Nurturing social and emotional development in gifted teenagers through young adult literature

This article examines how developmental bibliotherapy featuring young adult literature serves as an effective strategy to address emotional issues in the lives of gifted teenagers. Following a discussion of bibliotherapy and a rationale for its use with gifted students, a description of a young adult novel entitled The Mosquito Test is presented. The authors then describe how a group of intelligent teenagers in a high school English classroom responded to the novel in a bibliotherapeutic fashion. Also provided is an annotated bibliography of current young adult literature, appropriate for use with bibliotherapy in secondary classrooms.