African American adolescent males -- Shaping literacy as a collaborative act -- Vital signs of literacy development -- Characteristics and examples of enabling texts -- Choosing, creating, and mediating enabling texts -- Poetic broadsides -- Short stories -- Armed for battle -- Appendix A: sample lesson with explicit instruction and text -- Appendix B: forty engaging texts for African American adolescent males -- Appendix C: texts mentioned in this book -- Appendix D: ten enabling texts with starters and essential questions.