‘I connected so well with it’: a teen mother talks about reading

Abstract

In this paper, one 19‐year‐old married mother who was sexually abused when younger discusses the painful and important role reading has played in her life. By using narrative discourse analysis, I parse the young mother’s spoken narrative and illuminate the emotions that cluster around her reading experiences. I discover that she has used reading as a way to make sense of the traumatic experiences of her childhood. I discover as well that, though she evidences immaturity, her moral thinking – refined through her roles as daughter, mother, and wife – is more nuanced than are the texts she is able to read. The questions I ask about her relationship to these books can be generalized to many non‐traditional students going to high schools, or reading in book clubs, today.

Keywords:

• teenaged mothers
• reading
• discourse analysis
• narrative
• abuse