Young Adult Literature: The Common Core Text Exemplars—A Worthy New Canon or Not?

This column evaluates the text exemplars found in Appendix B of the Common Core State Standards in terms of what role they will assume in classrooms, how the books were selected, and the inclusion and exclusion of particular works. Criticisms of the text exemplars related to five areas are addressed: 1) the over-inclusion of classics; 2) the lack of contemporary fiction and informational titles; 3) limited representation of multicultural titles; and 4) the lack of match between titles recommended for particular grade levels and existing grade-level curricula. The integration of text exemplars into the Common Core Curriculum Maps is cited as a means of identifying effective classroom uses for these titles.