Teaching spec fic

As I'm winding down my first full week at my new teaching job (at a residential treatment center for teens with emotional/behavioral disorders), I've been thinking more and more about the roles of a teacher in the Reader-Text-Author interaction. Not too much is mentioned about this, perhaps because most spec fic readers never are in the position of having to relate ideas, themes, characterizations, etc. in a pedagogical fashion for another to consider.

I started a two-week Literature/Language Arts unit on S.E. Hinton's classic, The Outsiders. From past experience teaching this novel, I knew that the characters and situations would resonate so well with them and that they'd want to know more, because they would care about characters such as Ponyboy, Sodapop, Johnny, Darry, and Two-Bits. It is so easy to get students involved when the work in question mirrors their own fractured backgrounds.

But what about situations in which the stories are just off-kilter or deals with other-worldly concerns? Are there really "easy" ways of taking spec fic stories and using them in the classroom for the "average" student, one who perhaps never really has wanted to read much? What is there about tales of created "worlds" populated with unusual creatures, who sometimes seem to "speak" in a rather stilted fashion, that could possibly appeal to such students? What is out there that might just appeal to these students?

I have some vague notions, but I am curious as to which stories (remember, short stories might be the most effective in such situations, as I did get a group of students last year to consider and ultimately enjoy Dino Buzzati's "The Colomber") of a spec fic "flavor" might be used well as a teaching tool for those who are unaccustomed to such literary stylings?