Young adult (YA) literature, while only recognized as a legitimate genre for a relatively short time, is a collection of books that can range from science fiction to autobiography. The genre usually is described as works of realistic fiction that involve ideas and transitions that young adults are concerned about, are involved in, or can relate to. The American Library Association (ALA) identifies young adults as ages 12-18.
The identification of these works as a separate classification originated in library science, probably in the 1960s. Originally, U.S. librarians began setting aside works in separate sections of libraries which were expected to appeal to young adults; following the librarians' lead, publishers began identifying this as a market distinct from either children's literature or books written for adults.
Examples of books that predate the classification but are now frequently shelved in YA sections of libraries are The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger; Salinger's novel, with its troubled teenage protagonist, has been very influential on YA literature. Unlike most recent works classified as YA literature, these works were originally written with an adult audience in mind. [FitzGerald 2004, p. 62]
The blooming of YA literature in the U.S. in the late 1960s may be attributed, at least in part, to the availability of Title II funds for school libraries under the 1965 Elementary and Secondary School Educational Act. However, these funds diminished to a trickle in the 1980s; since then, YA literature in the U.S. has been more market-driven. [FitzGerald 2004, p. 66-67]
At present about 400 titles a year are published by major U.S. publishers that are considered to fall under the heading of YA literature. [FitzGerald 2004, p. 63] Well-known pioneers of YA fiction as a distinct category include Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton. Well-known authors of fiction for adults who have written at least one work for this genre include Michael Chabon (Summerland), Joyce Carol Oates (Big Mouth & Ugly Girl), and Francine Prose (After).
Since 1966, the ALA has put out an annual list of Best Books for Young Adults. The ALA also annually gives the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. Each year ALA and School Library Journal also recognize an author for his/her lifetime contributions to popular young adult literature with the Margaret A. Edwards Award. Past winners are S.E. Hinton (1988; no award 1989), Richard Peck (1990), Robert Cormier (1991), Lois Duncan (1992), M.E. Kerr (1993), Walter Dean Myers (1994), Cynthia Voigt (1995), Judy Blume (1996), Gary Paulsen (1997), Madeleine L'Engle (1998), Anne McCaffrey (1999), Chris Crutcher (2000), Robert Lipsyte (2001), Paul Zindel (2002), Nancy Garden (2003), and Ursula K. Le Guin (2004).
Teens enjoy both traditional and new forms of fiction. Graphic novels are especially popular with young adults and are being included in some public and school library collections. Diana Tixier Herald analyzed YA fiction genres in her book Teen Genreflecting (1997). She gives background on teen genre fiction and recommends specific authors and titles in dozens of categories, e.g. fantasy, mystery fiction, and romance novels. Some of the more unexpected subcategories are cyberpunk, splatterpunk, techno-thrillers, problem novels, and contemporary Christian fiction.
YA Authors and selected works
- Lloyd Alexander: Westmark, Kestral, The Beggar Queen
- David Almond: Kit's Wilderness
- Elaine M. Alphin: Counterfeit Son
- Julia Alvarez: Before We Were Free, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Yo!
- Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak
- Maya Angelou (primarily a poet): I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Heart of a Woman
- Anonymous: Go Ask Alice
- Avi: Nothing But the Truth, True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
- T.A. Barron: The Ancient One
- Lynda Barry, cartoonist, graphic novelist
- Lois Thompson Bartholomew: The White Dove
- Joan Bauer: Rules of the Road, Squashed, Stand Tall
- Francesca Lia Block: Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Baby Be-Bop, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys
- Judy Blume: Forever, Tiger Eyes
- Ray Bradbury (primarily an author of science fiction): Fahrenheit 451
- Robin F. Brancato: Facing Up, Winning
- Eve Bunting: A Sudden Silence
- Meg Cabot: The Princess Diaries, All-American Girl
- Michael Chabon (primarily an author of adult fiction): Summerland
- Alice Childress: A Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich
- Sandra Cisneros: The House on Mango Street
- Mary Higgins Clark (primarily an author of adult romance/mystery fiction)
- Vera Cleaver and Bill Cleaver: Where the Lillies Bloom
- Brock Cole: The Goats
- Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl
- Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier: My Brother Sam is Dead
- Ellen Conford: We Interrupt this Semester for an Important Bulletin
- Pam Conrad: My Daniel
- Caroline B. Cooney: The Face on the Milk Carton, Twenty Pageants Later, Driver's Ed
- Robert Cormier: The Chocolate War, After the First Death, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway, Fade, I Am the Cheese, Tenderness, We All Fall Down
- Sharon Creech: Walk Two Moons
- Linda Crew: Children of the River
- Chris Crutcher: Ironman, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Stotan!, Whaletalk
- Christopher Paul Curtis: The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963, Bud Not Buddy
- Karen Cushman: Catherine Called Birdy
- Roald Dahl (primarily an author of adult fiction): Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
- Maureen Daly: Seventeenth Summer
- Paula Danziger: The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, The Divorce Express
- Sarah Dessen: Dreamland, Keeping the Moon
- Carl Dueker: Heart of a Champion and other sports stories
- Peter Dickinson: Eva
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: the Sherlock Holmes stories, which were written initially for an adult readership
- Lois Duncan: I Know What You Did Last Summer, Killing Mr. Griffin, Summer of Fear
- Nancy Farmer: The Ear, the Eye and the Arm; House of the Scorpion
- Paul Fleischman: Whirligig
- Alex Flinn: Breathing Underwater
- Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl
- Paula Fox: One-Eyed Cat, The Slave Dancer
- Benedict & Nancy Freedman: Mrs. Mike
- Russell Freedman: Lincoln: a Photobiography, The Life and Death of Crazy Horse, Eleanor Roosevelt: a Life Discovered and other nonfiction
- Jack Gantos: Joey Pigza stories, Hole in My Life (autobiography of his youth)
- Nancy Garden: Annie on my Mind, The Year They Burned the Books
- Jean Craighead George: Julie of the Wolves, My Side of the Mountain, Julie
- Parke Godwin: The Tower of Beowulf
- Bette Greene: Summer of My German Soldier
- Rosa Guy: The Friends, The Disappearance
- Margaret Peterson Haddix: Among the Hidden, Among the Imposters and sequels
- James Haskins (primarily an author of non-fiction): Fighting Shirley Chisolm, The Geography of Hope
- Ann Head: Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones
- Nat Hentoff (primarily an author of adult non-fiction): Does This School Have Capital Punishment?
- Karen Hesse: Out of the Dust, Witness (novels in verse)
- S.E. Hinton: The Outsiders, Rumblefish, Tex
- Will Hobbs: Bearstone, Far North, Ghost Canoe, Kokopelli's Flute
- Brian Jacques: Redwall and sequels
- Paul B. Janeczeko, editor of poetry anthologies for teens, e.g. Don't Forget to Fly
- Angela Johnson: Heaven
- Harold Keith: Rifles for Watie
- M.E. Kerr: Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack, Little Little, Night Kites, Deliver Us from Evie, Fell, Gentlehands
- Stephen King (primarily an author of adult horror fiction): Carrie, Christine, Cujo
- David Klass: Danger Zone, You Don't Know Me
- Annette Curtis Klause: The Silver Kiss, Blood and Chocolate
- E.L. Konigsburg: Silent to the Bone
- Ron Koertge: Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright
- Kathryn Lasky: Beyond the Burning Time, True North
- Ursula K. Le Guin (equally an author of adult fiction): The Left Hand of Darkness and other science fiction titles
- Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels
- Robert Lipsyte: The Brave, The Chief, The Contender, One Fat Summer
- Lois Lowry: The Giver, The Silent Boy
- Chris Lynch: Whitechurch
- Anne McCaffrey: Dragon Riders of Pern series and other fantasy titles
- Joyce McDonald: Swallowing Stones, Shadow People, Shades of Simon Gray
- Robin McKinley: Beauty, Hero of the Blue Sword, Spindle's End
- Norma and Harry Mazer: Heartbeat
- Ben Mikaelsen: Petey, Touching Spirit Bear
- Bobbie Ann Mason: In Country
- Milton Meltzer (primarily an author of nonfiction): Underground Man (historical fiction)
- Walter Dean Myers: Fallen Angels, Hoops, Monster, The Mouse Rap, Outside Shot, Scorpions, Slam, Bad Boy (autobiography of his youth), Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor: Ice, Shiloh
- Joan Lowery Nixon: The Other Side of Dark
- Andre Norton (psuedonym): The Stars Are Ours, Star Gate, other science fiction
- Joyce Carol Oates (primarily an author of adult fiction): Big Mouth & Ugly Girl
- Zibby Oneal: The Language of Goldfish
- Linda Sue Park: A Single Shard, When My Name Was Keoko
- Katherine Paterson: Jacob Have I Loved, Lyddie
- Gary Paulsen: Hatchet, Canyons, The Island, The River, Brian's Winter, Nightjohn, Sarney, Soldier's Heart
- Richard Peck: Are You in the House Alone?, Father Figure, The Last Safe Place on Earth, Long Way from Chicago, Princess Ashley, Year Down Yonder
- Robert Newton Peck: Clunie, A Day No Pigs Would Die, Extra Innings
- Rodman Philbrick: Freak the Mighty, The Fire Pony
- Christopher Pike: The Season of Passage, Chain Letter and other thrillers
- Connie Porter: Imani All Mine
- Francine Prose (primarily an author of adult fiction): After
- Philip Pullman: Ruby in the Smoke, Broken Bridge
- Wilson Rawls: Where the Red Fern Grows
- Carolyn Reeder: Shades of Gray
- Ann Rinaldi: A Break for Charity, The Last Silk Dress, Numbering All the Bones, Wolf by the Ears, and other historical fiction
- J.K. Rowling: the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, etc.
- Cynthia Rylant: Missing May
- Louis Sachar: Holes
- Alex Sanchez: Rainbow Boys, So Hard to Say
- Dyan Sheldon: Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
- Neal Shusterman: The Dark Side of Nowhere, Downsiders, What Daddy Did
- Lemony Snicket (psuedonym): The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and other titles in the set A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Sonya Sones: What My Mother Doesn't Know
- Gary Soto: Afterlife, Baseball in April and other Stories
- Jerry Spinelli: There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, Crash
- Nancy Springer: I am Mordred, I am Morgan le Fay
- R.L. Stine (primarily an author of YA thriller fiction): Goosebumps and Fear Street series
- Rosemary Sutcliff: (primarily an author of historical fiction)
- Janet Tashjian: The Gospel According to Larry
- Mildred Taylor: Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, The Land
- Jean Thesman: Appointment with a Stranger, Cattail Moon
- Joyce Carol Thomas: Marked by Fire
- Vivian Vande Velde: Heir Apparent, Never Trust a Dead Man
- Cynthia Voigt: Come a Stranger, Dicey's Song, Homecoming, Izzy, Willy-Nilly, Solitary Blue, Sons from Afar
- Rosemary Wells: Through the Hidden Door
- Nancy Werlin: The Killer's Cousin
- Virginia Euwer Wolff: True Believer
- Jacqueline Woodson: Miracle's Boys
- Patricia C. Wrede
- Richard Wright (primarily an author of works for adults): Black Boy (autobiography of his youth)
- Laurence Yep
- Jane Yolen: Heart's Blood, Briar Rose
- Paul Zindel: The Pigman, The Pigman's Legacy, I Never Loved Your Mind, My Darling My Hamburger, The Pigman's Legacy (autobiography of his youth)
References
- Frances FitzGerald, "The Influence of Anxiety" in Harper's, September 2004, p. 62-70
- Michael L. Printz Award
- Margaret A. Edwards Award
- Diana Tixier Herald. (1997) Teen Genreflecting. Libraries Unlimited.
Additional links
Journals
Among the relatively few journals that regularly review YA literature are:
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.
- Books for the Teen Age, annual book list selected by teens for teens, sponsored by the New York Public Library [1]
- Outstanding Books for the College Bound, put out by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), professional organization for librarians serving teens in either public libraries or school library/media centers; a division of ALA. [2]
- Quick Picks, also by ALA/YALSA