RU548: Reading List [Summer 2025]

I've had the pleasure of teaching a Young Adult Literature course in the MLIS program at Rutgers University for several years now and, it's one of my favorite things. Although I don't get to teach it every semester, I use the time between semesters to update my reading list and assignments, etc., which I suppose is a gift, despite the fact that I really miss diving into YA lit with people who are eager to learn about new books and innovative methods for connecting hearts through story. That said, while I don't publicly share the syllabus for this course, I do share its reading list and this summer, I am also sharing the reading tracker that I created for students to track and analyze their own reading over the course of the semester.

Let's start with the tracker.

Like a lot of people, I became slightly obsessed with the spreadsheet based reading trackers that had a viral moment on tiktok earlier in the year. This should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone as I've never tried to hide my love of combining books and spreadsheets! Naturally, I had to create my own, which proved more challenging than I anticipated. Turns out, loving a thing doesn't automatically translate to being able to do it. What proved true for me, however, is that loving a thing DID translate to the motivation I needed to continue trying even when the work got hard. (Hmmm. I wonder if there's a lesson here about reading instruction?)

Anyway, this semester, my students will track their reading and use that data to consider how their own reading habits, preferences and blind spots might effect their collection development choices. Note: they are not required to use the tracker I created; they can use any tool they want provided they collect some specific data points. Anyway, you are welcome to checkout/use my tracker, too - with the following caveats:

• I do not have the capacity to offer technical support for this spreadsheet. If you change the formulas and things stop working, that's on you! You can, however, always make additional and start over.

• Please do not sell my work. While I give almost everything I make away for free, I don't do that in order to provide others with content to sell themselves. It's not a compliment to remix my work and toss it on your TpT site for a few bucks - even if you give me credit. (This should go without saying, but you would be surprised).

• If you choose to use this tracker with your students, I'd love to know about how it goes! Please share your takeaways with me.

Finally, I want to be clear that I have not developed this tool as a way to measure reading volume. Rather, for me, this tracker is about collecting data for deeper reflection later. If you choose to use it, I hope you will do so with similar goals in mind.

Now... onto the reading list!

Let's start by doing some math:

• The reading list for this course is divided into 14 separate lists. Each of those lists is centered on a specific award/distinction given to books published for young people. 

• This course is 10 weeks long. 

• 6 of those weeks are "reading weeks."  During those 6 weeks, students choose a reading list/award to explore. 

• Then, they read 3 books from that reading/award list. 

This means students in this course...

• explore 6/14 reading lists, and...

• read a total of 18 books written for young people over the course of the semester. 

Inclusivity Matrix: 

I use an inclusivity matrix (located at the bottom of the "getting started" page to help me AND to help my students. The matrix helps me make sure that each reading/award list contains titles that vary in:

• Category (ex: fiction VS nonfiction)

• Format (ex: graphic novel vs novel in verse)

• Genre  (ex: fantasy, romance, sports)

• Representation (ex: disability, indigenous, LBGTQIA+) 

Additionally, since students complete an inclusivity audit of their own as one of our course assignments, my hope is that the one I create serves as a model.

All of that said, here's my reading list for the summer 2025 semester. I hope you find it useful!

Happy reading, y'all!