a Texas ghost story retold by S. E. Schlosser (2010), deals with the previously mentioned matters. 

This ghost story tells about a teenage girl who is eager to go to the high school dance against her mother´s wishes, since she believes that the dance was meant to be done for the Devil. Without caring about her religious mother´s refusal, the girl decides to run away in order to enjoy the grand ball. She goes wonderfully dressed so that everybody turns around to look at her for the very first time, even the handsomest guy she has even seen in her life. Finally, this good-looking man takes her to hell.

In this paper, I aim to demonstrate that DANCING WITH THE DEVIL may be appealing and perfectly suitable for young adult readers, since it might make them feel identified with its character and her behaviour towards seeking their own personal identity when thinking about their actions and feelings. Apart from that, teenagers may notice and see the changes in her appearance, which are observable in the adolescent stage.

Teenagers aspire to find their own personal identity and they seem to need the approval of their peers in order to feel they belong to a particular group. According to Professor Robert Havighurst (as cited in Koelling, 2004), teens develop identity and create healthy and useful relationships with peers. In addition to this, teen people start rejecting the authority of their parents or any adult in charge of them.

It is worth noticing at this point what Aguirre (1974) suggests, “the identity crisis has two faces: one of them is personal and individual and the other one is social. The first one is characterized by the affirmation of the ego, and the second one by the rebellion against the whole adult values system.”

As it can be seen in the following extract, the main character of DANCING WITH THE DEVIL, is determined to go to the dance. She does not really care about what her mother says about it. The girl is rejecting her mother´s opinion secretly. Apart from this, she is trying to get the approval of her peers. It is the kind of social acceptance that she has been waiting for.

“The girl was so excited about the dance. She had bought a brand new, sparkly red dress for the dance. It was going to be the best evening of her life. Then her mother came in the house, looking pale and determined…"You are not going to that dance," her mother said. The girl nodded as if she accepted her mother's words. But she was determined to go to the dance. As soon as her mother was busy, she put on her brand new red dress and ran down to the K.C. Hall where the dance was being held… As soon as she walked into the room, all the guys turned to look at her. She was startled by all the attention. Normally, no one noticed her. Her mother sometimes accused her of being too awkward to get a boyfriend.… But she was not awkward that night. The boys in her class were fighting with each other to dance with her.” 

Many aspects as regards the adolescent stage are recognizable in the previous extract. To start with, in S. E. Schlosser´s retold story, the idea of self identity, authority rejection and peers´ acceptance seem to be reflected. Teenagers are able to work out their own actions in their actual lives. 

Physical appearance is a key factor during adolescent stage, which is characterized by hormonal and physical changes. Teens are in a constant fight with their bodies. Basically, they compete among themselves and with their own selves. Physical attraction and sexuality awake throughout this growing period in every human´s life.  Koelling (2004) states that adolescents experience wild physical changes and that there is a strong focus on relationships with the opposite sex. 

In the following extract taken from DANCING WITH THE DEVIL, the previously named concerns may be seen: 

“The boys in her class were fighting with each other to dance with her… When she turned, she saw a handsome man with jet black hair and clothes standing next to her. "Dance with me," he said. She managed to stammer a "yes", completely stunned by this gorgeous man”

This example allows the reader to view just from the very beginning the important role of competition. This fact is connected with physical and sexual attraction. Sometimes, teenagers not only compete in order to gain popularity, respect or acceptance, but they may compete with their looks. Going deeper in these issues, teenage readers might feel identified when seeing themselves in any similar situation.  

When analyzing this story, the readers can appreciate why the adolescent stage is so complicated. Stories can serve as a great and potent mirror which reflects the actual teenagers´ situations on the fictional ones, so that young adult readers are able to enjoy the reading of the story meanwhile they are feeling characterized with the characters described in it. As G. De Vos (2003) argues, young adult readers enjoy reading about topics connected with their lives just because they might feel identified or simply because the topics are common and understandable for them.

It is possible to suggest that DANCING WITH THE DEVIL matched perfectly well with the demands of any teenage reader. Teenagers may feel tremendously identified with the feelings, actions, authority rejection and search for personal identity of the main character. In the educational field and, of course, in the classroom, students can discuss about all the issues which have been already mentioned. By reading this story, young adult readers may take advantage of the main character´s actions and decisions, basically because students might feel identified with her and, what is more important, they might start thinking about their own beliefs and values.  A distinction between what is wrong and what is right may be perceived by the students. Their world-views may be also affected, reshaped or rethought considering that, in the course of the adolescent stage, teenagers are building their own system of values. Moreover, they are shaping and forming their identities and personalities inside a particular community. DANCING WITH THE DEVIL has a profound impact on adolescents because its main character is a teenage girl who goes through and deals with ordinary and understandable situations for teenagers. This story, without detours, raises and highlights the attitudes, actions and issues concerning the adolescent stage. 

References

• S. E. Schlosser. (2010). Dancing with the Devil. http://a8mericanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/dancing_with_the_devil.html
• Koelling. (2004). Make sense of Teens as Growing People and as Readers.
• R. Havighurst. (2004). Make sense of Teens as Growing People and as Readers.
• G. De Vos. (2003). Storytelling and the Young Adult.

YAL and the cultural connection: using the tall tale “The Birth of Pecos Bill” as a starting point to reflect upon values and traditions

by Angélica Santi 

Now, everyone knows Pecos Bill was the best,
The neatest cowboy in all the West.
But Bill was also the tidiest, cleanest,
The plain best dressed
Hombre to wear a well-pressed vest
Of buckskin on his manly chest.
Pecos Bill was the best,
The best in the West.
(from “Pecos Bill Cleans Up the West)

Throughout history people have told stories about their heroes. In America, tall tales were first told by settlers who made their homes in the American wilderness. According to the Oklahoma Children’s Theatre,  

A tall tale is a special kind of hero story because the heroes of tall tales are "larger than life". They are bigger or stronger than real people. They solve problems in ways that are hard to believe. This makes tall tales fun to read. Each group of workers-cowboys, loggers, railroad and steel workers-had its own tall-tale hero. Having a superhuman hero with the same job somehow made their lives easier. Perhaps it gave them strength or courage to do their difficult and dangerous work. (Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, 2006) 

Pecos Bill, a heroic cowboy born in the 1830’s out of the imagination of southwestern people, is one of the most famous American legends that passed on through generations in the oral tradition. As many oral tall tales from an unknown author it was later retold by S. E. Schlosser, an American author who loves storytelling and has produced and developed a website devoted exclusively to American Folklore. Among the most beloved folk characters, Pecos Bill is a favourite to many of those people who dared to venture into the wild. “The Birth of Pecos Bill” in particular, tells the story of Bill, a young cowboy, who is born the last of eighteen children to a Texas pioneer. As soon as he learns to crawl, he has the misfortune to fall down from his parents’ wagon when they are crossing the Pecos River. He is brought up by coyotes and truly believes he is one of them. He grows to be so tough a baby that he uses a knife as a teething ring and also plays with other wild animals. Sixteen years later he is found by his brother, who has to convince him that he is human. Having achieved that, they return to civilization.  In later tales, he takes part in many adventures,

“…teaching gophers to dig postholes, killing snakes by feeding them mothballs filled with red pepper and nitroglycerin, and roping whole herds of cattle at a time. He rode everything in the West, including a mountain lion and a cyclone. He invented the branding iron to stop cattle rustling and the cowboy song to soothe the cattle.”(as cited in “Pecos Bill”, The Handbook of Texas Online, 2011)

Bill’s story continues to develop and he even gets married to a girl called Slue-Foot Sue, who is as determined as him. To end the saga, Pecos Bill's death is controversial. Whether he dies drinking a mixture of fishhooks with whiskey and nitroglycerin or laughing at men who called themselves cowboys he still exists in cowboy folklore as an extreme example of resistance, courage and creativity to solve problematic situations that develop in cowboys’ typical lives. Although the standard way of thinking about tall tales and legends is that they are part of children’s literature, this particular saga is starred by a teenager-like character, a typical feature of Young Adult Literature. It can be used in the ESL classroom to raise awareness of traditions and values, simultaneously entertaining readers. This well-known hero can be inspiring to teenagers who are always looking for a role-model while having fun.

Folklore, tall tales and YAL

Defining Young Adult Literature is not an easy task. The dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Radford University, Robert C. Small studied the books that attracted teenagers during 1920s-1950s and was able to summarize some characteristics that appear in them. According to Small (as cited in Herz and Gallo, 1996), some characteristics that are unique to Young Adult Novels are:

• The main character is a teenager.

• The main character is the centre of the plot.

• The teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature and independent.

• The actions and decisions of the main characters are major factors in the outcome of the conflict.

In “The Birth of Pecos Bill”, he is sixteen years old when he is found by his brother [after having fell down from his parents’ wagon when he had just learnt to crawl]

“Pecos Bill plumb forgot all about his real family, until the day he turned sixteen and his older brother came along... The ol' cowpoke took one look at Pecos Bill and knew he'd found his long-lost brother...” (Lines 17-21)

Holly Koelling, a referent in YA literature points out that most teenagers at 16 have not yet constructed an image of themselves, that’s why they experiment mood changes and can have sudden reactions. According to her, they can 

“often place themselves in the hero’s role and fantasize about it, which can produce an idealism that leads to a positive action in life or an idealism that mistakenly produces a sense of strength and immunity to the consequences of life… they can be emotionally mercurial, rapidly changing from a mature calm to juvenile display…”(Koelling, 2004)

Depicting a typical reaction of a teenager, Pecos Bill does not agree with his long-lost brother at once. He refutes the claim that he is his brother more than once,

“‘See here, ain't you Pecos Bill, my little brother?’ demanded the cowpoke of Pecos Bill when he came jumping over a giant log to run about in the field and howl at the full moon.
‘Don't think so,’ said Pecos Bill. ‘I'm a coyote! Listen to me howl!’ Pecos Bill let out a horrendous shout and scampered about the field on all fours. He scared the herd so bad that the long horns almost stampeded.
‘You stop that!’ Bill's brother shouted after he got the cattle calmed down. ‘And tell me this; how come you ain't got a long bushy tail if you're a coyote.’
That was a tricky question. Pecos Bill thought about it for a long time.
‘I got fleas,’ he volunteered. ‘And I howl at the moon!’
‘Everybody in Texas has fleas and howls at the moon. That ain't no excuse,’ said his big brother. ‘Anyhow, you can walk upright like a normal person and you can talk too. That ain't what a coyote does.’
‘I guess you're right,’ said Pecos Bill.” (Lines 22-35)

Pecos Bill’s actions are also essential in the resolution of the various conflicts that develop in the story, as this passage demonstrates,

“Pecos Bill began to realize that the cowboys needed some new tricks to help them cope with them stubborn longhorns…so Pecos Bill invented the branding iron…Then he noticed that the other cowboys were having trouble making the wilder cows behave… so he invented the lasso to help them tame the wild cows.”

The sensitivity and drive that Bill shows by inventing these devices can be very appealing to teenagers, as it is acknowledged in Small’s work, as well as the fact that by inventing them Bill is helping his cowboy friends to solve many conflictive situations I the different stories.

Considering the points stated above, “The Birth of Pecos Bill” can be considered YAL literature as it contains many features that make it appealing to teenagers. 

Traditional Values and Cultural Awareness 

“A tall tale, by definition, is a story that the narrator himself does not believe but which is supposed to fool the naïve listener. In the United States, tall tales were passed on to the city dweller in a straight-faced manner for the purpose of presenting ‘true’ pictures of life in the nineteenth century Wild West... Tall tales achieve their comic effect by illustrating the incongruity between sober narration and fantastic and exaggerated elements in the stories themselves. They often feature two protagonists whose character traits are frequently interchangeable: the Roarer, a bragging, swearing, hard-drinking brawler; and the Yankee, a quick-thinking trader who is a rogue beneath a bland exterior. Although most of these stories feature a hero, some of them merely describe phenomena, such as corn that grows so fast it knocks people down, or food that rains down from the sky. An essential trait of tall tales--and all folk literature--is their diffusion. These tales are spread from one generation to another by word of mouth, and eventually, they are recorded” (as cited in Kotarba, 2001)

Folklore and tall tales often provide opportunity for discussion and thinking, and also for comparison, both with another story or historical event or with a current situation a student is undergoing. Young (2004) indicates that "traditional literature has served to educate about the creation of the world, the history of its people, and the moral values a particular culture holds dear…In the past, traditional stories were once presented to adult (and sometimes child) audiences, but they have become a major part of children's literature during the 19th and 20th centuries…. The criterion for selecting a traditional tale might depend on the reader or audience who would be enjoying the tale…” (as cited in Rice, A and Liang, A.). 

The dialogues in “The Birth of Pecos Bill” depict the traditional way in which pioneers used to speak. For example, 

"See here, ain't you Pecos Bill, my little brother?"
…
"You stop that!"…"And tell me this; how come you ain't got a long bushy tail if you're a coyote."
…
"I got fleas," he volunteered. "And I howl at the moon!"
"Everybody in Texas has fleas and howls at the moon. That ain't no excuse," ... "Any how, you can walk upright like a normal person and you can talk too. That ain't what a coyote does."
…
"'Course I'm right. I'm your big brother and I outta know,"...
"It's about time you stopped foolin' around on the prairie and became a cowboy like all the rest of us."

There is also a cultural connection through the different events that occur in the story. An example of this is that Pecos Bill is raised by coyotes, a species that is typical of the southwestern region. He also invents the branding iron and the lasso to help the cowboys deal with the stubborn bulls, which are everyday activities for the people living in the same region.

Literacy Development through YAL

It is a common belief that YAL “has the potential to soften the resistance of students who have decided that they have no need of literature, or for that matter, no need of school”(White, 2000). In order to get students to read anything, teachers should be able to choose the most motivating pieces of literature that fit within their curriculum design. Taking that into account, a successful result can be expected as adolescents often react in a positive way to literature that fits within the YA rationale (Featherstone, 2009). 

Discussion

Covering many of the standard YAL characteristics, the use of “The Birth of Pecos Bill” with pedagogical purposes will offer an excellent opportunity to engage adolescents in reading for pleasure as well as exploring values and traditions because it provides action and entertainment, using a young character to depict customs and regional traditions. 

Many of the activities that Pecos Bill is engaged in, such as dealing with messy bulls or helping cowboys in their daily routine, depict in a humorous way the typical harsh life that southwestern people had to go through at the beginning of the nineteenth century. To reflect upon this will give students an opportunity to relate to History, when comparing the different ways of life then and now, or to Geography, while talking about the different animals that inhabit this region as well as its climate and topographical characteristics. It can also be used to point out the different values that are portrayed in the story: courage, creativity, assertiveness, independence, and the not-so-good attitudes, such as the lack of fear.

Essentially, by being entertaining and packed with action, “The Birth of Pecos Bill” can be an interesting story to be used in the ESL classroom. Encompassing YA literature features, an enjoyable and stimulating character and curricula-connected content this story can become a useful tool for teachers and an inspiration to students. 

References

• Featherstone, Kate (2009). “The Transforming Power of Young Adult Literature”. The ALAN Review, Volume 37, Number 1, p. 7-11.
• Handbook of Texas Online "PECOS BILL," at http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lxp01. Retrieved October 8, 2011. Texas State Historical Association.
• Koelling, H. (2004) Make sense of teens as growing people and as readers. Classic Connections: Turning Teens onto Great Literature. Westport CT.
• Kotarba, Polly (2001). “American Tall Tales: Values and Videos” at http://hti.math.uh.edu/curriculum/units/2001/02/01.02.04.pdf. Retrieved October 12, 2011. Houston Teachers Institute.
• Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, “Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede” at http://www.okchildrenstheatre.com/Pecos Bill.pdf. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
• Rice, Amie, Liang, Angel, “Choosing High Quality Children's Literature/Traditional Literature” at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Choosing_High_Quality_Children's_Literature/Traditional_Literature. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
• White, Elaine J. (2000). "Young Adult Literature as a Key to Literacy." The ALAN Review, Volume 27, Number 3, p. 52-54.

Engaging teens in reading stories in the classroom: a comparison between teen experiences and the protagonist of the story Cow’s head

by Patricia De La LLera

“Oksana lived in a small house on the edge of her town with her father, her stepmother and her stepsister. Oksana’s stepmother disliked Oksana favouring her true daughter Olena.” 

The ghost short story Cow’s head shows an adolescent’s experience through Oksana’s life. This story can be considered as Young Adult Literature (YAL) taking into account Small’s characteristics of YAL (1996). This type of literature can be appealing for adolescents because they can identify themselves with the” adolescent main character who is the centre of the plot”. Small also distinguishes that “a young adult story should include problems in the plot related to teenagers”. Apart from that, “the main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature and independent”. (as cited in Hertz&Gallo,1996).

Cow’s head is a Ukrainian ghost story whose author is unknown. This story is about an adolescent girl called Oksana that has a stepmother who hates her and asks her husband to send Oksana to the woods where she is left in an old cottage. She experiences a crucial situation in which she has to survive searching for food and she also has to overcome her fears when she has to face the cow’s head. This is a strange creature that resembles the head of a cow which asks her for food and a place to sleep near the fire. Oksana accepts to help it. The following morning she realizes that the cow’s head has disappeared but it has left jewels for her.

Sometimes stories can reflect adolescent’s experiences as it happens in Cow’s head. This essay will compare the character’s experiences and those of adolescents’ in order to propose that Cow’s head can be appealing for adolescents in the classroom.

“Cow’s head” deals with real-life situations that adolescents experience in their lives. These shared situations can be used as an instrument to involve students with the story. 

Life is made up by both pleasant and sad situations.  Adolescence is a stage in human lives where drastic changes happen. As Koelling (2004) states,” changes are not just physical, they ‘re emotional, psychological and intellectual”.  Adolescents begin to face different problematic situations in their families, such as confronting with parents and having unpredictable behaviour due to their growing up process to adulthood.  In the story “Cow’s head”, the adolescent Oksana goes through unpleasant situations at home because her stepmother has hard feelings towards her. The following example shows Oksana facing a disagreeable circumstance at home:

“Oksana lived in a small house on the edge of her town with her father, her stepmother and her stepsister. Oksana’s stepmother disliked Oksana favouring her true daughter Olena.” 

Nowadays, adolescents have to face difficult relationship in family mainly with parents with whom they confront. Koelling is right that “adolescents are openly rebellious with adults and often believe their parents interfering in their well-being “(Koelling,2004).

Adolescents like freedom, especially from their families. This desire of autonomy, make them take their own decisions making them decide about what is right or wrong, no matter what kind of situation they have to go through and the results they get. 

Koelling states, “teens desire freedom from family. They are asserting independence, developing personal beliefs of right and wrong”(Ibid). In the story “Cow’s head”, the teen main character has to confront a crucial situation in which she has to survive in the woods because she is an independent girl now. The story shows what she has to do to survive in the woods:

“She entered to the cottage with her small bundle and found a fireplace, a lopsided table and a rusty old pot. Oksana put away the loaf of bread, the knife and the slab of cheese her father had given her. She folded the blanket and laid near the fireplace. Then she collected wood and built a fire. Oksana knew the bread and cheese would not last her all winter. So she made a snare using the thin, flexible branches of the trees and caught a snow rabbit to eat. She also dug under the deep snow, and found some roots and berries for food.”

Adolescence is a transition between childhood and adulthood. Sometimes teens have to face situations in which they have no experience so they have to overcome difficulties and try to solve them as they can. Dealing with these situations, adolescents construct their own personality through time and little by little this leads them to independence. In Koelling’s view, “each individual develops at his or her own pace, and that development is dependent on many factors: cultural values and individual personality, to name a few, but that development takes place within a larger construct.”(Koelling,2004)

It is important to mention that Cow’s head can be an enjoyable reading to use in the classroom because students need stories that help them to develop their own ways of solving problems. Amey (2003) makes reference to the use of short stories as YAL because “this type of story aids adolescents on their journey to maturity. Throughout the story, teens can fulfil some of the special adolescents’ needs as well as the characters’. These special needs include the need to belong, the need to experience responsibility, the need to establish a self- concept and the need to communicate with adults” (as cited in Gail De Vos, 2003). The fact that there are similarities between adolescents’ experiences and those of the characters’ allows students to identify themselves with the story and feel engaged in reading.

Attracting the interest of students in reading is not an easy task to carry out in class. Teachers can take advantage of cow’s head which offers the possibility to use it in an enjoyable way in the classroom. If this proposal is carried out in the classroom, reading will be an engaging activity for students. 

REFERENCES

• De Vos, Gail (2003) “Storytelling for Young Adults. A Guide to Tales for Teens”. Westport, CT, Libraries Unlimited.
• Koelling, Holly (2004) “Classic Connections: Turning Teens on the Great Literature”. Westport, CT, Libraries Unlimited

“Amber” a tool for encouraging teenage reluctant readers

by Florencia Villaverde

Teenagers are often reluctant to read certain kind of stories, especially those which had nothing in common with their own lives. On the other hand, they enjoy reading stories that deal with real life events that are related to their own experiences. Young Adult Literature offers teenagers between the ages of 12 and 20 a wide range of stories that contain several characteristics that make them appealing to teenagers. The content of Young Adult stories usually deal with contemporary issues and the language and plot of these stories are similar to what teenagers are accustomed to find in everyday life. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the story Amber, which is a Texas ghost story excerpted from “Spooky Texas” and retold by S.E. Schlosse, and to compare its features with the ones included in the definition of Young Adult Literature coined by Small, so as to prove that this story does contain all the characteristics mentioned by Small and can be used to attract teenage readers. 

According to Small, there are certain characteristics that are specific to YAL. Some of them are that the main character is a teenager, the events and problems in the plot are related to teenagers, the main character is the center of the plot, dialogues in the story reflect teenage speech, the point of view presents an adolescent´s interpretation of events and people, the teenage main character is usually  perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature, and independent, the novel or story is relatively short and the actions and decisions of the main characters are major factors in the outcome of the conflict. 

The story Amber tells the experiences of four teenagers who decide to play with the Ouija board at night. They start playing and make contact with a little girl who asks for help. They try to help her but it is worthwhile. This story can be considered as a case of YAL because it contains all the characteristics listed by Small. 

As regards the characters in the story, we can infer that they are teenagers because the plot of the story deals with the Ouija game which is usually related to teenagers.  Teenagers often feel attracted to this kind of games because they are risky. 

Moreover, the point of view of the story presents an adolescent´s interpretation of events and people as the narrator is a teenager who included herself in the story. 

“Mary waited until midnight to begin our little game, and the four of us—Sarah, Jessie, me, and, Mary, started by asking all kinds of silly questions.”

Besides, the characters are perceptive, mature, independent and sensitive. We can realize this in the following excerpt of the story:

“Call 9-1-1,” Mary cried suddenly. “Quick. Amber is in danger.”

The characters in the story show a mature behavior as they insist in calling the 911 urgently to help the little girl. They also show that they are sensitive as they worry about her. 

What is more, the actions and decisions of the main characters are essential in the outcome of the story as the four teenagers decide to play a dangerous game and do not take into consideration the consequences.

Besides, the story is really short, just a page and a half. It is one of the characteristics pointed by Small as relevant to Young Adult Literature because teenagers prefer reading short stories or novels. 

Taking into account everything, we can say that Amber is a case of YAL since it contains the characteristics listed by Small. These characteristics make Amber a good option to be presented to reluctant teenage readers because they will feel represented in the story and will enjoy reading it. 

“Boo Hag”: a Folk Tale Under Critical Reading and Thinking in the EFL Classroom.

by Karina Moreschi

“I think it was very scary and intresting at the same time. I live in sweden and are oundering where you can buy this book about boo-hangs and the other scary stuff. Once again this is the best story I,Ve heard for many years.” (Anonymous post accessed October 2011)[Original Spelling]
“My friends coming over this weekend and I live on a farm here in PA. This weekend Im going to set the tent up out in the wheat field with only the light of the stars to let us see and Im going to tell me friend this story, I dont know what he's gonna do, I have known him to scare easily he he he ....” (Anonymous post accessed October 2011)[Original spelling]

These comments posted on a website refer to the story “Boo Hag”, a tale taken from “Spooky North Carolina”, retold by S.E Schlosser on the website americanfolklore.net (2011). They show the attraction that horror stories produce among young adults. According to the research carried out by Gonzalez &Mores chi (2011), “Horror” is the most popular election as regards literary genres among adolescents in Argentina.  “Boo Hag” tale includes a young adult protagonist, suspense, black magic and fantasy as its main ingredients, which turn this story into a successful election for young adults’ classroom. The purpose of this paper is to explore how “Boog Hag” can be used as a reading strategy in order to encourage critical reading and thinking in the EFL’s classroom. Critical reading refers to a careful, active, reflective, analytic reading. Critical thinking involves reflecting on the validity of what you have read in light of the prior knowledge and understanding of the world (Kurland, 2000).

Theoretical Framework. Critical Reading and Critical Thinking 

Most of the time, the types of readings carried out in classroom involve some kind of reading comprehension activity, with exercises concerning multiple choice or true or false activities that require the students work within a pre-determined activity. In other words this is what Daniel Kurland,(2000) defines as “non- critical or pre-critical reading concerning with recognizing what a text says about the topic, with the presentation of a sequence of thoughts, to understand the information, ideas, and opinions stated within the text”. At this point it is worthwhile to define critical. According to Kurland, (2000) he states that being critical implies acting with rationality, self-awareness, honesty, open-mindedness, discipline and judgement. The same author makes a distinction between critical reading and critical thinking. "Critical reading is a technique for discovering information and ideas within a text”, whereas “critical thinking is a technique for evaluating information and ideas, for deciding what to accept and believe” (ibid). In the previously mentioned concepts, the key words are “discovering” and “evaluating”. They imply that while critical reading refers to a “careful, active, analytic reading” critical thinking alludes to “reflecting on the validity of what have been read in the light of our prior knowledge and understanding of the world”. Through the analysis of “Boo Hag” tale it is expected that the acts of “discovering” and “evaluating” can be accomplished by EFL’s students.   A concept that it is close connected to critical reading and thinking is ideology. It is defined as “the particular framework of knowledge that is tied to social power and may be manifested in language” (Pennycook, 2001). Using “Boog Hag” in the EFL’s classroom will lead the students to think about the context of the story, to reflect upon what is portrayed in it; customs, roles, stereotypes, values, which characters are shown in a positive or negative role, what values are displayed.

Boo Hag in the EFL’s classroom under critical reading and thinking analysis

Boo Hag narrates the story of Bobby Hansen, a young boy lucky with cards, but unfortunate in love. Bobby was mighty discouraged because of his misfortune love matters. But this situation did not last forever. Lately, Bobby met a girl to whom he marries. But their marriage is a strange one, because of his wife’s weird behaviour. The story deals with the Boo Hag course. The Boog Hag is a shape-shifter witch that lures men into her trap and then delivers them to her Boo-Daddy, who eats their flesh and gnaws their bones. Bobby copes with this  course with the help of a course woman, who advised him to get  some blue paint to spread it on every window frame and every door frame, because a Boo-hag could not fly through a window or door that was painted blue. And if she did not get back into her skin before dawn, she would be trapped without it, and be revealed the monster she was. Then he was to fill up her skin with salt and pepper, which would burn her up from the inside out, in order to get rid of her at last. After overcame the course Bobby became a bachelor again.

Critical reading and thinking and ideology in Boo Hag. 

Critical reading and thinking are “designed to show what to look for (analysis) and how to think about what is found (inference),” respectively (ibid). In the case of “Boo Hag”, many issues can be put under consideration.

Parental & filial relationship:

“They worked together in the family grocery store, and Bobby would sometimes sit on top of the pickle barrel and tell his Pa all his woes.”
“Seems she had this daughter who was hankering after a husband with a good steady job, and the old woman thought Bobby would do the job nicely

In order to have a critical view of the tale, students will have to think about the context of the story to make connections and reflect upon the relationships presented. The two parental and filial relationships are portrayed showing opposition between them. The father and son relationship is presented in a positive way that is to say within the constraints of the western cannon, with a male dominant society, with a loving father pursuing his son’s happiness. On the other hand, the mother and daughter relationship is shown in a negative way, according to the same social constraints described above, only based in the mother’s anxiety for marrying his daughter. These description evidence a male view. An alternative activity to encourage in the classroom could be deconstruct the story and rebuilt it from a woman’s perspective. 

Women’s role and women’s stereotypes:

“...the old woman who poled her barge through the swamp to deliver milk and eggs to the grocery store...”
“His wife was sweet and pretty and loving. She kept the house sparkling clean and cooked him wonderful meals”
“The conjure woman knew all about hoodoo magic and was an excellent herbalist”.

The women’s role and stereotype show the place that women occupy in western society in the early twenty century. They do the less qualified jobs as the ones described in the story, such as selling in unfavourable circumstances or relegated to obscure practices. It is also described the expected role of a housewife with the accessories of sweetness, prettiness and loveliness. A suggested debate to encourage in class could be about to what extend the women’s role and stereotype portrayed are operating in the social context of the students. 

Men’s role:

“He was the best poker player in the county, but somehow he couldn’t find himself a bride.”
“But bachelorhood looked much better to him after that, and he never went looking for a wife again. ‘Course, after he made a pile of money in oil, the girls started chasing him. But that’s another story!” 

In this story the male point of view is evidenced in the fact that male character performs the main role, with positive attributes, which have the strengths to overcome the course.  The male character is the one with active voice, whose story has a “happy end”.  In the case of this issue, a reflection to encourage is about the fact of women performing the men’s role in the story.

Religion & popular belief: 

“The visiting priest had gone on to his next parish, and there was no one they could consult but the local conjure woman.”

“Boog Hag” shows that religion and popular belief are perfectly combined. The main character appealed to both in the story. The idea of religion and popular belief is a sensitive issue close connected with ideology and critical literacy because of multiple positions that can be found within the classroom.

Folklore: 

“A boo-hag, the conjure woman said at once. “You’ve married a boo-hag.”  

Finally the inclusion of folkloric terms such as “Boog Hag” gives an ingredient that leads to inquire about cultural issues that might expand the world view of the students

The quotations previously mentioned are, according to Kurland, examples of “what to look for” and “how to think about what you find”. The first one implies those “aspects of discussion that control meaning”, and the second one requires inference or interpretation of the data within the text. (ibid). The same author observes that critical reading assumes that each author offers a portrayal of the topic, and critical reading relies on an examination of the choices made by the authors connected with content, language, and structure, that affects meaning. (ibid)

Conclusion: 

There are many points that can be extracted from “discovering” and “evaluating”. “Boo Hag” has proved to be a good election for the EFL’s classroom. By applying critical reading and thinking as a strategy, students can find within the text what lies beyond the words; values, stereotypes, habits, belief and also the ideology that is found critically.  Fostering this strategy in the classroom will allow the students to understand their readings from a different point of view.

References:

• Accessed on October 2011:  http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/05/boo_hag.html
• Daniel J. Kurland, (2000) http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_reading_thinking.htm
• Florencia Gonzalez & Karina Moreschi, (2011) Young Adult’s Reading: A Research About Their Preferences.
• Pennycook, Alistair (2001) Critical Applied Linguistic: A Critical Introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.