AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

For my master???s thesis, my intent was to craft a story for the students who come in my classroom and proclaim their disdain for reading. While I take great joy in the students who walk from classroom to classroom with their nose in a book, it is those who open their daily reading book to the same page every day who I set out to write for in this thesis. My desire was to craft a story that took on socioeconomic concerns in an area of Los Angeles that fails to show up on screen. The story itself is one that many YA novels take on: that of fitting in. Where it diverges is in its exploration of the outside concerns that swirl around this struggle. I approached the text knowing that my audience may not have the strongest reading habits or skills, so I deliberately crafted the language to suit their skills.