Essentials of Young Adult Literature

by Carl M. Tomlinson, Carol Lynch-Brown

Based on a genre approach to literature, Essentials of Adolescent Literature offers a comprehensive, clear, and succinct overview of adolescent literature, includes recommended books listed by genre and topic, and provides clearly stated positions on current issues affecting schools and literature.

Written by well-known authors Carl Tomlinson and Carol Lynch-Brown, this resource for teachers, librarians, and parents places emphasis on having adolescents read a wide variety of young adult literature and addresses all types and formats of literature including novels, short stories, graphic novels, and picture books for older readers. In addition, notable authors are featured in each genre chapter and multicultural and international literature is integrated throughout and treated more fully in its own chapter. Unique to the market, this long-awaited book also includes strong pedagogical chapters that provide practical strategies for connecting secondary school students with young adult books such as how to select books that students will read and enjoy, how to motivate resistant readers to read, and how to develop text sets for classroom study across the curriculum. Teachers will be equipped with the knowledge to use trade books as excellent teaching and learning materials and will not be limited to using textbooks alone. Finally, Dr. Tomlinson and Dr. Lynch-Brown engage readers by offering a thorough discussion of the major trends and issues affecting young adult literature, such as censorship, the literary canon, and accountability.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Library Science, Textbooks

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2006

Reviews

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you've never heard of YAL before, or read a book before, this one's for you. Ever wondered what a "plot" is? Or "realism"? How about "identifying reluctant readers" in 5 sentences or less? This will explain all that, and more!

Clearly, I'm being sarcastic. There's very little in here that can't be found on Wikipedia or in other, better sources. This might be a good book if you're taking a literacy course and weren't an English major, or have zero understanding of YAL, but...pass.

The best part is the book lists and bibliographies at the end of every section. There's some great stuff there.

[Dakota · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text book, unlike many textbooks (A History of the Holocaust: From Ideology to Annihilation) was a pleasure to read. I found the entire thing to be quite interesting, and rather impossible to skim, which is an often-utilized method of reading textbooks. The huge list of books given as examples are an awesomely useful resource, though it becomes dated quickly.

[Dodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is true - if you serve young adults and teens in the library, media center, or classroom environment, this title truly covers the "essentials" of the trade. Tomlinson and Lynch-Brown cover the most popular genres, and provide incredibly useful set of teacher strategies. Keep this one handy for day to day inspiration too.

[Juliette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great textbook to use in the class. It avoids adding information that doesn't add to its usefulness. The chapters are broken up in an orderly and clear manner and each chapter actually has useful information in it. I didn't feel like I was wasting time or reading a boring textbook while reading this book.

[Robert Valeris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be very insightful in providing a scope of different genres in young adult literature. I would find this book to be a great resource in defining and characterizing books of different genres in a classroom.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a textbook that was necessary for my class. I generally don't find textbooks all that fun or interesting. This was not an exception. It had a few interesting things to say from time to time, but I was not riveted while reading it.

[Mindelei · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book! The lists are great, the chapters are really helpful to future/current/experienced teachers alike.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked all the lists of books that this text provided. Great classroom resource.

[Ange Batie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be very informative and an easy read. A nice balance of information without an overwhelming amount of words or pages.

[Mercedes McLean-Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best text books I have read. It is filled with excellent suggests for reading in young adult genres, pointing the reader in the right directs for first hand experience.

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good resource with great bibliographies for each genre.