Amy Pattee

Considering Popular Fiction and Library Practices of Recommendation: The Literary Status of “The Clique” and Its Historical Progenitors

The Clique, a contemporary popular series for girls, has been criticized in the popular and professional media but includes thematic content similar to some of the more lauded mid‐nineteenth‐century domestic fiction for girls. By making a formal comparison of this popular series with domestic fiction for girls (much of which is now considered “classic” literature), we can establish a tradition in girls’ writing more prevalent than perhaps has been thought and can, as we contrast the respective professional receptions of these works, consider how our selection practice is informed by a historically consistent and prescriptive impetus.

Mass Market Mortification: The Developmental Appropriateness of Teen Magazines and the Embarrassing Story Standard

Magazines created for teenage girls are effective because of their developmental appropriateness; the relationship developed between magazine and reader represents a distinct feminine space, while the demands of the text itself are appropriate to the analytic ability of the adolescent. The inclusion of the confessional “embarrassing story” column that has become the mainstay of the teen magazine is a unique example of the sympathetic space created between reader and text by the magazines. By examining theories of adolescent identity development and the implied effects of environment on self‐esteem building, we can investigate the influence of teen magazines and their “embarrassing stories” on adolescent girls and theorize the full impact of these texts. In addition, as we recognize magazine reading as a component of what Margaret Finders calls the “literate underlife,” we may begin to realize the benefit of collecting these periodicals in our public and school libraries.

Liberating Literacy: Uncovering the Ideology and Expanding the Practice

Literacy is a cultural common denominator. Not just our ability to read but how we read, what we read, and our reactions to our readings can affect our actions and determine our paths. The term “literacy” may indicate merely a set of skills, yet it implies something more complex. The methods and motives of literacy – what we choose to read, if we choose to read, and how we interpret what we read – are as much a part of literacy as the ability to decode. Literacy is a practice, an act that refers both to the applications of skills as well as the conditions under which these skills are applied. It is within this practice of literacy that we may find a variety of options for experience, each with its own culturally determined value. By examining how literacy is taught and how meaning-making and practice are modeled and encouraged, we may recognize a relationship between literacy and culture, between interpretation and experience. This analysis will lead us toward a theory of informed criticism, where popular texts and cultural knowledge are considered to be as valuable as a canonical education. As we examine literacy, a new question arises: will literacy liberate or control us?