Young Adult

Wow! Young Adults are on the MOVE!!! Recently, a guest speaker in our class spoke about the history, clientele, and future of young adult books, exploring the genre’s wide range of topics, from innocent to provocative. Young adult books are making their way into the top 100 books of the year. In fact, the proliferation of young adult books has become so pronounced that the young adult committee for the ALA is finding it difficult to continue compiling its top 100 list because submissions have now reached into the thousands. Furthermore, interest in young adult books is now cross-generational. The speaker suggested that young adult books are bringing mothers and daughters together to enjoy good stories, but also wondered if perhaps mothers and grandmothers were simply reading the books to see what their children are reading? Whatever the case, these books are circulating in vast quantities. Young adult programs at IMCPL are always full and there is never room for walk-in patrons. One might argue that the plots and characters in young adult books are drawing in readers, but I also believe that these books are addressing controversial issues that are relevant to young readers but that people often find difficult to address. I think these young adult books are a teaching tool to allow young adults to explore issues they would normally shy away from talking about.

Additional Resources & Book Review Websites & Blogs for Teens

3 Evil Cousins: book reviews 4 and by teens
Betsy Fraser’s See Me 4 Books
Book Burger
Bookluver
Boys Blogging Books
Color Online
Ed Spicer’s Teen Book Reviews
Flamingnet Book Reviews
GreenBeanTeenQueen
Guys Read
Hey! Teenager of the Year
I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell do I Read?
Karin’s Book Nook
No Flying, No Tights: graphic novel reviews for teens