1. Literature for Adolescents Jessica Dockter Fall 2009

2. Definitions Written for & marketed to young adults Between 11 to 18 Read by young adults between those ages

3. Purposes Early:  Didactic – teaching proper behavior  John Newbery published The Renowned History of Little Goody Two Shoes Later:  Nurture imagination  Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

4. Early 20 th Century 1919 – Macmillan launched children’s book department 1922 Newbery Award 1938 Caldecott Award 1924 The Horn Book Magazine Published The Horn Book Magazine 1920s and 1930s picture books developed From 1940s, children’s / young adult sections of libraries and book stores grow

5. Later 20 th Century Increased cultural diversity in literature Relatively low compared to diversity in community 1975 Children’s Book Press; 1988 Dial Bishop (1994) – 4% of children’s books related to people of color Since 1999, less than 3% (Hansen-Krening, et al, 2003) Similar trend in international literature

6. Literature for Adolescents 1960s The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton Forever, Judy Blume Michael Printz Award in 2000 Series books, young adult fiction, graphic novels – expanded idea of what is possible in books

7. Types and Genres Narrative / Exposition Genre  Poetry  Folklore  Fantasy  Science Fiction  Contemporary Realistic Fiction  Historical Fiction  Biography or Memoir  Nonfiction  Picture Books

8. Current Trends Which genre?  Holes – Louis Sachar  Out of the Dust – Karen Hesse  Monster – Walter Dean Myers Postmodern texts (Sipe & McGuire, 2008):  Blurring genres and author, narrator, reader distinction  Subversion of literary traditions & conventions  Intertextuality  Multiplicity of meaning, high degree of ambiguity  Playfulness  Self-referentiality

9. Current Trends Crossover Books: The Life of Pi, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and The Book Thief Increasing Diversity of Content: Feed, Copper Sun, Speak, and Boy Meets Boy Distinguishing between MS and HS Global Perspectives, Commercialism & Technology,

10. Resources American Library Association: www.ala.org www.ala.org School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and Library Journal: www.bookwire.com www.bookwire.com Teenager’s reviews of adolescent lit: www.teenreads.com/index.asp www.teenreads.com/index.asp The Horn Book Magazine & The Horn Book Guide

11. Book Awards Newbery Medal Caldecott Award Coretta Scott King Award Pura Belapre Award Sibert Award Batchelder Award See LC Appendix A: p. 361