Steffany Comfort Maher is an associate professor of English education and director of the IUS Writing Project at Indiana University Southeast. Her research interests include critical inquiry approaches to teaching literature, critical methods of teaching young adult literature, and critical youth studies. Prior to earning her doctorate, Dr. Maher taught middle and high school English and social studies for 12 years in Michigan.

Alice Hays is an associate professor and chair of the Teacher Education Department at California State University, Bakersfield. During her Ph.D. work, Dr. Hays taught English composition at the college level. Prior to that, Dr. Hays taught high school English for 19 years in Arizona.

Introduction: The Power of Young Adult Literature Section I: Identity 1. Issues of Identity in YA Science Fiction Depicting Artificial Intelligence and Cybernetics 2. Analyzing Community Cultural Wealth in With the Fire on High to Foster Asset-based Perspectives 3. Examining Young Adult Literature through a Rogerian Perspective: Self-Actualization in I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter 4. Huda F Are You: Playing with Language in YA Literature to Explore Multiple Identities 5. Using Charlie Jane Anders's Victories Greater than Death to Explore the Possibilities of Imagined Worlds and Transgender Narratives in the High School ELA Classroom 6. Examining Intersectional Identities: Using Fantasy Novels to Understand Multifaceted Identities Section II: Criticality 7. What Do Students Deserve in Secondary ELA Classrooms? Promoting Criticality with We Deserve Monuments8. Analyzing Starr's Identity in The Hate U Give using Critical Race Feminism 9. Environmental Criticality in Darcie Little Badger's A Snake Falls to Earth 10. Teaching Criticality with The Last Cuentista 11. Burning a House in the Sky: Narrative Writing and Grief-Responsive Pedagogy 12. Down Came the Rain: A Critical Examination of the Intersectionality of Ecological Disaster 13. The Self/ves as Locations of Resistance in La Borinqueña Section III: Advocacy 14. How to Become the Sun-Walking with Ger Duany: Advocacy In and Out of the Classroom 15. Voices in Print, Power in Action: Young Adult Literature as an Invitation to Adolescent Activism and Agency 16. Fostering Mental Health Literacy Through Curriculum and Classroom Conversation on Ab(solutely) Normal 17. Teaching LGBTQIA+ History Through Young Adult Literature: Vehicles for Student Understanding, Empathy, and Advocacy 18. Advocating for Consent: Exploring Sexual Assault in Young Adult Literature 19. From the Book to the Board of Education: Lessons on Criticality, Collectivity, and Class Struggle from Shadowshaper and the Earthseed Series Section IV: Conclusion 20. Protecting the Freedom to Read: Nurturing and Sustaining Advocacy in Teachers, Students, and Communities