C8301 - LETTERATURA YOUNG ADULT NEI CONTESTI DI APPRENDIMENTO

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will:

• possess knowledge of, and be able to critically employ, the interpretative frameworks developed by educational research on youth narratives;
• possess knowledge of, and be able to use in learning contexts, the most significant narrative products in both publishing and multimedia formats (from literary classics to contemporary Young Adult novels, from graphic novels to video games) aimed at young adult audiences;
• possess, master, and apply in educational settings the narrative, metaphorical, and thematic resources and languages of Young Adult literature;
• be able to design and implement educational projects and learning pathways based on Young Adult literature;
• use the narrative and thematic resources of Young Adult literature to enhance and support the personal individuality of young people aged 14–20;
• be able to design and provide opportunities for engagement with Young Adult literature through the involvement of families and of the cultural, social, and educational resources available within the local community;
• competently employ a wide range of media tools for communication and content development;
• be able to formulate arguments and develop personal, sophisticated interpretations of the themes addressed in Young Adult fiction.

Course contents

This course aims to examine the major themes that emerge in narratives (novels, films, and video games) created for the Young Adult community, namely adolescents and young people between the ages of 14 and 20. The analysis will begin with the historical concepts and representations of preadolescence and adolescence, life stages in which the desire to construct one’s own identity becomes increasingly prominent, often in tension with inherited models and expectations.

By combining historical-pedagogical inquiry with narrative and literary criticism, the course will explore representations of adolescence across literature and other narrative forms. Its purpose is to demonstrate that being a teenager should not primarily be understood as belonging to a “problematic” age, but rather as participating in an existential period characterized by the possibility of shaping one’s life trajectory in unexpected, surprising, and authentic ways.

The discovery of sexuality and love, the questioning of family relationships and educational institutions, the importance of friendships and peer groups, and encounters with individuals and teachers capable of opening up new horizons are among the themes that resonate most strongly with adolescence. These are subjects that young people seek with curiosity and enthusiasm in the narratives they read, watch, and experience.

Literature thus becomes an extraordinary pedagogical resource, capable—particularly within schools and other learning environments such as libraries, youth centres, and specialist bookshops—of fostering ideas, emotions, reflections, and horizons that can nurture and liberate the existential originality that characterizes adolescence.

Through hermeneutic-pedagogical journeys across realistic novels centred on the lives of young people (Young Adult literature in the strict sense), narratives of youth marginalisation and distress, and the imaginative worlds that exert a powerful influence on the adolescent imagination (including fantasy, science fiction, myth, and video games), the course will provide conceptual frameworks and interpretative pathways for exploring the complex and remarkable experience of adolescence.

Readings/Bibliography

Assessment Requirements and Reading List

To sit the examination, students are required to study: (1) the texts listed in the Compulsory Section, (2) the texts included in one of the five elective pathways, and (3) the compulsory article.

(1) Compulsory Section One critical study and one novel

Critical Study

• Elena Guerzoni, Come un fiume. Adolescenza e Youth Fiction: ritratti di identità metaforiche [Like a River: Adolescence and Youth Fiction. Portraits of Metaphorical Identities], Edizioni Sinestesie – La scuola di Pitagora editrice, Naples, 2025.

Novel

• Aidan Chambers, Danza sulla mia tomba (Dance on My Grave), Rizzoli, Milan, 2008.

or

• Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl, Mondadori, Milan, 2004.

(2) Elective Pathways

Students are required to choose one of the following five pathways. For the selected pathway, they must study the critical study and one of the novels listed.

Pathway 1: Myth

Critical Study

• William Grandi, La musa bambina. La letteratura mitologica italiana per ragazzi tra storia, narrazione e pedagogia [The Child Muse: Italian Mythological Literature for Young Readers between History, Narrative, and Pedagogy], Edizioni Unicopli, Milan, 2011.

Novel

• Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson e gli dei dell'Olimpo: il ladro di fulmini (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief), Mondadori, various editions.

or

• Beatrice Masini, Signore e signorine. Corale greca (Ladies and Gentlemen: A Greek Choral Narrative), EL, Trieste, 2002.

Pathway 2: Fantasy

Critical Study

• William Grandi, Infanzia e mondi fantastici (Childhood and Fantasy Worlds), Bononia University Press, Bologna, 2007.

Novel

• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Rusconi (Bompiani), various editions.

or

• Neil Gaiman, Stardust, Magic Press, Pavona (Rome), 2000.

Pathway 3: Science Fiction

Critical Study

• William Grandi, Gli ingranaggi sognati. Scienza, fantasia e tecnologia nelle narrazioni per l'infanzia e l'adolescenza [Dreamed Gears: Science, Fantasy, and Technology in Narratives for Children and Adolescents], FrancoAngeli, Milan, 2017.

Novel

• Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games Trilogy, Mondadori, various editions.

or

• Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines, Mondadori, Milan, 2004.

Pathway 4: Crossmediality

Critical Study

• Anna Antoniazzi, Contaminazioni. Letteratura per ragazzi e crossmedialità [Crossovers: Children's Literature and Crossmediality], Apogeo, Milan, 2012.

Novel

• Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, Fazi, Rome, various editions.

or

• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, various editions.

Pathway 5: Youth Marginalisation and Social Discomfort

Critical Study

• Leonardo Acone, Bambini e ragazzi tra bande e paranze. Pedagogia della narrazione a Sud dell'infanzia [Children and Young People between Gangs and Criminal Youth Groups: A Pedagogy of Narrative in Southern Childhood Contexts], Pensa Multimedia, Lecce, 2018.

Novel

• Roberto Saviano, La paranza dei bambini (The Piranhas), Feltrinelli, Milan, various editions.

or

• Helga Schneider, L'albero di Goethe (Goethe's Tree), Salani, Milan, 2004.

(3) Compulsory Article

• Angela Articoni, “Valentina Mela Verde. Grazia Nidasio tra adolescenza, costume e contestazione” [Valentina Mela Verde: Grazia Nidasio between Adolescence, Social Change, and Protest], Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica – Journal of Theories and Research in Education, vol. 14, no. 1 (2019), pp. 73–90.

The article is available in open access and may be downloaded free of charge from the following link: Download the article [https://rpd.unibo.it/article/view/8968/9366] .

Erasmus students are required to follow the same syllabus and complete the same required readings as outlined for all students enrolled in the course.

Teaching methods

The course will be delivered through lectures conducted in Italian. During each session, a portion of the time will be devoted to collective discussion in order to collaboratively develop a conceptual framework that will help students navigate the contents, language, and themes addressed during the class. Supplementary materials will be made available on Virtuale.

Assessment methods

Student learning will be assessed through written examinations. The written assessment is designed to evaluate students’ knowledge of the course content, linguistic fluency, and ability to organise and present information effectively, demonstrating the competencies they are expected to have acquired by the end of the course regarding the topics discussed during lectures and addressed in the required readings. Sample examination papers will be made available on the University’s Virtuale platform. Erasmus students may take the written examination in Italian, English, Spanish, or French.

The written examination consists of five questions:

• Questions 1 and 2 will cover the Compulsory Section;
• Questions 3 and 4 will cover the selected elective pathway;
• Question 5 will focus on the compulsory article.

Each question will be graded on a scale from 0 to 6, based on both the accuracy of the content and the quality of the analysis provided. The maximum overall score is 30/30, as final grades are awarded on the Italian thirty-point grading scale.

Students who do not pass the examination may retake it at the next available examination session; no mandatory waiting period applies.

To sit the examination, students must register through the University’s online examination system (AlmaEsami) within the prescribed deadlines. Students who experience technical difficulties preventing registration are required to notify the Academic Administration Office promptly—and in any case before the official closing of the registration period. The course instructor retains the discretion to authorise their admission to the examination.

Students with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) or Disabilities

Students with temporary or permanent disabilities and/or specific learning disorders (SLD) are strongly encouraged to contact the relevant University Office in good time: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it. The Office will propose any appropriate accommodations for the students concerned. Any such accommodations must be submitted to the course instructor for approval at least 15 days before the examination date. Their suitability will be assessed in relation to the intended learning outcomes of the course.

Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools during the examination is strictly prohibited in any form. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, chatbots, text-generation systems, advanced translation tools, content-summarisation software, and AI-powered applications or functionalities integrated into digital devices.

Teaching tools

Throughout the lectures and in the period following the course sessions, a wide range of teaching and learning materials will be made available on Virtuale to students enrolled in the course in order to support and facilitate their study activities.

Office hours

See the website of William Grandi