Call for Manuscripts

Submitting a Manuscript:

Manuscript submission guidelines are available on p. 2 of this issue and on our website at http://www.alan-ya.org/page/alan-review-author-guidelines .

Fall 2015: Beyond Borders: Partnering within and across Schools and Communities

“Let me peer out at the world/through your lens./ (Maybe I’ll shudder,/ or gasp, or tilt my head in a question.)/ Let me see how your blue/ is my turquoise and my orange/ is your gold” (Naomi Shihab Nye, from Time You Let Me In ).

These words inspire us to remember the joy and play, struggle and growth that might result from working with others. As busy educators, it is often easy to close the door, work through lunch, and attend to other business during meetings. But collaboration—the good kind—can help us learn more and find collective meaning in our work. Together, we can build connection and community and explore and understand difference.

In this issue, we encourage you to share collaborative efforts involving students, colleagues, and communities in creating spaces for YA literature to flourish. How have you generated ideas and implemented projects in the same building, in the building next door, or in settings across the globe, in person or virtually? How have you designed interdisciplinary curricula with those who study or teach subjects outside your areas of expertise? How have you looked beyond your own walls to foster partnerships with community outreach programs, created shared reading opportunities across neighborhoods and towns, worked with parents and guardians to acquire their wisdom, or invited young people to identify, explore, and propose potential solutions to problems they see in their communities? Regardless of the form these efforts take, and the complications and complexities they present, we are convinced that, “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing” (Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ).

As always, we also welcome submissions focused on any aspect of young adult literature not directly connected to this theme. All submissions may be sent to alan-review@uconn.edu prior to March 1, 2015 .