Essentials of Young Adult Literature

Book excerpt: "Essentials of Young Adult Literature" Based on a genre approach to literature, this long-awaited book offers a comprehensive, clear, and succinct overview of adolescent literature. It includes recommended books listed by genre and topic, and engages readers by offering a thorough discussion of the major trends and issues affecting young adult literature such as censorship, the literary canon, and accountability. It provides clearly stated positions on the current issues affecting schools and literature. Written by well-known authors Carl Tomlinson and Carol Lynch-Brown, "Essentials of Young Adult Literature" places emphasis on reading a wide variety of young adult literature and addresses all types and formats of literature including novels, short stories, graphic novels, and picture books for older readers. In addition, notable authors are featured in each genre chapter and multicultural and international literature is integrated throughout the book and then treated more fully in its own chapter. Current and future teachers will appreciate the authors' practical strategies for connecting secondary school students with young adult books, such as how to select books that students will read and enjoy, how to motivate resistant readers to read, and how to develop text sets for classroom study across the curriculum. Readers will be equipped with the knowledge to use trade books as excellent teaching and learning materials and will not be limited to using textbooks alone. Key Features "Literature Across the Curriculum" features found in all genre chapters give examples of how young adult literature can help students and teachers in the content areas learn or present course content in a more interesting, memorable way. Extensive lists of recommended books briefly annotated with topics and age levels follow each genre chapter. One full chapter devoted to addressing the specific needs of resistant readers give middle and high school teachers much-needed strategies for addressing common obstacles to reading and for motivating students to read. Every chapter presents one to three charts with information about milestone books, history of specific genres, and research. Appendices feature Young Adult Book Award lists and YA Magazines, organized by content area and include ordering information. By the same authors Essentials of Children's Literature, Fifth Edition (c)2005, Allyn & Bacon, ISBN 0-205-42015-X For more information, please visit www.ablongman.com