Constructing dressing rooms in urban schools: Understanding family through book clubs with Latino and African American female adolescents

Abstract

Because adolescence is a difficult transition where teenagers work to establish autonomy, an understanding of family becomes essential when exploring students' social contexts. The purpose of this article is to examine the space of book club as a metaphorical and actualized “dressing room,” where for one year 12 urban Latina and African American females used adolescent literature and conversations to understand their lives, communities, and families. These discussions were essential in that families function as part of their identities and as systems of both support and conflict. Ultimately, the girls used textual family relationships and each other as guides for their present situations and future potentialities.

Keywords:

• Adolescent females
• African American
• bibliotherapy
• book clubs
• family issues
• Latino
• urban
• young adult literature