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The Way Home is a full-length young adult novel. The story is split between the perspectives of Theo and Ella, best friends from high school who are starting their freshman year in college. Neither is extremely excited about the start of the new phase of their lives; Theo struggles with

The Way Home is a full-length young adult novel. The story is split between the perspectives of Theo and Ella, best friends from high school who are starting their freshman year in college. Neither is extremely excited about the start of the new phase of their lives; Theo struggles with severe anxiety and is just hoping to survive the four years; and dark memories in Ella's past don't seem to want to let her start over. A series of murders happening in town don't help their nerves at all, making it hard to focus on the "college experience." They were supposed to be there for each other... But then Ella goes missing, and Theo is left without a clue of where she went. While he searches for her desperately, she wakes up miles away from home, surrounded by strangers. In their efforts to find one another again, they instead find themselves presented with opportunities to study the impossible: magic. Things become stranger and stranger as murders, magic, police investigations, and ever-looming final exams begin to challenge Theo and Ella in ways they never expected. In writing this novel, I hoped to depict the transition from high school to college and the worries and wonders that come with it. The story is almost split directly in half, beginning with normal school life and shifting into the world of magic. The conflicts presented to the characters during the first half, such as grades, majors, and socializing, persist throughout the second half, but are also metaphorized once the characters begin studying magic. I chose to include a protagonist with an anxiety disorder because I believe mental disabilities are not represented enough in YA literature, though it is something that many high school and college students deal with. I wanted to create a character that could inform others and that students with similar mental disorders could relate to. Additional themes I deal with include newfound independence, individuality, growth, and friendship.
ContributorsWoner, Catherine Flynn (Author) / Blasingame, James (Thesis director) / Irish, Jennifer (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
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Description
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series has revolutionized the young adult publishing industry. So popular are the Potter books that they have managed to spawn an empire of merchandise, scholarly literature, movies, and even a theme park, suggesting that Harry Potter is more than just a children's book. In fact, The

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series has revolutionized the young adult publishing industry. So popular are the Potter books that they have managed to spawn an empire of merchandise, scholarly literature, movies, and even a theme park, suggesting that Harry Potter is more than just a children's book. In fact, The Harry Potter books, although often categorized under children's literature, contain many elements that make a book distinctly young adult; therefore, by conducting a rhetorical analysis of Rowling's first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, this thesis will delve deeper into the specifics of theme, literary elements, rhetorical devices, plot, marketing, and characterization to analyze, on a basic level, why Rowling's books appeal to so many, and why they are quintessentially young adult.
ContributorsMarshall, Haley Jung Ae (Author) / Hattenhauer, Darryl (Thesis director) / Fazio, Marsha (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
At Arizona State University the retention rate is a problem. On one hand, students come to take advantage of the great opportunities a large school facilitates, such as internship opportunities and a variety of courses. On the other hand, being at such a large school can leave students overwhelmed and

At Arizona State University the retention rate is a problem. On one hand, students come to take advantage of the great opportunities a large school facilitates, such as internship opportunities and a variety of courses. On the other hand, being at such a large school can leave students overwhelmed and lost; students do not view ASU as "their school." This thesis explores a unique and very possible solution to this problem. Through a creative writing story merged with an online website and geo-cache treasure hunt, this thesis presents the history of ASU in an interactive and engaging way in order to foster the development of an inclusive community centered on school pride. Furthermore, through this piece of interactive literature, the first of its kind, researchers will be able to measure the direct impact of this story both qualitatively, based on community response, and quantitatively, based on the names recorded in the geo cache boxes.
ContributorsMurray, Shannon Elizabeth (Author) / Iwen, Michelle (Thesis director) / Facinelli, Diane (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2014-05
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Description
The changing student demographics of schools in the US offer opportunities to introduce new curriculum. Schools are seeing an increase in the diversity within classrooms, including an increase in the amount of students from other countries. This project discusses the potential benefits of introducing four specific Global Young Adult novels

The changing student demographics of schools in the US offer opportunities to introduce new curriculum. Schools are seeing an increase in the diversity within classrooms, including an increase in the amount of students from other countries. This project discusses the potential benefits of introducing four specific Global Young Adult novels to high school classrooms in hopes of achieving a more culturally-responsive classroom. These novels include: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Now Is the Time for Running by Michael Williams, Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman, and The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez. As there are many arguments for Global YA Literature, this project focuses on the themes of the novels and the implications for the classroom. From a thematic approach, these four novels offer insight into the fluid nature of culture, as the characters must balance different identities as they move around the world. These themes can be used to create dialogue between students on cultural identity and how cultural surroundings affect their identities. These novels can also give students a more empathetic approach as they encounter cultural differences, creating a better community within the classroom.
ContributorsBurbank, Nicole Lauren (Author) / Durand, Sybil (Thesis director) / Clark-Oakes, Angela (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description

This trans-disciplinary thesis questions how theories of generification are useful in clarifying misunderstood literature and the role of similar, f¬¬ormulaic narratives in literary business. It attempts to answer the question through four parts: defining generification and related business marketing topics; a literary case study centering on Frankenstein; a second case

This trans-disciplinary thesis questions how theories of generification are useful in clarifying misunderstood literature and the role of similar, f¬¬ormulaic narratives in literary business. It attempts to answer the question through four parts: defining generification and related business marketing topics; a literary case study centering on Frankenstein; a second case study on the poem “The Road Not Taken”; and, an application of the demonstrated ideas to Young Adult (YA) publishing trends of 2005-2015. The first section concludes that the presence of a formula, created through the theories of heroic journeys and archetypes, lends itself to generification in literary marketing as publishing houses attempt to find the next virally successful narrative. The first case study, focused on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, establishes the existence of generification throughout the work’s life, attributing the generification to her characterization of both Doctor and Creature as antiheroes, a purposeful overlap leading to centuries of misinterpretation. The second case study centers around Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”, concluding that in this situation generification greatly impacted both the legacy of the work and the image of the author. The section examines the role of Americanization in the confabulation of both the poem and the author, proving that the butchered interpretation greatly damages the reading of the poem. Finally, this paper takes the established concept of generification, along with related ideas such as narrative economics and formula fiction, and applies these ideas to an analysis of the YA publishing industry. It concludes that the simple existence of fandom culture creates a paradox: the fandom demands a constant stream of quality narratives, both inciting and rejecting any purposeful generification attempted on the part of the publishers.

ContributorsLineberry, Isabel Sealy (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Schmidt, Peter (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description

As of 2022, suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 12-24. For adolescents who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ communities, the rates of suicide contemplations and attempts are as high as four times more likely compared with their heterosexual or cisgender peers. As of

As of 2022, suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 12-24. For adolescents who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ communities, the rates of suicide contemplations and attempts are as high as four times more likely compared with their heterosexual or cisgender peers. As of 2022, 45% of LGBTQIA+ youths have contemplated suicide. LGBTQIA+ teens are also more likely to experience bullying and discrimination. Despite extensive research conducted by The Trevor Project pointing to the importance of representation in the media for these LGBTQIA+ teens, governors, state legislatures, and school boards around the United States have made it their mission to deny these teens access to literature that feature LGBTQIA+ characters. As of September 2022, one in four books that are banned across the country from school libraries contain LGBTQIA+ characters. In order to combat this lack of access to LGBTQIA+ Young Adult literature, I created a resource website that acts as a safe space for queer teens to explore literature that features teens who identify like they do. The purpose of my website is threefold. First, I aimed to create a joyous space for teens to discover LGBTQIA+ literature. Second, I provided resources and information about different sexualities and gender identities for anyone who might want more information on these topics. And third, I wanted to prove to website visitors that they are not alone, regardless of how they may be negatively treated at home or at school. To accomplish these three goals, I created specific pages on the website, such as book recommendation pages compiled with research of LGBTQIA+ YA books paired with my own knowledge and resource pages informed by outside research such as my hotlines, LGBTQIA+ terminology, statistics, and gender identity explained pages. I also include a handful of author interview pages, which highlight written interviews I conducted with a few critically acclaimed queer YA authors. I provide screenshots and explanations in the following pages.

ContributorsTomlinson, Jill (Author) / Blasingame, James (Thesis director) / Konigsberg, William (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor)
Created2022-12