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Grounded in democratic education principles and supported by research on civic knowledge gaps, the work argues that students can be prepared for wise participation when educators make civic themes relevant, engaging, and discussable. It describes the StreetSquash Book Club model, where optional weekly sessions use reading, writing, games, community interaction, and hands-on activities tied to civil rights and election-related themes to foster informed action.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/creating-engaged-citizens-using-young-adult-novels-and-thematic-units-to-encourage-democratic-action/590501/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/creating-engaged-citizens-using-young-adult-novels-and-thematic-units-to-encourage-democratic-action/590501.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Pentious","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-06","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why does the paper emphasize democratic education for young people?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It argues that democracy requires voters who choose wisely, so educators must equip youth with knowledge and skills for informed participation. Engaged learning is presented as a key safeguard for democratic success.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What research gap does the paper highlight in civic education performance?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It discusses disparities in NAEP civics assessment performance across racial and ethnic groups. The explanation focuses on civic materials being less relevant to minority students than to white students.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the StreetSquash Book Club structure its thematic unit activities?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The club meets on Friday afternoons for reading, writing, and topic discussions, then supplements those readings with hands-on activities. It uses young adult novels and additional texts to connect unit themes to students’ own lives.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590501,1792192199,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":46,"preview_page_count":4},1374404730887,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","creati ngengaged citizens  \nUsing Young Adult Novels and Thematic Units to Encourage Democratic Action  \nby Mary Cipollone  \nFranklin D. Roosevelt noted,“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education”(quoted in Beilenson & Beilenson, 1982, p. 29) . Thus, a foundational principle of U.S. society is that educators must equip our young with the knowledge and skills tobe active participants in our democracy. Countless educators and political theorists have espoused the belief that citizens are not born but must be created (Dewey, 1916/2004; Goodland, 1996; Niemi & Junn, 1998) . Conscious, creative educational efforts can help to develop informed young citizens who will be able to lead us toward a just world.  \nPeople who read become absorbed in a process of discovery about the world around them; books open doors to otherwise inaccessible places and introduce readers to profound new ideas. A wide body of young adult literature creatively blends fictional stories with nonfictional settings in a way that exposes young people to important historical and contemporary issues. When children are given a safe and enjoyable forum in which they can freely explore and expand on the new ideas they encounter in books, they are positioned to benefit from their experience of a text. They relate to the novels’ young protagonists and become curious about the situations of the protagonists’ lives. They can learn about their poten-  \n12 Afterschool Matters  \nMARY CIPOLLONE has recently relocated to Quito, Ecuador, to pursue her passion for helping to create a more equitable life for the world’s poorest children. Prior to this move, she spent two years as the director of literacy projects and special programs at StreetSquash, an urban youth program that strives to help public school students realize their academic and personal potential.  \nSpring 2006  \ntial impact on society when educators guide them to relate the books’ themes to their own lives.  \nThe StreetSquash Book Club encourages young people to become active, engaged citizens by means of thematic units that use young adult novels as entry points for discussion, games, community interaction, and civil activism. The multifaceted and engaging approach of the StreetSquash Book Club not only instills a love of reading and writing in students but also pushes them to comprehend and employ the awesome powers they possess as citizens of a democracy.  \nProgram Background  \nApproximately 15 seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade members of the StreetSquash Book Club meet on Friday afternoons to read, write, and discuss topics inspired by their reading. All of the students attend public schools in  \nand African-American students consistently perform lower than their Caucasian counterparts (Niemi & Junn, 1998) . Niemi and Junn attribute this discrepancy not toa lack of intelligence or interest on the part of minority students, but to the fact that the civics material being taught to these students and tested on the NAEP is less relevant to minority students than to white students. The fact that African-American students performed with greater parity on questions about the civil rights movement and other topics of black history supports this explanation (Niemi & Junn, 1998) . To the end of developing a democracy in which citizens from all backgrounds have equal preparation for and access to participation, Niemi and Junn suggest that educators should not avoid controversial subjects, but rather should help students realistically examine the complex issues of past and present racial discrimination.  \nHarlem and are African American or Hispanic; most are female. Participation in the program is completely optional; members tend to be selfselected by the title of the program and by the daunting commitment of spending the first afternoon of  \nStudents do not want to sit and listen to a lecture—certainly not after","cbCaieg2eVxEhSGG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieg2eVxEhSGG","pdf",258390,"English","# Program Background\n## Optional Participation and Student Engagement\n## Reading, Writing, and Discussion Structure\n## Thematic Units: Civil Rights and 2004 Election","[{\"question\":\"Why does the paper emphasize democratic education for young people?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that democracy requires voters who choose wisely, so educators must equip youth with knowledge and skills for informed participation. Engaged learning is presented as a key safeguard for democratic success.\"},{\"question\":\"What research gap does the paper highlight in civic education performance?\",\"answer\":\"It discusses disparities in NAEP civics assessment performance across racial and ethnic groups. The explanation focuses on civic materials being less relevant to minority students than to white students.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the StreetSquash Book Club structure its thematic unit activities?\",\"answer\":\"The club meets on Friday afternoons for reading, writing, and topic discussions, then supplements those readings with hands-on activities. It uses young adult novels and additional texts to connect unit themes to students’ own lives.\"}]","Creating Engaged Citizens - Using Young Adult Novels and Thematic Units to Encourage Democratic Action | PDF",1792069767]