WCU Youth Literatures and Cultures

03/31/2021

Our very own, Dr.Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez joins Dr. Sonia Rodriguez (LaGuardia Community College, CUNY) to talk about LUCI SOARS by Lulu Delacre for Latinos in Kid Lit
https://latinosinkidlit.com/2021/03/29/book-talk-luci-soars-by-lulu-delacre/?fbclid=IwAR3QQs88aXgQ2PMCpUs0z3qup29m91AijRamtzIIqP6wCttx47WEBlEzR

. Welcome to another Book Talk, which can be found on our new YouTube channel! Here, Dr. Sonia Rodriguez and Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez talk about LUCI SOARS by Lulu Delacre. Before you watch the video,…

03/11/2021

Country roads take me home to the place I belong…Wait…but who belongs in the country? Does y’all really mean all? In “Q***r in the Country: Reading the Rural in Q***r YA Literature,” students will analyze young adult literature and culture to understand the ways authors include and represent LGBTQ+ experiences of living in rural communities. From Taylor Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” to the comic Fun Home, this course promises to be full of y’alls and yee haws for everybody.
•
The complete course description reads:
Rural places in the United States have a reputation as sites unwelcoming to those who identify as LGBTQIA+. Despite this stereotype, a number of q***r bodies come of age and continue to live in rural areas in what critics have termed q***r anti-urbanism. Larger cultural discussions of rural spaces—particularly about Appalachia, the US South, and the Midwest—erase these q***r bodies and experiences.
•
This seminar explores representations of q***r rurality in young adult literature and culture to challenge a dominant narrative of urban q***rness found in LGBTQIA+ YA books. In this class we will read YA novels, comics, and poetry featuring q***r and trans protagonists, as well as consider cultural texts that represent adolescent q***r rurality, such as film, songs, music videos, and social media campaigns. Students interested in learning more about Dr. Vanfosson’s research interests and the topic of this seminar can visit the English Department’s website.

03/09/2021

Double, double toil and trouble! Dr. Aguiló-Pérez’s ENG 400 seminar, “Something Wicked: Witches in Youth Literature and Media” promises to be a wicked good time this fall! Grab your broomsticks and fly to your adviser to enroll in this bewitching course featuring some of your favorite and soon-to-be favorite witches in youth literature and culture!
°
The witch figure has long been the quintessential female villain. This has been the case in texts and media for young people. On the surface she is menacing and dangerous because she casts harmful spells and hurts children. But on a deeper level the witch is a threat to the stability of heteronormative and patriarchal societies, an outcast, and a vehicle for change. There is much to examine about witches when it comes to their depictions in youth literature and media. This course offers a study of the development of witches, from evil and dangerous, to misunderstood outcast, to helpful and good. More specifically, this course will examine the child as witch and will pose questions about gender.
°
By examining early witch narratives established by folktales and early children’s books, we will explore how more contemporary youth literature authors rewrite those narratives to challenge common ideas about witches. Drawing from approaches in race and cultural studies, gender studies, and childhood studies, we will investigate the representation of witches in youth literature and media through reading, discussing, and researching books that feature Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, q***r, and trans protagonists. Students can learn more about the instructor’s research interests through the English Department’s website and the instructor’s academic website: emilyaguiloperez.com

02/09/2021

West Chester University Department of English student Christopher Borroughs writes about author Saadia Faruqi's visit to
Dr. Aguiló-Pérez's LIT 219 class in Fall 2020.
https://wcuquad.com/6017836/features/award-winning-childrens-author-visits-wcu-classroom/?fbclid=IwAR1Lc9TbFmjfnxB4NvkiKfHBJ-Mqb8U0w1P21Sf5wAU3jTklfW_SLgltaCg

Children’s author Saadia Faruqi. Image by QZB Photography, used with permission from Saadia Faruqi.   In the Fall 2020 semester, children’s author Saadia Faruqi held a virtual Q&A session with students enrolled in LIT 219, Introduction to Literature for Young Children. Faruqi visited shortly af...