Designing a Reading Curriculum to Teach the Concept of Empathy to Middle Level Learners

Postmodern forms of young adult literature encourage readers to not only question and challenge the status quo but to implement changes to the world around them.—Realistic YA fiction works like Wonder by R.J. Palacio and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie are no exception to this phenomenon.—Both push young readers to view people with disabilities and people from unfortunate economic circumstances from empathetic rather than sympathetic perspectives.—Realistic picturebooks, specifically ones that explore concepts of disabilities and social class, also play a role in classrooms with older children. Works like—Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting and Keeping Up With Roo by Sharlee Mullins Glenn both address social class and disabilities but do so in a potentially superficial—and stereotypical way. This does not mean that such works are without value in upper-age classrooms since they provide a basic introduction to these concepts.—This article takes on four separate and brief studies that discuss how the selection of the aforementioned texts can speak to students who have been ostracized by—the schools they attend. Each section analyzes themes, ideologies, representations of accuracy and authenticity, and classroom applications to illustrate how the—careful selection of realistic fiction can lead to quality instruction.