Thematic Guide to Young Adult Literature

Subjects:

• Literature » Children's & Young Adult Literature
• Literature » Literature (General)
• Education » English Education

Reviews:

• Trupe offers this book as "a point of departure for critical discussion" of fiction for young adults, whom she defines as between 12 and 17 years of age. The 32 chapters take up such expected themes as dating, friendship, abuse, school life, sexual orientation, parental relationships, and violence (including sexual violence), but the author extends the notion of "theme" by including chapters on imagined places, imagined futures, retellings of traditional tales, and so on. Trupe begins each chapter with paragraph or two introducing the theme and follows with a description and analysis of a number of texts....[t]his book's main audience will be teachers, school librarians, beginning education majors, and precocious young adults. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates, professionals, general readers.
  —Choice December 2006
• We encourage librarians, teachers, parents, and young adult readers themselves to consult to learn the state of YA literature today and to select appropriate reading material.
  —Feminist Collections Winter 2007
• Designed as an introduction to the genre, synopses compare and contrast style, imagery and other key focal points of more than 150 young adult novels....Recommended as a young adult literature reference and collection development tool for teachers and homeschoolers new to teen literature, as well as both school and public libraries.
  —Christian Library Journal March 2007
• Detailed discussions and interpretive summaries of 158 young adult novels (plus one series) are provided in this thematic approach to YA literature.
  —VOYA December 2006
• Divided into 32 sections, each of which addresses selected books that speak to "significant themes," this resource draws attention to both contemporary and historical titles. In each chapter, easy-to-read and engaging descriptions and summaries of the novels chosen for their thematic content (between four and six per chapter) are supplemented by a general introduction to the issue. Following the narrative, a brief bibliography of similarly themed works is appended. Trupe's attention to older and oft-forgotten fiction is admirable and likely reflects the real contents of school and public library collections.
  —School Library Journal November 2006
• Intended as an introduction to critical discussion of some of the best fiction for young adults, this guide would be especially useful for teachers and librarians who are new to the field and either need to recommend titles or use them as a part of the curriculum. The material is arranged in 32 chapters, each on a specific theme that has significance to teen readers, such as "Addressing Addiction," "Insiders and Outsiders," and "War's Impact." Brief summaries of more than 150 works dating from the 1950s to 2004 are provided along with analysis of form, characterization, point of view, and symbolism, and a discussion of how the book fits the theme. Each chapter concludes with a list of additional titles on the same topic. Alternative thematic groupings are offered in the appendix, along with a selected bibliography of secondary sources. This text would be a practical addition to middle- school, high-school, and public libraries.
  —Booklist/Professional Reading October 15, 2006
• This resource for librarians, teachers, and teens identifies some of the best fiction for young readers available today. The volume is organized into 32 chapters dealing with such themes as addiction, dating, friendship, poverty, sexual identity, religion, and war. Each chapter offers a critical introduction to three to eight novels and concludes with a list of additional reading recommendations.
  —Reference & Research Book News August 2006

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Abuse, Sexual Violence, and Healing
• Accepting Difference
• Accidents and Adjustments
• Addressing Addiction
• Animals' and the Environment's Importance in Our Lives
• Beauty's Meaning
• Breaking Silence, Speaking Out
• Crime and Suicide and Their Aftermath
• Dating's Challenges
• Disease and Disability
• Emotional Problems Confronted
• Families, Traditional and Redefined
• Friends Forever?
• Guilty or Innocent?
• Heroes: What Does It Mean To Be a Hero?
• History Is About Young Adults, Too
• Imagined Futures
• Imagined Places
• Insiders and Outsiders
• Jobs: Taking Adult Responsibility
• Old Tales Retold: Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths
• Older People's Impact on Our Lives
• Parents' Absence, Parents' Presence
• Pregnancy, Parenthood, Abortion
• Poverty's Challenges
• Religion and Spiritual Life
• School Days
• Sexual Identity, Sexual Desire
• Supernatural and Alien Beings: Confronting the Other
• Survival
• Teammates
• War's Impact

PDF Catalogs:

Greenwood Literature Spring 2008.pdf