Description
Book SynopsisAlleen Pace Nilsen has been a co-author of Literature for Today's Young Adults since the very first edition in 1980. She and Ken Donelson were also co-editors of the English Journal and founding editors of The ALAN Review. They both served as Presidents of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE (ALAN) and as Directors of English Education at Arizona State University. Dr. Donelson retired from ASU in 2002 and Alleen retired in 2011. She is the author of two editions of Presenting M. E. Kerr as part of the Twayne United States Authors Series, 1986 and 1997, and of Joan Bauer: Teen Reads: Student Companions to Young Adult Literature, Greenwillow, 2007. She edited Living Language: Reading, Thinking, and Writing, Allyn and Bacon, 1999, and with her colleague and husband, Don L. F. Nilsen, she co-authored the Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Humor,
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I have used the text Literature for Today's Young Adults again and again; the book was very thorough, and the background it gave about young adult literature helped me to understand the importance of using this genre in my classroom. I have used the booklists to find books that fit into certain genres or help students find a great book about a certain topic. For example, when my colleague and I prepared a unit on bullying, we used the list on "Buddies and Bullies" in Chapter 4. I have also used many of the ideas about using YA literature to create stronger reading and writing assignments. Notes I have made in the margins include: "Good book questions to ask..."; "Good quote, could use when writing short stories or narratives"; and "NOTE TO ME: Don't forget to look at humor in literary analysis." -- Shelly Shaffer, Brimhall Junior High School, Mesa, Arizona Literature for Today's Young Adults has served as a wonderfully useful resource in my role as both a practicing teacher and teacher educator. During my first year of teaching, I dedicated myself to reading every title listed on the Honor List to enhance my familiarity with texts available to teen readers. In the university classroom, I regularly draw upon the censorship materials to help students engage in preemptive behaviors to ward off the likeliness of such attacks and know how to best respond should they arise. -- Wendy Glenn, University of Connecticut My field is ESL and I took Dr. Nilsen's course in an effort to learn new ways of engaging international students in the world of literature as I aimed to develop their reading and writing skills in English. I found that Nilsen's Literature for Today's Young Adults serves me well not only as a guide and reference but as a rich source of insight into American culture and modern English literature for young people. --Thomas Washington, American English and Culture Program, Arizona State University Teachers need a good resource library which will enable them to teach to all students across varied interests and literacies. I use VideoHound to find films, and Literature for Today's Young Adults to find YA books. --Stacy Graber, Desert Vista High School, Tempe I purchased the 7th edition of Literature for Today's Young Adults in 2007, and I still refer to it four years later, as I prepare for my English methods courses and as I write and review articles. The pages are bookmarked, dog-eared, highlighted, and annotated, and the book itself holds a prominent place on my shelf so that it is easily accessible to me and my students. -- Katie Mason, Wichita State University All librarians working with teens should have Literature for Today's Young Adults on their reference shelf. As a middle school librarian, I relied on the Honor List to build a collection of the best reading material for my students. When I moved to a university library, I used the book as a guide in the creation of a collection of young adult e-books for future English teachers. Literature for Today's Young Adults continues to be my number one resource for young adult literature collection development. -- Ann Dutton Ewbank,Arizona State University
Table of Contents
Part One: Understanding Young Adults and Books
Chapter 1 Young Adults and Their Reading
Chapter 2 A Brief History of Young Adult Literature
Chapter 3 Digital and Other New Literacies for Teachers and Librarians
Part Two: Modern Young Adult Reading
Chapter 4 Contemporary Realistic Fiction: From Romances to Tragedies to Magical Realism
Chapter 5 Fantasy, Supernatural, Science Fiction, Utopias, and Dystopias
Chapter 6 Poetry, Drama, Humor, and New Media
Chapter 7 Adventure, Westerns, Sports, and Mysteries
Chapter 8 Historical Fiction: Of People and Places
Chapter 9 Nonfiction: Information, Literary Nonfiction, Biographies, and Self-Help Books
Part Three: Adults and the Literature of Young Adults
Chapter 10 Evaluating, Promoting, and Using Young Adult Books
Chapter 11 Young Adult Literature in the English Class
Chapter 12 Censorship: Of Worrying and Wondering
