![]() ![]() These analyses address the myths - and realities - of adolescent literacy in one community. To these ends, we offer analyses of what, how often, and why young people from one urban community choose to read. Our larger purpose is to shed light on what, why, and how youth read so that educators can adopt policies and practices that address the range of youth interests, needs, and skills, and also to support youth in developing sophisticated academic, community, and workplace literacy practices. Our goal in this article, then, is twofold: We wish to complexify notions of what it means to talk about adolescent literacy, but we also want to draw attention to some overarching patterns in at least one group's literacy practices. And yet, although the specifics of their literacy practices are different, they do share some important patterns. Thus, we see the world of adolescent literacy as complex, not only because both “adolescent” and “literacy” are ill-defined constructs, but also because young people are so different from one another. They write for self-expression, to get through periods of crisis, to document their beliefs, or to communicate with other youth. They read because they are part of social groups or because they are in search of role models or information. Moreover, as we document in this article, the reasons the youth in this study give for their literacy practices are equally diverse. Some do not read much but they love to write. Some read print novels, while others gravitate toward Internet texts and still others like a good magazine. Virtually any set of responses would have represented the fact that while some youth read a great deal, others hardly read at all. Responses to this question were so varied, in fact, that it was difficult to choose just which ones to include for this introduction. I lay on my bed, and I put it on top, and I start reading it. I only, like, when I don't got nothing to do, or when I think, like, I get bored of playing video games, I just grab a book and start reading it. Conclusions are framed in terms of the mysteries that remain - namely, how to build on what motivates adolescents' literacy practices in order to both promote the building of their social selves and improve their academic outcomes. This article describes how adolescents read texts that are embedded in social networks, allowing them to build social capital. However, only reading novels on a regular basis outside of school is shown to have a positive relationship to academic achievement as measured by school grades. By focusing on what features of texts youth find motivating, the authors find that reading and writing frequently occur in a range of literacy contexts outside school. The reading practices of youth from one urban community are examined using mixed methods in an effort to define what, how often, and why adolescents choose to read. In this article, Elizabeth Birr Moje, Melanie Overby, Nicole Tysvaer, and Karen Morris challenge some of the prevailing myths about adolescents and their choices related to reading. ![]()
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