Young adult literature - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature (often abbreviated as YA), also juvenile fiction, is fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents

Adolescence

Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...

and young adults

Young adult (psychology)

A young adult, according to Erik Erikson's stages of human development, is generally a person between the age of 20 - 40, whereas an adolescent is a person between the age of 13 - 19, although definitions and opinions vary. The young adult stage in human development precedes middle adulthood. A...

, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services (YALSA) of the American Library Association

American Library Association

The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

(ALA) defines a young adult as "someone between the ages of twelve and eighteen". Young adult novels have also been defined as texts written for the ages of twelve and up. Authors and readers of young adult (YA) novels often define the genre as "literature written for ages ranging from ten years up to the age of twenty" (Cole). Another suggestion for the definition is that Young Adult Literature is any text being read by adolescents, though this definition is still somewhat controversial.

Accordingly, the terms young-adult novel, juvenile novel, young-adult book, etc. refer to the works in the YA category.

Although YA literature shares the fundamental elements of character

Character (arts)

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

, plot, setting

Setting (fiction)

In fiction, setting includes the time, location, and everything in which a story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been referred to as story world or milieu to include a context beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may...

, theme

Theme (literature)

A theme is a broad, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,...

, and style

Style (fiction)

In fiction, style is the manner in which the author tells the story. Along with plot, character, theme, and setting, style is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction.-Fiction-writing modes:...

common to other genres of fiction, theme and style are often subordinated to the more tangible basic narrative elements such as plot, setting, and character, which appeal more readily to younger readers. The vast majority of YA stories portray an adolescent as the protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

, rather than an adult or a child

It is generally agreed that Young Adult Literature is literature written for adolescent readers, and in some cases published by adolescent writers. The subject matter and story lines are typically consistent with the age and experience of the main character, but beyond that YA stories span the entire spectrum of fiction genre

Genre

Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...

s. Themes in YA stories often focus on the challenges of youth, so much so that the entire age category is sometimes referred to as problem novel

Problem novel

Problem novel is a term used to refer to a sub-genre of young adult literature that deal exclusively with an adolescent's first confrontation with a social or personal ill. The term was first used in the late 1960s to differentiate contemporary works like The Outsiders from earlier fiction for...

s or coming of age

Coming of age

Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies...

novels. Writing styles of YA stories range widely, from the richness of literary style to the clarity and speed of the unobtrusive and even free verse.

Sarah Trimmer

The first recognition of young adults as a distinct group was by Sarah Trimmer

Sarah Trimmer

Sarah Trimmer was a noted writer and critic of British children's literature in the eighteenth century...

, who in 1802 described "young adulthood" as lasting from ages 14 to 21. In her self-founded children's literature periodical, The Guardian of Education

The Guardian of Education

The Guardian of Education was the first successful periodical dedicated to reviewing children's literature in Britain. It was edited by eighteenth-century educationalist, children's author, and Sunday school advocate Sarah Trimmer and was published from June 1802 until September 1806 by J. Hatchard...

, Trimmer introduced the terms "Books for Children" (for those under fourteen) and "Books for Young Persons" (for those between fourteen and twenty-one), establishing terms of reference for young adult literature that remain in use today. However, nineteenth-century publishers did not specifically market to young readers, and adolescent culture

Adolescence

did not exist in a modern sense.

The Beginning

Beginning in the 1920s, it was said that "this was the first time when it became clear that the young were a separate generation" (Cart 43); but multiple novels that fit into the YA category had been published long before. In the nineteenth century there are several early examples that appealed to young readers including The Swiss Family Robinson

The Swiss Family Robinson

-History:Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss and edited by his son Johann Rudolf Wyss, the novel was intended to teach his four sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance...

(1812), Waverley

Waverley (novel)

Waverley is an 1814 historical novel by Sir Walter Scott. Initially published anonymously in 1814 as Scott's first venture into prose fiction, Waverley is often regarded as the first historical novel. It became so popular that Scott's later novels were advertised as being "by the author of...

(1814), Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...

(1838), The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is often considered to be, along with The Three Musketeers, Dumas's most popular work. He completed the work in 1844...

(1844), Tom Brown's Schooldays

Tom Brown's Schooldays

Tom Brown's Schooldays is a novel by Thomas Hughes. The story is set at Rugby School, a public school for boys, in the 1830s; Hughes attended Rugby School from 1834 to 1842...

(1857), Great Expectations

Great Expectations

Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....

(1860), Alice in Wonderland (1865), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the Town of "St...

(1876), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular, characterized by...

(1884), Kidnapped

Kidnapped (novel)

Kidnapped is a historical fiction adventure novel by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. Written as a "boys' novel" and first published in the magazine Young Folks from May to July 1886, the novel has attracted the praise and admiration of writers as diverse as Henry James, Jorge Luis...

(1886), The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...

(1894) and Moonfleet

Moonfleet

Moonfleet is a tale of smuggling by the English novelist J. Meade Falkner, first published in 1898. The book was extremely popular among children worldwide up until the 1970s, mostly for its themes of adventure and gripping storyline...

(1898).

A few other novels that were published around the turn of the century include Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Heidi, by Johanna Spyri, and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. In 1937 The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

, was published, and Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) also is a beloved by adolescents today. Some claim that the first real young adult novel was The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major...

by J. D. Salinger

J. D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980....

, and that it opened up a whole new eye to what types of texts adolescent readers read. Following this novel, other classic texts such as Harper Lee

Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...

's, To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...

; Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...

's novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a six-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma...

; and Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...

's, The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye is a 1970 novel by American author Toni Morrison. It is Morrison's first novel, written while Morrison was teaching at Howard University and was raising her two sons on her own. The story is about a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio, named Pecola...

all entered the genre of Young Adult Literature as well, along with many others.

Mid-Century

In the 1950s, shortly before the advent of modern publishing for the teen romance market, two novels drew the attention of adolescent readers: The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye

(1951), and Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding about a group of British boys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results...

(1954). Unlike more-recent fiction classified as YA, these two were written with an adult audience in mind.

The modern classification of young-adult fiction originated during the 1950s and 1960s, especially after the publication of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. This book focused on a group of teens not yet represented and instead of having the nostalgic tone that was typical in young adult books written by adults, it displayed a truer, darker side of young adult life because it was written by a young adult.

As the decades moved on, the stormy sixties became the era "when the 'under 30' generation became a subject of popular concern, and that research on adolescence began to emerge. It would also be the decade when literature for adolescents could be said to have come into its own" (Cart 43). For this reason others adopt The Outsiders, published in 1967 by S. E. Hinton

S. E. Hinton

Susan Eloise Hinton is an American author best known for her young adult novel The Outsiders.While still in her teens, Hinton became a household name as the author of The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965...

who at the time was only a teenager, as the initiator of the adolescent literature genre. This book sparked talk about what adolescents face, and that adolescents can produce books that they can relate to. 1967 was the year when a multitude of YA books began to be seen, and ever since YA lit has grown into a thriving, popular genre. In the 1970s, what has become to be known as the "fab five" were published. "For the record, the fab five are: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

; The Friends by Rosa Guy

Rosa Guy

Rosa Cuthbert Guy is an American writer.-Biography:Rosa Guy was raised in Harlem from the age of seven and now lives in New York. She immigrated to Harlem, New York in 1932. Soon after her parents, Henry and Audrey Cuthbert, died, she and her sister went to many foster homes...

; The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar is American writer and poet Sylvia Plath's only novel, which was originally published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas" in 1963. The novel is semi-autobiographical with the names of places and people changed...

by Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer...

; Bless the Beasts and Children

Bless the Beasts and Children (novel)

Bless the Beasts and Children is a 1970 novel by Glendon Swarthout that tells the story of several emotionally disturbed boys away at summer camp who unite to stop a buffalo hunt...

by Glendon Swarthout

Glendon Swarthout

Glendon Fred Swarthout was an American writer.-Life:Glendon Swarthout was the only child of Fred and Lila Swarthout, a banker and a homemaker. Swarthout is a Dutch name from the area around Groningen, in the Netherlands, and his mother’s maiden name was Chubb, from English farmers of Yorkshire...

; and Deathwatch

Deathwatch (novel)

Deathwatch is an American 1972 novel written by Robb White. The book was awarded the 1973 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery from the Mystery Writers of America....

by Robb White

Robb White

Robb White was a writer of screenplays, television scripts, and adventure novels; most of the latter had a maritime setting — often the Pacific Navy during World War II. White was best known for juvenile fiction, though he has proven popular with adults as well...

" (Cart 77).

70's and 80's

As publishers began to focus on the emerging adolescent market, booksellers and libraries, in turn, began creating YA sections distinct from either children's literature

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

or novels written for adult

Adult

An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....

s. The 1970s to the mid-1980s have been described as the golden age

Golden Age

The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...

of young-adult fiction—when challenging novels began speaking directly to the interests of the identified adolescent market.

In the 1980s: "the 1980s contained a large amount of Young Adult publications which pushed the threshold of topics that adolescents faced such as rape, suicide, parental death, and murder. Also in the 1980s, "teenagers seemed to want to read about something closer to their daily lives-romance novel

Romance novel

The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...

s were revived" (Cart 99). In the 1990s, Young Adult Literature pushed adolescent issues even further by including topics such as, drinking, sexuality, drug use, identity, beauty, and even teen pregnancy" (Lubar). Also in the 1990s, it seemed as though the era of Young Adult Literature was going to lose steam but "due in part to an increase in the number of teenagers in the 1990s the field matured, blossomed, and came into its own with the better written, more serious, and more varied young adult books published during the last two decades" (Tomlinson and Lynch-Brown 5).

Marketing

Teens have also become more and more marketable to text publications, bookstores have begun dedicating entire sections of their bookshelves to "teen" and "young adult" novels and texts, and movies are now produced more often that portray popular young adult texts with adolescent protagonist

Protagonist

s. As the genre continues to become more popular, and authors continue to publish texts that adolescents can relate to, Young Adult Literature will continue to be read and supported by adolescent and adult readers alike.

Examples of other novels that predate the young-adult classification, but that are now frequently presented alongside YA novels are :

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her two stern aunts in the village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy for life inspires her aunts, but she faces many trials in her young life, gaining...

(1903)
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. Set in 1878, it was written as fiction for readers of all ages, but in recent decades has been considered a children's book...

(1908)
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...

(1909)
The Yearling
The Yearling
The Yearling is a 1946 Technicolor family film drama made by MGM. It was directed by Clarence Brown and produced by Sidney Franklin. The screenplay was by Paul Osborn and John Lee Mahin , adapted from the novel of the same name by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings...

(1938)
My Friend Flicka
My Friend Flicka
My Friend Flicka is a 1941 novel by Mary O'Hara, about Ken McLaughlin, the son of a Wyoming rancher, and his horse Flicka. It was the first in a trilogy, followed by Thunderhead and Green Grass of Wyoming . The popular 1943 film version featured a young Roddy McDowall...

(1941)
Johnny Tremain
Johnny Tremain
Johnny Tremain is a 1944 children's novel by Esther Forbes set in Boston prior to and during the outbreak of the American Revolution. The novel's themes include apprenticeship, courtship, sacrifice, human rights, and the growing tension between Whigs and Tories as conflict nears...

(1943)
The Outsiders
The Outsiders (novel)
The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel based in 1965 by S. E. Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she started writing the novel, but did most of the work when she was sixteen and a junior in high school. Hinton was 18 when the book was published...

(1967)
The Pigman
The Pigman
The Pigman is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, first published in 1968. Zindel wrote a screenplay, adapting the book for the stage and screen, but it was not taken up by any film maker.-Plot:...

(1968)

Notable authors

V.C. Andrews (1923–1986): American author of several popular gothic horror family sagas for teenagers; examples include Flowers in the Attic
Flowers in the Attic
Flowers in the Attic is a 1979 novel by Virginia Andrews. It is the first book in the Dollanganger Series, and was followed by Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. The novel is written in the first person from the point of view of Cathy Dollanganger...

and Melody
Melody (Logan series)
Melody is a 1996 novel by V. C. Andrews. It is the first of the five books in her Logan series.- Plot summary :Melody Logan is pretty young girl living with her parents Chester and Haille in the coal-mining town of Sewell in Monongalia County, West Virginia. In spite of the poverty she has a happy...

.

Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson is an American author who writes for children and young adults.-Career:...

: American author of both fiction and non-fiction. Some of her more well known novels include Speak
Speak (novel)
Speak is a 1999 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a girl named Melinda Sordino who is an outcast as a high school freshman. It was made into a film of the same name in 2004. The novel was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller...

, Fever 1793
Fever 1793
Fever, 1793 is a historical novel by Laurie Halse Anderson that was published in 2000. Set during the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, its protagonist and narrator is a teenage girl named Matilda Cook who lives with her hardworking mother, war-fought grandfather, and their ex- slave...

, Catalyst, Prom, Twisted, and Wintergirls. Anderson is a Margret A. Edwards Award recipient.

Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...

Although not usually a young adult writer, "Abarat
Abarat
Abarat is a fantasy novel written and illustrated by Clive Barker, the first in Barker's The Books of Abarat series. It is aimed primarily at young adults. The eponymous Abarat is a fictional archipelago which is the setting for the majority of the story.The title image contains an ambigram. The...

" was written for a young adult audience and is considered one of his most important works.

David Belbin
David Belbin
David Belbin is an English author primarily of Young Adult Fiction, along with books for both younger and older readers.He was born...

(born 1958): English author. His novels include Love Lessons and Denial
Denial
Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.The subject may use:* simple denial: deny the reality of the...

.

Tim Bowler
Tim Bowler
Tim Bowler is the author of twenty books for children, teenagers and young adults. He has won 15 awards, including the Carnegie Medal, the pre-eminent UK award for children's literature, for his novel River Boy....

(born 1953): English author. His novels include River Boy
River Boy
River Boy is a young adult novel by Tim Bowler, published in 1997. It is the story of a teenage girl facing the prospect of bereavement. River Boy was awarded the 1997 Carnegie Medal, and the 1999 Angus Book Award.-Plot summary:...

and Frozen Fire
Frozen Fire (novel)
Frozen Fire is a philosophical thriller about the nature of reality by Tim Bowler. The novel was first published in 2006. It introduces a strange boy who wants to escape his unhappy life through death, and a fifteen-year-old girl who only wants her brother back...

.

Judy Blume
Judy Blume
Judy Blume is an American author. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages...

(born 1938): American author; wrote teen classics Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. and Forever
Forever (novel)
Forever... is a 1975 novel by Judy Blume dealing with teenage sexuality. Because of the novel's content it has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 at number seven.-Plot...

.

Malorie Blackman
Malorie Blackman
Malorie Blackman OBE is an author of literature and television drama for children and young adults. She has used science fiction to explore social and ethical issues. Her critically and popularly acclaimed Noughts & Crosses series uses the setting of a fictional dystopia to explore racism...

(born 1962): British author of the award winning Noughts & Crosses Trilogy and Boys Don't Cry
Boys Don't Cry
Boys Don't Cry may refer to:* Boys Don't Cry , a one-hit wonder British studio band known for "I Wanna Be a Cowboy"* Boys Don't Cry , a 1999 film starring Hilary Swank and Chloë Sevigny* Boys Don't Cry , a 1980 album by The Cure...

.

Rae Bridgman
Rae Bridgman
Rae Bridgman is a Canadian anthropologist, and the author/illustrator of The MiddleGate Books, a series of fantasy books for children inspired by the Narcisse Snake Pits of Narcisse, Manitoba -- The Serpent’s Spell , Amber Ambrosia and Fish and Sphinx...

: Canadian author known for her fantasy-adventure series The MiddleGate Books, including The Serpent's Spell, Amber Ambrosia and Fish & Sphinx

Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot is anAmerican author of romantic and paranormal fiction for teens and adults and used to write under several pen names, but now writes exclusively under her real name, Meg Cabot...

(born 1967): American author of many popular books and series, such as The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries is a series of epistolary novels by Meg Cabot in the chick-lit and young-adult fiction genre, and the title of the first volume, published in 2000....

series.

Kate Cann
Kate Cann
Kate Cann, is an English journalist and writer of fiction.-Biography:Kate Cann wrote stories and diaries in her youth, and took two degrees in English and American Literature at the University of Kent, B.A., 1977, M.A., 1978...

: Young adult trilogies and "Holiday" stand-alones.

Isobelle Carmody
Isobelle Carmody
Isobelle Jane Carmody is an Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy, children's literature, and young adult literature.-Biography:Carmody began work on the highly acclaimed Obernewtyn Chronicles at the age of fourteen...

(born 1958): Wrote the award-winning, Obernewtyn Chronicles
Obernewtyn Chronicles
The Obernewtyn Chronicles is a series of science fiction and fantasy novels by Australian author Isobelle Carmody. The series has a post apocalyptic setting, and depict a world long after its destruction by a global nuclear holocaust....

. Born in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

as was Garth Nix
Garth Nix
Garth Nix is an Australian author of young adult fantasy novels, most notably the Old Kingdom series, The Seventh Tower series, and The Keys to the Kingdom series. He has frequently been asked if his name is a pseudonym, to which he has responded, "I guess people ask me because it sounds like the...

, they are often compared and are close friends.

P. C. Cast
P. C. Cast
Phyllis Christine Cast is an American romance/fantasy author, known for the House of Night series she writes with her daughter Kristin Cast, as well as her own Goddess Summoning and Partholon book series.-Career:...

and her daughter Kristin Cast
Kristin Cast
Kristin Cast is the coauthor of the House of Night series for young adults with her mother, P.C. Cast.She graduated from Broken Arrow Senior High in 2005....

: American writers of the House of Night series of vampire-based fantasy novels.

Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer is an Irish author. He is most famous as the author of the Artemis Fowl series, but he has also written other successful books. His novels have been compared to the works of J. K. Rowling...

(born 1965): Irish author noted for the Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl (series)
Artemis Fowl is a series of fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer and all the books are best sellers, starring the teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl II. The author summed up the series as: "Die Hard with fairies." There are seven novels in the series; the first was published in...

series.

Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins is an American television writer and novelist.-Early life:Suzanne Collins is the daughter of an Air Force officer. She graduated from the Alabama School of Fine Arts and earned her M.F.A. from New York University in Dramatic Writing....

(born 1964): American author of the popular The Hunger Games trilogy
The Hunger Games trilogy
The Hunger Games trilogy is a young-adult adventure science fiction series written by Suzanne Collins. The trilogy consists of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay....

which includes The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games is a first person young-adult science fiction novel written by Suzanne Collins. It was originally published on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic. It is the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy. It introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world...

, Catching Fire
Catching Fire (2009 novel)
Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. As the sequel to the 2008 bestseller The Hunger Games, it continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and the fictional, futuristic nation of Panem...

and Mockingjay
Mockingjay
Mockingjay is a 2010 young adult dystopian novel by American author Suzanne Collins. It is the third installment of The Hunger Games trilogy, following 2008's The Hunger Games and 2009's Catching Fire, and continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, who agrees to lead the rebellion against the rulers...

.

Susan Cooper
Susan Cooper
Susan Mary Cooper is an English author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements with original material ; these books were adapted into a...

(born 1935): British author, Susan Cooper wrote the popular The Dark is Rising series.

Joe Craig
Joe Craig
Joe Craig is an English writer, children's novelist and musician.He is best known for the Jimmy Coates series of books, which is sometimes compared to the work of Jack Heath or Anthony Horowitz , and described in several reviews as 'The Bourne Identity for kids'.-Biography:Craig was born and grew...

(born 1980): British author, wrote Jimmy Coates
Jimmy Coates
Jimmy Coates is a series of children's books written by the English author Joe Craig.. The books have been published in many countries around the world but were never widely available in the United States....

series.

Sarah Dessen
Sarah Dessen
Sarah Dessen is an American writer who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.- Background :Sarah Dessen was born in Evanston, Illinois on June 6, 1970. She moved with her family to Virginia then North Carolina where she now resides with her husband, Jay, daughter Sasha Clementine, and dogs...

(born 1970): American author of such popular young-adult fare as The Truth About Forever
The Truth About Forever
The Truth About Forever is Sarah Dessen's sixth novel. It was published in hardcover on May 11, 2004 and in paperback on April 6, 2006.-Summary:...

and That Summer
That Summer
That Summer is Sarah Dessen's first novel, published in 1996. The movie How to Deal is based on this novel as well as another one of Dessen's novels, Someone Like You....

.

Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...

(born 1971): Canadian author. His novels include Little Brother
Little Brother (Cory Doctorow novel)
Little Brother is a novel by Cory Doctorow, published by Tor Books. It was released on April 29, 2008. The novel is about several teenagers in San Francisco who, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge and BART system, defend themselves against the...

and For the Win
For the Win
For The Win is the second young adult science fiction novel by Canadian author Cory Doctorow. It was released in May 2010. The novel is available free on the author's website as a Creative Commons download, and is also published in traditional paper form by Tor Books.The book is centered around...

.

Cornelia Funke
Cornelia Funke
Cornelia Funke is a multiple award-winning German author of children's fiction. She was born on 10 December 1958, in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia. Funke is best known for her Inkworld trilogy, with the English translation of the third book, Inkdeath, released on 6 October 2008. Many of her...

(born 1958): German author, Cornelia Funke wrote the successful Inkheart
Inkheart
Inkheart is a young adult-child fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke, and the first book of the Inkworld trilogy....

trilogy.

John Green (born 1977): The American Michael L. Printz Award winning author of Looking for Alaska
Looking for Alaska
Looking for Alaska is the first young adult novel by John Green, published in March 2005 by Dutton Juvenile. It won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association...

, An Abundance of Katherines
An Abundance of Katherines
An Abundance of Katherines is a young adult novel by John Green. Released in 2006, it was a finalist for the Michael L. Printz Award.An appendix explaining some of the more complex equations Colin uses throughout the story was written by Daniel Biss, a close friend to Green.-Plot summary:Colin...

, and Paper Towns
Paper Towns
Paper Towns is the third young adult novel by John Green, published in October 2008 by Dutton Books. It debuted at number 5 on the New York Times bestseller list for children's books and was awarded the 2009 Edgar Award for best Young Adult novel....

, also awarded a 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor for An Abundance of Katherines and the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel for Paper Towns.

William Golding
William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, best known for his novel Lord of the Flies...

(1911–1993): British author, Nobel Prize for Literature laureate best known for his novel Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding about a group of British boys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results...

.

Lisi Harrison: author of bestselling series The Clique
The Clique Series
The Clique is an American young adult novel series written by Lisi Harrison and was originally published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group, but got reprinted by Poppy books. The series revolves around four girls...

and The Alphas

Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...

(1907–1988): American science fiction writer, whose novels include Tunnel in the Sky
Tunnel in the Sky
Tunnel in the Sky is a science fiction book written by Robert A. Heinlein and published in 1955 by Scribner's as one of the Heinlein juveniles. The story describes a group of students sent on a survival test to an uninhabited planet...

and Citizen of the Galaxy
Citizen of the Galaxy
Citizen of the Galaxy is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in Astounding Science Fiction and published in hardcover in 1957 as one of the Heinlein juveniles by Scribner's...

.

Charlie Higson (born 1958): British author, wrote Young Bond
Young Bond
Young Bond is a series of five young adult spy novels by Charlie Higson featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond as a young teenage boy attending school at Eton College in the 1930s...

series.

S.E. Hinton (born 1950): American author, wrote The Outsiders
The Outsiders (novel)
The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel based in 1965 by S. E. Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she started writing the novel, but did most of the work when she was sixteen and a junior in high school. Hinton was 18 when the book was published...

, Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish (novel)
Rumble Fish is a 1975 novel for young adults by S. E. Hinton, author of The Outsiders. It was adapted to film and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983.-Plot:...

, That Was Then, This Is Now
That Was Then, This Is Now
That Was Then, This Is Now is a coming-of-age young adult novel by S. E. Hinton. It follows the relationship between two brothers who find their relationship rapidly changing. It was later made into a film starring Emilio Estevez.- Plot :...

, and Tex
Tex (novel)
Tex is a novel by S. E. Hinton, published in 1979. It was adapted to the film in 1982, which starred Matt Dillon. The book takes place in the same universe as Hinton's first book The Outsiders, but in a rural town called Garyville, Oklahoma, a fictional suburb of Tulsa.Tex and his older brother...

.

Ellen Hopkins
Ellen Hopkins
Ellen Hopkins is a novelist who has published several New York Times bestselling novels that are popular among the teenage and young adult audience.-Career:...

(born 1955): American New York Times Bestselling author, wrote "Crank
Crank (novel)
Crank is a novel by Ellen Hopkins published in 2004.- Synopsis :Kristina, a gifted, quiet, well-behaved girl high school junior goes to Reno, Nevada to see her father. When she goes, the first night she meets a boy named Adam. They are instantly attracted to each other...

" series, and several other novels in verse

Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's...

(born 1956): British author, Anthony Horowitz is writing the best selling Alex Rider
Alex Rider
Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by British author Anthony Horowitz about a 14-15 year old spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily at young adults. Nine novels have been published to date, as well as three graphic novels, three short stories and a supplementary book...

series.

Brian Jacques
Brian Jacques
James Brian Jacques was an English author best known for his Redwall series of novels and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He also completed two collections of short stories entitled The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales.-Biography:Brian Jacques was born...

(1939-2011): British author of the successful and critically acclaimed Redwall
Redwall
Redwall, by Brian Jacques, is a series of fantasy novels. It is the title of the first book of the series, published in 1986, the name of the Abbey featured in the book, and the name of an animated TV series based on three of the novels , which first aired in 1999...

series.

Maureen Johnson
Maureen Johnson
Maureen Johnson is an American author of young adult fiction. She has published eight young adult novels to date, including the Suite Scarlett series and The Last Little Blue Envelope. Johnson is also the founder of the political networking site .-Early life:Maureen Johnson is a graduate of the...

(born 1973): American author of 13 Little Blue Envelopes
13 Little Blue Envelopes
13 Little Blue Envelopes is a 2005 novel by Maureen Johnson. A young woman embarks on a journey throughout Europe by following instructions left to her in letters from her aunt .-Plot summary:...

and the Suite Scarlett series.

Gordon Korman
Gordon Korman
Gordon Korman is a Canadian author, primarily of novels for children and young adults. He lives in Long Island's Great Neck, New York, with his wife and three children....

C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...

(1898–1963): British author, 95 million copies of his Chronicles of Narnia series have been published worldwide since The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Published in 1950 and set circa 1940, it is the first-published book of The Chronicles of Narnia and is the best known book of the series. Although it was written and published first, it is second in the series'...

debuted in 1950.

Megan McCafferty
Megan McCafferty
Megan Fitzmorris McCafferty is an American author known for The New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series of young-adult novels published between 2001 and 2009...

(born 1973): American author of the New York Times Bestselling Jessica Darling
Jessica Darling
The Jessica Darling books are a The New York Times bestselling series of five young adult novels by Megan McCafferty, published between 2001 and 2009. Told from the diary-style perspective of character Jessica Darling, the series chronicles her misadventures through high school, college, and beyond...

series, which debuted in 2001.

Lurlene McDaniel
Lurlene McDaniel
Lurlene McDaniel is an author who has written more than 70 young adult books. She is well-known for writing about young adults struggling with mortality and chronic illness, a career that began as a therapeutic way to deal with the trauma when her son, then 3, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes...

(born 1948): American author; penned a series of novels dealing with terminal illness
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...

that were enormously popular during the 1980s and 1990s.

Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer is an American author known for her vampire romance series Twilight. The Twilight novels have gained worldwide recognition and sold over 100 million copies globally, with translations into 37 different languages...

(born 1973): American creator of the popular vampire romance franchise Twilight.

Robert Muchamore
Robert Muchamore
Robert Kilgore Muchamore is an English author, most notable for writing the CHERUB and Henderson's Boys novels.-Prior to writing:...

(born 1972): British author, known for writing the hugely successful CHERUB
CHERUB
CHERUB is a series of young adult spy novels, written by the English author Robert Muchamore, focusing around a division of the British Security Service named CHERUB, which employs minors, predominantly orphans, as intelligence officers...

series, and the new spin-off series, Henderson's Boys
Henderson's Boys
Henderson's Boys is a series of young adult spy novels written by English author Robert Muchamore. The series follows Charles Henderson, the creator of the fictitious CHERUB organisation...

.

Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers is an African American author of young adult literature. Myers has written over fifty books, including novels and nonfiction works. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors five times...

(born 1937) : American author, known for his writing about Harlem including Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels (Myers novel)
Fallen Angels is a 1988 young adult novel written by Walter Dean Myers, about the Vietnam war. It won the 1989 Coretta Scott King Award. Fallen Angels is listed as number 24 in the American Library Association's list of 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990–2000 due to its use of profanity...

, Monster
Monster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...

, Scorpions and many other books.

Garth Nix
Garth Nix
Garth Nix is an Australian author of young adult fantasy novels, most notably the Old Kingdom series, The Seventh Tower series, and The Keys to the Kingdom series. He has frequently been asked if his name is a pseudonym, to which he has responded, "I guess people ask me because it sounds like the...

(born 1963): Australian author, Garth Nix wrote the Keys to the Kingdom and Old Kingdom series.

Francine Pascal
Francine Pascal
Francine Pascal is an author best known for creating the Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High was the backbone of the collection, and was made into a popular television series. There were also several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University...

(born 1938): American creator of the popular Sweet Valley Twins
Sweet Valley Twins
Sweet Valley Twins was the first spin-off to originate from Sweet Valley High, and was created by Francine Pascal and written by Jamie Suzanne. Published by Bantam Books on the first of July in 1986, the series starts with the twins wanting to differ from each other...

and Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High is a novel series created by Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of ghostwriters for the duration of the series' creation. The series began in 1983 and ceased publication twenty years later with over 152 books to its name...

franchises.

Gary Paulsen
Gary Paulsen
Gary James Paulsen is an American writer who writes many young adult coming of age stories about the wilderness. He is the author of more than 200 books , 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for young adults and teens.-Biography:Gary Paulsen was born in...

(born 1939): American author, wrote Hatchet
Hatchet (novel)
Hatchet is a 1987 three-time Newbery Honor-winning wilderness survival novel written by Gary Paulsen. It is the first novel in the Hatchet series and is followed by four sequels....

and many other young-adult novels.

Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...

(born 1946): British author, Philip Pullman wrote the successful and controversial His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...

trilogy.

Kathryn Reiss
Kathryn Reiss
Kathryn Reiss is an American author of award-winning children's and young adult fiction.Kathryn Reiss was born in Massachusetts, grew up in Ohio, and received B.A. degrees in English and German from Duke University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor...

(born 1957): American Author, Kathryn Reiss is an award winning author of time travel and suspense novels for young-adults, as well as American Girl mysteries for younger readers. Sample titles: Time Windows, Dreadful Sorry, PaperQuake, Paint by Magic, Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge, Blackthorn Winter, A Bundle of Trouble.

Rick Riordan
Rick Riordan
Richard Russell "Rick" Riordan, Jr. is an American author best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. He also wrote the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and helped to edit Demigods and Monsters, a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series...

(born 1964): American author, wrote the award winning Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Percy Jackson & the Olympians is a pentalogy of adventure and fantasy fiction books authored by Rick Riordan. The series consists of five books, as well as spin-off titles such as The Demigod Files and Demigods and Monsters. Set in the United States, the books are predominantly based on Greek...

series, the best-selling The Kane Chronicles
The Kane Chronicles
The Kane Chronicles is a fictional trilogy by Rick Riordan about the adventures undertaken by Carter and Sadie Kane, the two main characters, in their quest to awaken the sun god,Ra.He is the god of all the gods or the supreme god. It is set in the modern United States, in the same sort of universe...

, and The Heroes of Olympus
The Heroes of Olympus
The Heroes of Olympus is a fantasy book series written by Rick Riordan and based on Greek and Roman mythology. It is the sequel series to the Percy Jackson & the Olympians pentalogy....

J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...

(born 1965): British author, J.K. Rowling is an award winning young-adult author today and arguably the most successful. Being the author of the extremely successful and critically well received Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

series, her books have been sold in more than 400 million copies worldwide and are translated into more than 63 languages. She is also the first billionaire-author (in terms of US-dollars).

J.D. Salinger (1919–2010): American author of the young adult classic The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major...

.

Elizabeth Scott
Elizabeth Scott (Author)
Elizabeth Scott was born in 1972 in a small town, and grew up in Southern Virginia. Both of her parents were teachers, which she ended up taking classes from both of them. She majored in European Studies and met her future husband her freshman year. Along with writing novels Elizabeth Scott has...

(born 1972) : American author, writes romance along with contemporary issue fiction, The Unwritten Rule, Living Dead Girl, and As I Wake
As I Wake
As I Wake is a Young Adult novel by Elizabeth Scott about Ava, a girl, who wakes up and finds out she doesn't remember anything about her life. Ava is convinced that she is not the person everyone says she is....

.

L.J. Smith (author) (born 1965)an American author of young-adult literature. Wrote many romantic fantasy stories. Two of her book series have turned into television series.

Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli is an author of children's novels on adolescence and early adulthood. He is best known for the novels Maniac Magee and Wringer....

(born 1941): Very prolific American author of young adult fare such as Stargirl
Stargirl (novel)
Stargirl is a young adult novel written by Jerry Spinelli, first published in 2000.The book centers on an eccentric and compassionate 10th grade student at Mica Area High School in Arizona named Susan "Stargirl" Caraway, who has spent her previous years in homeschooling. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock...

and Eggs
Eggs (novel)
Eggs is a young adult novel by Jerry Spinelli that was published in 2007. The story outlines a relationship that develops between two children that seemingly have little in common other than loneliness.-Plot:...

.

Jonathan Stroud
Jonathan Stroud
Jonathan Anthony Stroud is an author of fantasy books, mainly for children and young adults.-Biography:Born in 1970 in Bedford, England, Stroud began to write stories at a very young age. He grew up in St Albans where he enjoyed reading books, drawing pictures, and writing stories...

(born 1970): British author, wrote the best-selling Bartimaeus Trilogy
Bartimaeus Trilogy
Bartimaeus is a fantasy series by Jonathan Stroud consisting of a trilogy published from 2003 to 2005 and a prequel novel published in 2010. The titular character, Bartimaeus, is a five-thousand-year-old djinni, a spirit of approximately mid-level power...

amongst other books.

Julian F(rancis) Thompson
The Grounding of Group 6
The Grounding of Group 6 is a work of young adult fiction by Julian F. Thompson, author of nineteen young adult novels. The hardcover edition of the popular Avon paperback was published in 1997 by Henry Holt & Co...

(born 1927): American author of nineteen popular, award-winning YA novels, including The Grounding of Group 6
The Grounding of Group 6
The Grounding of Group 6 is a work of young adult fiction by Julian F. Thompson, author of nineteen young adult novels. The hardcover edition of the popular Avon paperback was published in 1997 by Henry Holt & Co...

currently being made into a movie.

Mark Walden (born 197?): British author, wrote the bestselling H.I.V.E. series.

Scott Westerfeld
Scott Westerfeld
Scott Westerfeld is an American author of science fiction. He was born in Texas and now divides his time between Sydney, Australia and New York City, USA.-Books:...

(born 1963): Scott has written books such as the Uglies
Uglies
Uglies is a 2005 science fiction novel by Scott Westerfeld. It is set in a future post-scarcity dystopian world in which everyone is turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery upon reaching age 16. It tells the story of teenager Tally Youngblood who rebels against society's enforced conformity,...

series which contains the best selling books Uglies
Uglies
Uglies is a 2005 science fiction novel by Scott Westerfeld. It is set in a future post-scarcity dystopian world in which everyone is turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery upon reaching age 16. It tells the story of teenager Tally Youngblood who rebels against society's enforced conformity,...

Pretties
Pretties
Pretties is the second book of the Uglies Trilogy written by Scott Westerfeld.-See also:*The Uglies series*Scott Westerfeld*Dystopian fiction...

Specials
Specials (novel)
Specials is the third novel in the Uglies series of novels, written by the American author Scott Westerfeld. It continues the story of the protagonist, Tally Youngblood.-Plot introduction:...

and Extras
Extras (novel)
Extras is a young adult science fiction novel written by Scott Westerfeld. The novel was published and released by Simon & Schuster on October 2, 2007, and is a companion book to the Uglies series. However, Extras differs from its predecessors in that its protagonist is fifteen-year-old Aya Fuse,...

. He also wrote So Yesterday
So Yesterday (novel)
So Yesterday is a novel by Scott Westerfeld published in 2004. It has won a Victorian Premier's Award and is also an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. So Yesterday, the author's third publication, is considered his "breakout novel" and has been optioned to be made into a film by one of the producers...

and Peeps
Peeps (novel)
Peeps is a 2005 novel by Scott Westerfeld revolving around a parasite which causes people to become cannibalistic and repelled by that which they once loved. It follows the protagonist, Cal Thompson, as he lives with this parasite and tries to uncover a possible threat to the whole population of...

as well as the Midnighters trilogy
Midnighters Trilogy
The Midnighters Trilogy is a science-fiction fantasy series written by Scott Westerfeld. It was published by Eos in 2004. It comprises three books; The Secret Hour, Touching Darkness and Blue Noon.-Plot Overview:...

. So Yesterday won an award for American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

2005 best book for young adults, and Uglies and Peeps got the 2006 American Library Association best book for young adults award.

Edward Irving Wortis
Edward Irving Wortis
Edward Irving Wortis , better known by the pen name Avi, is an American author of young adult and children's literature. He is a winner of both the Newbery Honor and Newbery Medal.- Biography :...

(pen name Avi; born 1937): American author of critically acclaimed young adult historical fiction, such as Something Upstairs
Something Upstairs
Something Upstairs is a young adult horror fiction novel written by Avi first published in 1988.- Plot summary:...

and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a young adult historical fiction novel by the American author Avi that was published in 1990. It takes place during the transatlantic crossing of a ship from England to America in the 19th century. The book chronicles the evolution of the title character...

.

Cecily von Ziegesar
Cecily von Ziegesar
Cecily von Ziegesar is an American author best known for the young adult Gossip Girl books.-Early life and education:...

(born 1970): American author of the popular teen novels Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...

.

Paul Zindel
Paul Zindel
Paul Zindel Jr. was an American playwright, author, and educator.-Early years:Zindel was born in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York to Paul Zindel,Sr., a policeman, and Beatrice Frank, a nurse; his sister, Betty Hagen, was a year and a half older than he. Paul Zindel, Sr...

(1936–2003): This Pulitzer-Prize winning American author wrote over 40 young adult novels, including The Pigman
The Pigman
The Pigman is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, first published in 1968. Zindel wrote a screenplay, adapting the book for the stage and screen, but it was not taken up by any film maker.-Plot:...

. His books have sold over 10 million copies and have been translated into languages all over the globe.

Genre

Young Adult Literature has become a genre

Genre

which covers various text types including: novels, graphic novels, short stories

Short Stories

Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

, and poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

. Much of the literature published consists of young adult fiction which in itself contains several different types of text, but the genre also contains other various types of non-fiction such as biographies, autobiographies, journal entries/diaries

Diary

A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...

, and letters. Although many genres exist in young adult literature, the problem novel tends to be the most popular among young readers. Problem novel

Problem novel

refers to young adult novels in the realistic fiction category that “addresses personal and social issues across socioeconomic boundaries and within both traditional and nontraditional family structures” (Cole 98). Memoir

Memoir

A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

s are also popular forms of Young Adult Literature. The genre itself has been challenged due its seemingly mature content by critics of Young Adult Literature, but "other converted critics have embraced Young Adult so dearly that they have scoured the canon for any classics they could adopt into the YA family" (Stephens 2007).

Themes

Young Adult Literature uses a wide array of themes in order to appeal to a wide variety of adolescent readers. Some of these themes

Theme (literature)

include: identity

Identity (social science)

Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...

, sexuality

Human sexuality

Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...

, science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, depression

Depression (mood)

Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...

, suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

, drug abuse

Drug abuse

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...

, alcohol abuse

Alcohol abuse

Alcohol abuse, as described in the DSM-IV, is a psychiatric diagnosis describing the recurring use of alcoholic beverages despite negative consequences. Alcohol abuse eventually progresses to alcoholism, a condition in which an individual becomes dependent on alcoholic beverages in order to avoid...

, familial struggles, bullying, and numerous others. Some issues that are talked about in young adult literature are things such as friendship, love, race, money, divorce, relationships within families. “The culture that surrounds and absorbs young adults plays a huge role in their lives. Young Adult Literature explores themes important and crucial to adolescence such as relationships to authority figures, peer pressure and ensuing experimentations, issues of diversity as it relates to gender, sociocultural, and/or socioeconomic status. Primarily, the focus is centered around a young lead character and the reader experiences emotions, situations, and the like through this character and is able to see how these problems/situations are resolved. It also needs to play a significant role in how we approach this group and the books we offer them to read” (Lesesne 14). Reading about issues that adolescents can relate to allows them to identify with a particular character, and creates a sense of security when experiencing something that is going on within their lives. "Whether you call them archetypes or stereotypes, there are certain experiences and certain kinds of people that are common to adolescents. Reading about it may help a young person validate his or her own experience and make some kind of meaning out of it" (Blasingame, 12). In a paper written by April Dawn Wells, she discovers seventeen common traits of young adult novels. These include: “friendship, getting into trouble, interest in the opposite sex, money, divorce, single parents, remarriage, problems with parents, grandparents, younger siblings, concern over grades/school, popularity, puberty, race, death, neighborhood, and job/working.

Characteristics

Young adult literature contains specific characteristics that are present throughout the genre. These characteristics encompass: “multi-themed story, tension versus shock effect, memorable characters, accurate facts and details, no unlikely coincidences, original idea, memorable voice, authentic dialogue, effective/clear writing style, sense of humor, widespread appeal, intriguing openings and memorable closings” (Cole 61-65). Other characteristics of Young Adult Literature include: "(1) Characters and issues young readers can identify with; those issues and characters are treated in a way that does not invalidate, minimize, or devalue them; (2) Is framed in language that young readers can understand; (3) Emphasizes plot above everything else; and (4)Is written for an audience of young adults" (Blasingame 11). Overall, Young Adult Literature needs to contain specific elements that will not only interest adolescent readers, but elements that relate directly to real situations adolescents face, and contain believable, empathetic characters.

Usage in Education

Research suggests young adult literature can be advantageous to reluctant student readers by addressing their needs. Authors who write young adult literature have an adolescent’s age and interests in mind. The language and plots of young adult literature are similar to what students are accustomed to finding in reality, television, movies, and popular culture (Bucher, Manning, 328-332).

The following are criteria that researchers have come up with to evaluate the effectiveness of young adult literature in the classroom (Bucher and Manning, 9-10).
• The subject matter should reflect age and development by addressing their interest levels, reading and thinking levels.
• The content should deal with contemporary issues and experiences with characters adolescents can relate.
• Subjects can relate to dealing with parents and adults, illness and death, peer pressure with regards to drugs, sex, and the complications of addiction and pregnancy.
• The content should consider existing global concerns such as cultural, social, and gender diversity; environmental and political issues as it relates to adolescents.

Young Adult Literature has been integrated into classrooms in order to increase student interest in reading. Research has been performed on what type of impact the introduction YA Lit has on students, particularly adolescent males and struggling readers: "Researchers have shown that introducing YA Literature to males improves their reading ability. YA Literature, because of its range of authors and story types, is an appropriate literature for every adolescent male who needs compelling material that speaks to him" (Gill). Research shows that not only adolescent males have been labeled as reluctant readers, struggling readers use reluctance as a coping

Coping (psychology)

Coping has been defined in psychological terms by Susan Folkman and Richard Lazarus as "constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing" or "exceeding the resources of the person".Coping is thus expending...

mechanism. Young Adult Literature has been used to open up the door of reading literature to these readers as well: "When voluntary reading declines, the problems of struggling readers are only aggravated. By allowing adolescents to read good young adult literature, educators are able to encourage independent reading, which will, in turn, help adolescents develop the skills necessary to succeed" (Bucher and Manning).

Another reason that Young Adult Literature has been incorporated into classrooms is to be paired with classic texts that are traditionally read in classrooms, and required by many schools curricula. Using YA Lit alongside a canonical piece of text can increase a students comprehension

Understanding

Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object....

of the common themes the various texts have, and make reading a classic text more enjoyable: "Young adult literature can spark interest in the classics and vice versa. Although it's clear that young adult literature is more accessible, that doesn't warrant denying the classics to struggling readers. The classics shouldn't be reserved for exceptional

Exceptionalism

Exceptionalism is the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is "exceptional" in some way and thus does not need to conform to normal rules or general principles...

students, and Young Adult Literature shouldn't be reserved for at-risk readers. (Cole 513).

Situational Archetypes in Literature

The classic canon in high school literature classes can often be too overwhelming and far removed from everyday life of the adolescence. Sarah K. Herz and Donald Gallo suggest using archetypes from traditional literature to “build bridges” to the classics through young adult literature. Young Adult Literature offers teachers an effective way to introduce the study of archetypes in literature by grouping a variety of titles around archetypal situations and characters. Herz and Gallo suggest before or after studying a traditional classic or contemporary novel it is a good time to introduce the concept of archetypes in literature. Based on the Jungian theory of archetypes, consider a literary archetype as a character type or theme which recurs frequently in literature (Herz and Gallo, 64-66).
Recognizing archetypes in literature will help students build the foundation for making connection among various works of literature. Students can begin to grasp and identify the archetypal images and patterns that appear in new forms. Archetypes also help students become more conscious of an author’s style and to think about and recognize the way in which a particular writer develops a character or story (Herz and Gallo, 66).

Using Classic Situational Archetypes in the Classroom

A partial list of classic situational literary archetypes as comprised by Herz and Gallo in two separate editions of their book, From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. The Young Adult Novels are paired with Classic Novels based on situational archetypes.(Herz and Gallo, 66-70).

Birth/Death/Rebirth:

Presents the main character in a conflict. Through pain and suffering, the character’s spirit survives the fight and through a development of self awareness the main character is reborn.

Breathing Underwater

Alex Flinn

Alex Flinn is an American author of novels for young adults. To date, she has written eight books that have been published.-Personal life:Flinn was born in Glen Cove, New York and grew up...

by Alex Flinn

Alex Flinn

Alex Flinn is an American author of novels for young adults. To date, she has written eight books that have been published.-Personal life:Flinn was born in Glen Cove, New York and grew up...

/ Hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

The Fall: Expulsion from Eden.

The main character is expelled because of undesirable actions on his or her part.

Speak

Speak (novel)

Speak is a 1999 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a girl named Melinda Sordino who is an outcast as a high school freshman. It was made into a film of the same name in 2004. The novel was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller...

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson is an American author who writes for children and young adults.-Career:...

/ The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...

by Nathanial Hawthorne

The Journey.

The protagonist takes journey, either physically or emotionally, and brings meaning in their life.

The Crazy Horse Electric Game by Chris Crutcher

Chris Crutcher

-Biography:Crutcher was born to a World War II bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to Cascade, Idaho, where Crutcher grew up....

/ The Odyssey by Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

and Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....

by John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...

The Test or Trial.

The main character experiences growth and change; he or she experiences a transformation.

The True Confessions by Charlotte Doyle by Avi, Permanent Connections by Sue Ellen Bridgers, Dancing on Dark Waters by Alden Carter

Alden Carter

Alden R. Carter is an American writer primarily known for his young adult novels, stories, and non-fiction. His works have won numerous awards including six American Library Association Best Book awards. In 2002 Carter was named to Wisconsin Library Association's list "Notable Wisconsin Authors"...

, and Driver's Ed by Caroline Cooney / The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane . Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound—a "red badge of courage"—to...

by Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism...

and The Color Purple

The Color Purple

The Color Purple is an acclaimed 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction...

by Alice Walker

Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...

Annihilation; Absurdity; Total Oblivion.

In order to exist in an unbearable world, the main character accepts that life is “absurd, ridiculous, and ironic”.

The Giver

The Giver

The Giver is a 1993 soft science fiction novel by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society which is at first presented as a utopian society and gradually appears more and more dystopian. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life...

by Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s...

/ Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...

and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr..

Parental Conflicts and Relationships.

The protagonist deals with parental conflict by rejecting or bonding with parents.

Tiger Eyes

Tiger Eyes

Tiger Eyes is a young adult novel written by Judy Blume in 1981 about a young girl attempting to cope with the murder of her father.-Plot summary:...

by Judy Blume

Judy Blume

Judy Blume is an American author. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages...

, Midnight Hour Encores by Bruce Brooks

Bruce Brooks

Bruce Brooks is an American author of young adult and children's literature. - Background :Brooks, born in Richmond, Virginia, lived most of his young life in North Carolina as a result of parental divorce. Brooks credits moving around multiple times between the two locations with making him a...

, Ironman by Chris Crutcher

Chris Crutcher

-Biography:Crutcher was born to a World War II bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to Cascade, Idaho, where Crutcher grew up....

, and The Runner by Cynthia Voigt

Cynthia Voigt

Cynthia Voigt is an American author of books for young adults dealing with various topics such as adventure, mystery, racism and child abuse. Her first book in the Tillerman family series, Homecoming, was nominated for several international prizes and made into a 1996 film...

/ Ordinary People

Ordinary People

Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton....

by Judith Guest

Judith Guest

Judith Guest is an American novelist and screenwriter. She was born in Detroit, Michigan and is the great-niece of Poet Laureate Edgar Guest .- Work :...

, Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...

by Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller

Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...

, Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

, The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco, California who start a club known as "the Joy Luck Club," playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods...

by Amy Tan

Amy Tan

Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...

, and The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...

by Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

The Wise Old Woman or Man.

This figure protects or assists the main character in facing challenges.

Phoenix Rising

Phoenix Rising (Karen Hesse novel)

Phoenix Rising is a 1994 book by Karen Hesse. It is a realistic fiction book about a 13 year old girl and her grandmother, and how their lives are disrupted by a nuclear accident.-External links:* *...

by Karen Hesse

Karen Hesse

Karen Hesse is an American author of children's literature and literature for young adults, often with historical settings.-Life:...

, Memoirs of a Bookbat by Kathryn Lasky

Kathryn Lasky

Kathryn Lasky is an American author whose work includes several Dear America books, The Royal Diaries books, Sugaring Time, The Night Journey, and the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series.-Biography:...

, Jacob I have Loved by Katherine Paterson

Katherine Paterson

Katherine Paterson is an American author of children's novels. She wrote Bridge to Terabithia and has received several of the major international awards for children's literature.- Early life:...

, and Remembering The Good Times by Richard Peck / To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

Harper Lee

and The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....

by John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...

The Hero.

The main character leaves his or her community to go on an adventure, performing actions that bring honor to the community.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes

Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes is a young-adult fiction novel by Chris Crutcher. It has been recognized by the American Library Association as a "Best of the Best Books for Young Adults". It is also one of fifty books on Young Adult Library Services Association's The Ultimate Teen Bookshelf...

by Chris Crutcher

Chris Crutcher

-Biography:Crutcher was born to a World War II bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to Cascade, Idaho, where Crutcher grew up....

and Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Virginia Euwer Wolff

Virginia Euwer Wolff is a prize-winning American author of children's literature, born in Portland, Oregon 25 Aug 1937. She attended an all-girls' school called St. Helen's Hall , before attending Smith College. She married Arthur Richard Wolff in 1959...

/ A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....

by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

and Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac

Hercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French dramatist and duelist. He is now best remembered for the works of fiction which have been woven, often very loosely, around his life story, most notably the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand...

by Edmond Rostand

Edmond Rostand

Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...

The Sacrificial Redeemer.

The protagonist is willing to die for a belief; the main character maintains a strong sense of morality.

The Chocolate War

The Chocolate War

The Chocolate War is a young adult novel by American author Robert Cormier. First published in 1974, it was adapted into a film in 1988. Although it received mixed reviews at the time of its publication, some reviewers have argued it is one of the best young adult novels of all time...

and The Bumblebee Flies Anyway

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway

For the novel by Robert Cormier, see The Bumblebee Flies Anyway The Bumblebee Flies Anyway is a 1999 film starring Elijah Wood, directed by Martin Duffy. It was based on the novel of the same name by Robert Cormier.-Plot:...

by Robert Cormier

Robert Cormier

Robert Edmund Cormier was an American author, columnist and reporter, known for his deeply pessimistic, downbeat literature. His most popular works include I Am the Cheese, After the First Death, We All Fall Down and The Chocolate War, all of which have won awards. The Chocolate War was challenged...

/ Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

and Antigone

Antigone

In Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus' mother. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood", "in place of a mother", or "anti-generative", based from the root...

by Sophocles

Sophocles

Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...

.

Other suggestions for classical/young adult text pairings using YA publications (List generated by Joan Kaywell, as cited in Cole 515-516):

Classical Text / Young Adult Text / Common Themes / Topics

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...

by Harper Lee

Harper Lee

/ Monster

Monster

A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...

by Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myers is an African American author of young adult literature. Myers has written over fifty books, including novels and nonfiction works. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors five times...

/ Trial: Guilty before Innocent

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding about a group of British boys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results...

by William Golding

William Golding

Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, best known for his novel Lord of the Flies...

/ The Clique

The Clique

The Clique was a group of English artists formed by Richard Dadd in the late 1830s. Other members were Augustus Egg, Alfred Elmore, William Powell Frith, Henry Nelson O'Neil, John Phillip and Edward Matthew Ward....

by Lisi Harrison / Use and Abuse of Power

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

/ The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 is a historical fiction book by Christopher Paul Curtis, written in 1995, and republished in 1997. It is about an African American family living in the town of Flint, Michigan who goes to their grandmother's home in Birmingham, Alabama to get Byron to behave, in...

by Christopher Paul Curtis

Christopher Paul Curtis

Christopher Paul Curtis is an American children's author and a Newbery Medal winner who wrote The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 and the critically acclaimed Bud, Not Buddy. Bud, Not Buddy is the first novel to receive both the Coretta Scott King Award and the Newbery Medal...

/ Prejudice

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury. The novel presents a future American society where reading is outlawed and firemen start fires to burn books...

by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury

Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...

/ Feed

Feed (novel)

Feed , a dystopian novel of the cyberpunk genre by M. T. Anderson, is a dark satire about corporate power, consumerism, information technology, and data mining in society...

by M. T. Anderson / Exploring the Future

Dracula

Dracula

Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...

by Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker

Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...

/ Twilight

Twilight (novel)

Twilight is a young-adult vampire-romance novel by author Stephenie Meyer. It is the first book of the Twilight series, and introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella "Bella" Swan, who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire,...

by Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer is an American author known for her vampire romance series Twilight. The Twilight novels have gained worldwide recognition and sold over 100 million copies globally, with translations into 37 different languages...

/ Vampires

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...

/ Sandpiper by Ellen Wittlinger

Ellen Wittlinger

Ellen Wittlinger is an author for young adults, including Gracie's Girl and the Printz Honor book Hard Love.- Biography :...

/ Sexual Behavior Alienation

Social alienation

The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...

Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

J. D. Salinger

/ America

America (novel)

America is a young adult novel written by E.R. Frank. It tells the story of America, a fifteen-year-old biracial boy who had gotten lost in the system.The author of the book, E.R. Frank, is herself a social worker...

by E. R. Frank / Mental Illness Rebellion

Edgy content

From its very beginning, young-adult fiction has portrayed teens confronting situations and social issues that have pushed the edge of then-acceptable content. Such novels and their content are sometimes referred to as "edgy."

In particular, authors and publishers have repeatedly pushed the boundaries of what was previously considered acceptable regarding human sexuality

Human sexuality

. Examples include:

Paul Zindel
Paul Zindel
Paul Zindel Jr. was an American playwright, author, and educator.-Early years:Zindel was born in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York to Paul Zindel,Sr., a policeman, and Beatrice Frank, a nurse; his sister, Betty Hagen, was a year and a half older than he. Paul Zindel, Sr...

's The Pigman
The Pigman
The Pigman is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, first published in 1968. Zindel wrote a screenplay, adapting the book for the stage and screen, but it was not taken up by any film maker.-Plot:...

(1968) (teen smoking, drinking, pranks, peer pressure)
Paul Zindel
Paul Zindel
Paul Zindel Jr. was an American playwright, author, and educator.-Early years:Zindel was born in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York to Paul Zindel,Sr., a policeman, and Beatrice Frank, a nurse; his sister, Betty Hagen, was a year and a half older than he. Paul Zindel, Sr...

's My Darling, My Hamburger
My Darling, My Hamburger
My Darling, My Hamburger is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, first published in 1969.-Plot summary:Nerdy Maggie Tobin is convinced by her best friend, Liz Carstensen, to go on a date with Dennis Holowitz, a weird and equally nerdy boy. During their second double-date, Liz and Sean go...

(1969) (a teen's first sexual encounter and abortion)
Judy Blume
Judy Blume
Judy Blume is an American author. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages...

's Forever
Forever (novel)
Forever... is a 1975 novel by Judy Blume dealing with teenage sexuality. Because of the novel's content it has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 at number seven.-Plot...

(1975) (a teen's first sexual encounter and contraception)
Nancy Garden
Nancy Garden
Nancy Garden is an American author of children's and young adult literature.- Biography :She is best known for her novel, Annie on My Mind , which was critically acclaimed but attracted controversy because of its lesbian characters, Annie and Liza who fall in love...

's Annie on My Mind
Annie on My Mind
Annie On My Mind is a 1982 novel by Nancy Garden about the romantic relationship between two 17-year-old New York City girls, Annie and Liza.-Characters:...

(1982) (two high-school girls who fall in love)
Julian F. Thompson's The Grounding of Group 6
The Grounding of Group 6
The Grounding of Group 6 is a work of young adult fiction by Julian F. Thompson, author of nineteen young adult novels. The hardcover edition of the popular Avon paperback was published in 1997 by Henry Holt & Co...

(1983) (comedic satiric thriller: parents send their children to boarding school to be murdered, sexual encounters among the teens and assassin/teen romantic relationship).
Shelley Stoehr's Crosses (1991) (self-mutilation)
Chris Crutcher
Chris Crutcher
-Biography:Crutcher was born to a World War II bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to Cascade, Idaho, where Crutcher grew up....

's Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes
Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes is a young-adult fiction novel by Chris Crutcher. It has been recognized by the American Library Association as a "Best of the Best Books for Young Adults". It is also one of fifty books on Young Adult Library Services Association's The Ultimate Teen Bookshelf...

(1993) (religion, peer pressure, child abuse, abortion, suicide)
Melvin Burgess
Melvin Burgess
Melvin Burgess is a British author of children's fiction. His first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. He gained a certain amount of notoriety in 1996 with the publication of Junk, which was published in the shadow of the film of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and dealt with the...

's Junk
Junk (novel)
Junk is a 1996 Carnegie Medal and Guardian Award-winning novel by Melvin Burgess. The book is about the experiences of a group of teenagers who fall into heroin addiction and who embrace anarchism on the streets of Bristol, England...

(1996) (US title: Smack (heroin addiction, teenage prostitution, squatting)
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas (writer)
Rob Thomas is an American author, producer, and screenwriter, best known as the author of the 1996 novel Rats Saw God and creator of the critically acclaimed television programs Veronica Mars and Party Down.-Education and early career:Thomas graduated from San Marcos High School in 1983 and went...

's Rats Saw God
Rats Saw God
Rats Saw God is a young adult novel written by Rob Thomas, published in 1996. It follows the main character Steve York, the son of an astronaut. Steve is a high school student who has had issues with marijuana and has found himself in the counselors office. The counselor tells him that he is...

(1996) (drugs, sex)
David Belbin
David Belbin
David Belbin is an English author primarily of Young Adult Fiction, along with books for both younger and older readers.He was born...

's Love Lessons (1998) (teacher/student sexual affair)
Linda Glovach's Beauty Queen (1998) (teenage exotic dancing and heroin addiction)
Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson is an American author who writes for children and young adults.-Career:...

's Speak
Speak (novel)
Speak is a 1999 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a girl named Melinda Sordino who is an outcast as a high school freshman. It was made into a film of the same name in 2004. The novel was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller...

(1999) (rape)
Stephen Chbosky
Stephen Chbosky
Stephen Chbosky is an American novelist, screenwriter, and film director best known for the coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower...

's The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an epistolary novel written by American novelist Stephen Chbosky. It was published on February 1, 1999 by MTV...

(1999) (suicide, teenage sexuality, drug use, and abusive relationships)
Sarah Dessen
Sarah Dessen
Sarah Dessen is an American writer who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.- Background :Sarah Dessen was born in Evanston, Illinois on June 6, 1970. She moved with her family to Virginia then North Carolina where she now resides with her husband, Jay, daughter Sasha Clementine, and dogs...

's Dreamland
Dreamland (novel)
Dreamland is a young adult novel by the American author Sarah Dessen.-Part I: Cass:Caitlin O'Koren has just realized that on her 16th birthday, her 18 year old sister, Cass, has just run away. Everybody completely forget about Caitlin's birthday. Her parents are broken-hearted, since she was...

(2000) (emotionally, mentally, and physically abusive relationships, drug abuse, and running away)
Alex Flinn
Alex Flinn
Alex Flinn is an American author of novels for young adults. To date, she has written eight books that have been published.-Personal life:Flinn was born in Glen Cove, New York and grew up...

's Breathing Underwater (2001) (emotionally, mentally, and physically abusive relationships)
Alex Sanchez's Rainbow Boys
Rainbow Boys
Rainbow Boys is the first novel in a trilogy by Alex Sánchez, focusing on the issues gay and questioning youth face as they come of age. This book is followed by Rainbow High and Rainbow Road.-Plot summary:...

(2001) (high school boys exploring gay sex, accepting their sexuality, and falling in love)
Patricia McCormick's Cut
Cut (novel)
Cut is a 2000 novel by Patricia McCormick, targeted at young adults. It is considered a cult classic among teens. Fifteen-year-old Callie isn't speaking to anybody, not even to her therapist at Sea Pines , the residential treatment facility where her parents and doctor sent her after discovering...

(2001) (self-mutilation)
Linda Newbery
Linda Newbery
Linda Newbery is a British author, who began writing as a young adult author but has now broadened her range to encompass all ages. Now a full-time writer, she published her first novel Run with the Hare in 1988, while still working as an English teacher in a comprehensive school.Linda is a regular...

's The Shell House (2002) (a split narrative, one concerning a homosexual relationship during the First World War, the other in the present day concerning a possible gay relationship between teenage boys)
KL Going
KL Going
Kelly Louise Going , known by her byline KL Going, is an American author most widely known for her Michael L. Printz Award Honor winning Young Adult novel Fat Kid Rules the World.-Biography:...

's Fat Kid Rules The World (2003) (obesity, depression, homelessness, drug addiction, social alienation)
Alice Hoffman
Alice Hoffman
Alice Hoffman is an American novelist and young-adult and children's writer, best known for her 1996 novel Practical Magic, which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name...

's Green Angel
Green Angel
Green Angel is a 2003 young adult novel written by Alice Hoffman. It tells the story of a girl's isolation, suffering and gradual recovery after her family dies in a catastrophic fire. It has elements of magic realism and dystopian fiction...

(2003) (self-mutilation)
Angela Johnson
Angela Johnson (writer)
Angela Johnson is an American children's book and poetry author with over 40 books to her credit since beginning her writing career in 1989. Her books for young children are simple yet poetic stories about African American families, friendships, and common childhood experiences such as moving...

's The First Part Last
The First Part Last
The First Part Last is a young adult novel by Angela Johnson that deals with the subject of teen pregnancy. Johnson writes the story in first person narration from the perspective of Bobby, the 16-year-old father, setting it apart from most books on the subject...

(2003) (teen fatherhood)
Jonathan Trigell's Boy A
Boy A
Boy A is the title of a 2004 novel by British writer Jonathan Trigell.-Premise:The book is the story of a child criminal released into society as an adult, taking its title from the court practice of concealing the identity of child defendants....

(2004) (rehabilitation, suicide, abuse, media)
Julie Anne Peters
Julie Anne Peters
-Personal life:Julie Anne Peters was born in Jamestown, New York, on 16 January 1952. When she was five, her family moved to the Denver suburbs in Colorado. Her parents divorced when she was in high school...

' Luna
Luna (novel)
Luna is a young adult novel, by Julie Anne Peters, and was first published in 2004.-Plot summary:The novel is told from the point of view of sixteen-year-old Regan. She struggles with the secret that her older brother, Liam, is transgender, and wants to transition and live as a girl named Luna...

(2004) (transsexuality)
John Green's Looking for Alaska
Looking for Alaska
Looking for Alaska is the first young adult novel by John Green, published in March 2005 by Dutton Juvenile. It won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association...

(2005) (Under age drinking, smoking, oral sex)
Steve Berman
Steve Berman
This article is about the writer. For the lawyer, see Steve Berman ; for the Mayor of Gilbert, Arizona see Steven M. Berman.Steve Berman is an American editor, novelist and short story writer.-Biography:...

's Vintage: A Ghost Story (2007) (depressed gay boy who deals with suicide and loneliness)
An Na
An Na
An Na is an American author of children's literature. Like most authors, she was a fervent reader as a child. She eventually became a middle school English and History teacher. She turned to writing novels after taking a young adult literature class while enrolled in a M.F.A. program at Vermont...

's The Fold
The Fold (novel)
The Fold is a young adult novel by An Na. It is her third novel following Wait for Me and A Step from Heaven.-Plot:Joyce Park is a Korean teenager who just finished her junior year of high school...

(2008) (plastic surgery, race relations, lesbianism)
Elizabeth Scott
Elizabeth Scott (Author)
Elizabeth Scott was born in 1972 in a small town, and grew up in Southern Virginia. Both of her parents were teachers, which she ended up taking classes from both of them. She majored in European Studies and met her future husband her freshman year. Along with writing novels Elizabeth Scott has...

's Living Dead Girl (2008) (kidnapping, rape, oral sex, violence)
Greg Neri
Greg Neri
Greg Neri is an American author who goes by the pen name G. Neri, and is known for his work in young-adult fiction. He has written in free-verse , novelistic prose , and for graphic novels...

Surf Mules (2009) (drug trafficking)
Lucy Christopher
Lucy Christopher
Lucy Christopher is a British/Australian author best known for her novel Stolen, which won the Branford Boase award 2010 in the UK, and the 2010 Gold Inky in Australia. Her second book, Flyaway, was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards 2010...

Stolen (2010) (kidnapping)
Joanne Hichens's Stained (2009) (sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, post-natal depression, drugs, suicide)
David-Matthew Barnes
David-Matthew Barnes
David-Matthew Barnes is an American novelist, playwright, poet, screenwriter, filmmaker, director, actor, and teacher....

's Mesmerized (2010) (gay teen love, hate crime) and Swimming to Chicago (2011) (gay teen love, teen pregnancy)

YA novels currently in print include content about peer pressure, illness, divorce, drugs, gangs, crime, violence, sexuality

Human sexuality

, incest

Incest

Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...

, oral sex

Oral sex

Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...

, and female/male rape

Types of rape

Rape can be categorized in different ways: for example, by reference to the situation in which it occurs, by the identity or characteristics of the victim, and/or by the identity or characteristics of the perpetrator...

. Critics of such content argue that the novels encourage destructive or immoral behavior. Others argue that fictional portrayal of teens successfully addressing difficult situations and confronting social issues helps readers deal with real-life challenges.

Debate continues regarding the amount and nature of violence and profanity appropriate in young-adult fiction.

Hyphens (young adult vs. young-adult)

Recognition of the noun young adult and its punctuation as an adjectival modifier are inconsistent. Some dictionaries recognize young adult as a noun , while others do not . When recognized (as by Random House), young adult is treated as an open compound noun, with no hyphen.

When the noun young adult is placed before another noun (such as fiction, novel, author), however, the use of a hyphen varies widely. For example, an Internet search (of the Web or of news articles) using the key words young adult fiction shows widespread inconsistency in hyphenation. Although the Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 16 editions have prescribed writing and citation styles widely used in publishing...

falls short of declaring the omission of the hyphen as grammatically incorrect, it clearly addresses the issue in "Compounds and Hyphenation," sections 7.82-7.86: "When such compounds precede a noun, hyphenation usually makes for easier reading. With the exception of proper nouns (such as United States) and compounds formed by an adverb ending in ly plus an adjective, it is never incorrect to hyphenate adjectival compounds before a noun." The Writer's Digest Grammar Desk Reference is a little more forceful on the subject: "The most complicated business conducted by hyphens is uniting words into adjectival compounds that precede nouns. Many writers neglect to hyphenate such compounds, and the result is ramshackle sentences that often frustrate the reader." The Wikipedia Manual of Style also addresses the issue of hyphens for compound adjectives.

Although none of the sources cited above list young adult as an example, each clearly expresses a preference for hyphenating compound modifiers. With that in mind, young adult is a noun (without a hyphen) as defined by Random House. But when the noun young adult precedes another noun, it becomes a compound modifier and warrants a hyphen, as in young-adult fiction, young-adult author, young-adult novel, and so on. Because the sources do not declare the absence of a hyphen as grammatically incorrect, widespread inconsistencies in the punctuation of young adult are likely to continue, either out of ignorance or as conscious choice of style.

Literature

Whether any particular work of fiction qualifies as literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

can be disputed. In recent years, however, YA fiction has been increasingly treated as an object of serious study by children's literature critics

Children's literature criticism

The term children's literature criticism includes both generalist discussions of the relationship between children's literature and literary theory and literary analyses of a specific works of children's literature...

. A growing number of young-adult-fiction awards

Young-adult-fiction awards

Young-adult-fiction awards recognize outstanding works of fiction for adolescents.-Michael L. Printz Award:Since 1930, the ALA has put out an annual list of Best Books for Young Adults, which is created by the Young Adult Library Services Association , a division of ALA. YALSA also annually gives...

recognize outstanding works of fiction for adolescents.

Trends

The category of YA fiction continues to expand into new genres: graphic novels, light novels, manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

, fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

, mystery fiction

Mystery fiction

Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...

, romance novels, even subcategories such as cyberpunk

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...

, splatterpunk

Splatterpunk

Splatterpunk—a term coined in 1986 by David J. Schow at the Twelfth World Fantasy Convention in Providence, Rhode Island—refers to a movement within horror fiction distinguished by its graphic, often gory, depiction of violence and "hyperintensive horror with no limits." It is regarded as a revolt...

, techno-thriller

Techno-thriller

Techno-thrillers are a hybrid genre, drawing subject matter generally from spy/action thrillers, fantasy/war novels, and science fiction...

s, and contemporary Christian fiction. New formats such as ebooks make it easier for teens to access these online.

Boundaries between children's, YA, and adult fiction

The distinctions between children's literature

Children's literature

, YA literature, and adult literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

have historically been flexible and loosely defined. This line is often policed by adults who feel strongly about the border. At the lower end of the YA age spectrum, fiction targeted to readers age 10 to 12 is referred to as middle-grade fiction. Some novels originally marketed to adults have been identified as being of interest and value to adolescents and, in the case of several books such as the Harry Potter novels, vice versa.

Awards

Various young-adult-fiction awards

Young-adult-fiction awards

are presented annually, and mark outstanding adolescent literature writing.

The Michael L. Printz Award
Michael L. Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award is an annual award in the United States for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a school librarian from Topeka, Kansas, who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association...

is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association.

The William C. Morris YA Debut Award
William C. Morris YA Award
The William C. Morris YA Debut Award is an annual award given to a work of young adult literature by a debut author. It is administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association a division of the American Library Association . It was named for twentieth century American publisher William C....

first awarded in 2009, honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature. The first William C. Morris award was given to Elizabeth C. Bunce for A Curse Dark as Gold.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award was established in 1988, honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. The annual award is administered by YALSA and sponsored by School Library Journal magazine. It recognizes an author's work in helping adolescents become aware of themselves and addressing questions about their role and importance in relationships, society, and in the world.

The Alex Awards
Alex Awards
The Alex Awards are also a separate award given for excellence in entertainment packaging.The Alex Awards is an annual event designed to commend and honor the ten books published for adults during the previous year, which have been also judged to have "special appeal" for young readers, primarily...

are given annually to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults. The winning titles are selected from the previous year's publishing. The Alex Awards were first given annually beginning in 1998 and became an official ALA award in 2002.

Odyssey Award
Odyssey Award
The Odyssey Award is an annual award given to the producer of the best audiobook for children or young adults, available in English in the United States. It is jointly administered by two divisions of the American Library Association and is sponsored by Booklist magazine...

honors the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States. Co-administered with Association for Library Service to Children.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12–18) during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year.

Other publications

Authors and Artists for Young Adults, serial publication (Gale, 1989+) with bio-bibliographies of novelists, poets, dramatists, filmmakers, cartoonists, painters, architects, and photographers which appeal to teenagers. Entries typically are six to twelve pages in length, have a black & white photo of the author/artist and other illustrations. Recent volumes include a sidebar recommending similar books/works the reader might like also.
ALA Best Books for Young Adults by YALSA, edited by Holly Koelling.
Books for the Teen Age, annual book list selected by teens for teens, sponsored by the New York Public Library
More Outstanding Books for the College Bound, by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association
Young Adult Library Services Association
The Young Adult Library Services Association , established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. The mission of YALSA is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to...

), professional organization for librarians serving teens in either public libraries or school library/media centers; a division of ALA.
Diana Tixier Herald. (2003) Teen Genreflecting. 2nd ed. Wesport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.
Judging a Book by Its Cover: Publishing Trends in Young Adult Literature, by Cat Yampbell, The Lion and the Unicorn; Sep 2005; 29:3; Children's Module, The Johns Hopkins University Press
Johns Hopkins University Press
The Johns Hopkins University Press is the publishing division of the Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The Press publishes books, journals, and electronic databases...

, pp348–372, at p350-351.
Frances FitzGerald, "The Influence of Anxiety" in Harper's, September 2004, p. 62-70
Grenby, Matthew. “Introduction.” The Guardian of Education. Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 2002. ISBN 1843710110

External links

In defense of mean-girl books, by Lianne George, Macleans, 15 Oct 2007.
"New Trend in Teen Fiction: Racy Reads; Parents Alarmed that Books are More 'Sex and the City' than Nancy Drew", by Janet Shamlian, NBC News, 15 Aug 2005.
"Now and Forever: The Power of Sex in Young Adult Literature," by Tanya Lee Stone, VOYA, Feb 2006.
NPR: Multicultural Books Offer Diverse Reading Experience Michel Martin interviews ALA President Loriene Roy, 19 Jul 2007.
"Racy Reading; Gossip Girl Series is Latest Installment in Provocative Teen Fiction, and It's As Popular As It Is Controversial," by Linda Shrieves, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 Aug 2005.
"Teens and their Literature are Rocking the Marketplace", Seattle Post Intelligencer, 7 Mar 2007.
"Teens Reading More Challenging Books", WDBJ-7, 5 May 2007.
"Who Says Teens Don't Read?" by Erinn Hutkin, Roanoake Times, 30 Oct 2007.
"Young Adult Fiction: Wild Things," by Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf is an American author and political consultant. With the publication of The Beauty Myth, she became a leading spokesperson of what was later described as the third wave of the feminist movement.-Biography:...

, The New York Times, 12 Mar 2006.
A Change in the Weather by Robert Gould, a modern-day fairy tale for young adults.
Best Books For Young Adults - A growing resource of some amazing books

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Sarah Trimmer

The Beginning

Mid-Century

70's and 80's

Marketing

Notable authors

Genre

Themes

Characteristics

Usage in Education

Situational Archetypes in Literature

Using Classic Situational Archetypes in the Classroom

Birth/Death/Rebirth:

The Fall: Expulsion from Eden.

The Journey.

The Test or Trial.

Annihilation; Absurdity; Total Oblivion.

Parental Conflicts and Relationships.

The Wise Old Woman or Man.

The Hero.

The Sacrificial Redeemer.

Edgy content

Hyphens (young adult vs. young-adult)

Literature

Trends

Boundaries between children's, YA, and adult fiction

Awards

See also

Other publications

External links