Literature for Today's Young Adults

by Alleen Pace Nilsen

Thoroughly updated and with new features, Literature for Today's Young Adults, Eighth Edition, the number one book in Young Adult Literature, continues to help teachers learn how to motivate teenagers to become life-long readers. Writing with the belief that students will have a better chance of becoming life-long readers if they have choices and enjoy what they read, renowned authors Alleen Nilsen and Ken Donelson offer a comprehensive, reader-friendly introduction to young adult literature framed within a literary, historical, and social context. The authors provide teachers with criteria for evaluating books of all genres, from poetry and nonfiction to mysteries, science fiction, and graphic novels. Coverage of timely issues such as pop culture and mass media have been added to help teachers connect with students' lives outside the classroom.

Genres: Nonfiction, Textbooks, Education, Professional Development, School, Reference, Library Science

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Alleen Pace Nilsen is in the Humanities Division of Arizona State University's Emeritus College. Together with Don L.F. Nilsen, she has authored an abundance of books including Literature for Today's Young Adults (2012), Pronunciation Contrasts in English (2010) and Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Humor (2000). She is one of the leading pioneers in humor studies, and has received a lifetime achievement award from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor and the International Society for Humor Studies.

Reviews

[(Jen) The Artist Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information on not just the history of YA literature, but also the psychology of young adults (e.g. stages of emotional growth), hallmarks of YA literature genres, book lists, who's who of YA lit, teaching and instruction strategies, etc.

The thing that bumped it down one star for me was the price --I had to purchase it for my Books and Media for Young Adults class for $100+. While the information is great and worth keeping, part of the reason why I'm keeping this text is also because I spent so much on it ...

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I've been sporadically reading this for my Materials for Young Adults class. For a textbook, it's actually quite enlightening and fascinating!

[Dr. Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the authors had good intentions, I was thoroughly disappointed in this book. The whole premise of this book is so that educators can use YA as a teaching aide. However, the authors have only thinly disguised their preference for classics. The tone I found while reading is that "Oh this YA book is good... but classics are still better." and "teenagers won't change their views/perspectives based off books!". Both these statement are total bullshit for me so I highly disagreed with their opinions and I was mainly just pissed with this book.

Also they did have some good suggestions for YA books, but most of them were highly outdated. They never mentioned the popular YA books of now like Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, Throne of Glass, An Ember in the Ashes, or The Selection. The book was also filled with old time references such as Gone with the Wind. Which made this book feel like it wasn't even written for teenagers, let alone by people who understood teenagers. I think I should rewrite this for them and it would be well written, relatable and up to date.

In addition, they didn't proof this edition very well. I found a multitude of mistakes including incorrect titles, incorrect author names and just plain false assumptions without any evidence! One thing that really pissed me off was that they incorrectly assumed that Ruta Sepetys dedicated her book Between Shades of Gray to her father. If they had done five minutes of research they would known that it is dedicated to her grandfather, a Lithuanian military officer, who had to flee Lithuanian because Stalin was executing officers.

Overall, I really didn't like this book and I was very tempted to burn it or throw it out a window. Alas I could not because it's a rental. If you want a book to instruct you on using YA in the class, pick a different one, because this one sucks.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It is lengthy but the information is well worth it. The book describes the history of books, the development stages for students, and the different stages of reading. Then there are highlights on different YA writers throughout and awesome book lists for every different genre of books. There are good tips for how to incorporate these books into the classroom. Definitely a great book for teachers or just fans of reading!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This actually isn't too bad for a text book. I feel like I learned a lot, and I had to keep a pen handy to write down all the books I wanted to read that were mentioned here. This also helped me realize ways of becoming a better writer as well, from discussing character archetypes to types of mystery novels. Also appreciated the information on how to fight against censorship.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a course in Young Adult literature. It works well introducing genres and giving suggestions of authors and titles in each. I could see myself referring to it in the future in my role as a librarian.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a textbook, this book was an entertaining read! The history of YA literature is pretty extensive and there are so many genres for readers to enjoy. This book gives great insight into the types of literature that can be shared and enjoyed with young adult readers.

[Paula Boyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas about Young Adult Literature and great ideas for teaching about it. I'm looking forward to teaching this class so that I can implement some of the easy-to-understand content and fun activities that these authors recommend.

[Nate Hipple · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seemed to vary from obvious to outdated and wrong to downright bizarre at the drop of a hat. I'm just glad I rented instead if investing $200 on this.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook for YA literature class. It had some interesting thoughts on why YA is such a popular genre.

[A Rye · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the textbook for my Adolescent Lit class back when I was an English undergrad. I loved the class, and my professor, but this textbook was awful.
The organization is a hodgepodge of lists and disconnected histories. The lack of a functional glossary also detracts greatly from this.
I remember one night, hours before our mid-term exam, a group of around nine girls from the class and myself (as it usually is in English classes) met at iHop to attempt to tackle the study guide. This textbook made the entire ordeal terribly difficult. We were all flipping through pages frantically, searching for anything that would help.
We ended up just ordering some breakfast, after which some of my classmates came back to my place and went through a case of Grolsch.


I got an A in the course.

[Bant · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are great reading lists in this book. However, it is soooo dry. And they just reiterate every fact over and over and over. Most of the chapters could be 5-10 pages, instead most are over 30. I know it is a textbook, but . . . c'mon.

Also, they begin their chapter on censorship by talking about how book challenges are happening more and more often, then they only cite cases from before the 70s and then include one Harry Potter challenge from 2003. *Thumbs down to that chapter* That's one of the few chapters that is good and the length is not a hindrance.

[Bekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually have the 6th edition, but I would recccomend the most recent edition which I don't remember, but it came out not too long ago. The reason being is that they update their book lists for YA. So some of the lists I have in my 6th edition are outdated. But for the most part this is a great book to learn more about Young Adult literature, how it came to be, who the pioneers were, when it really got rolling, and where it is at now. Plus a ton of book suggestions!!!!!

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh -- surprisingly poorly edited. I'd find sentences that literally made no sense. THis is actually a book designed to the the text for a children's lit class, and its focus shows both a narrow range and a scatter-shot range...

Lists of books were out of date, but information about genres and forms will be useful. NOT worth whatever I paid for it...I think it was $70!!

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful, full of information, up-to-date, engaging layout with ample margins for taking notes. Sometimes I liked the conversational tone, but I have to admit there were times that I longed for a more scholarly, neutral voice.

[Erika Forth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some good information about the history of YA, as well as good book suggestions. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on using YA in the classroom and censorship. But I don't like the way the genres were grouped together haphazardly, and sometimes the way the authors went on really annoyed me.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good reference source for both teachers and librarians working with youth. Provides good reading lists and information about award-winning YA authors. Will more than likely revisit it and refer to it in the future.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the 8th edition. If using this for professional or collection development get the updated version. YA changes so much every year, this edition's book references seem dated. Still valuable if only available.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a bit lengthy in some areas, the information was genuinely pretty helpful. I enjoyed the lists of authors and suggested books. I do not have time to read everything that is out there for teens, so this was a nice way to educate myself in some areas that were totally unknown to me

[Tonia Sandersfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great source broken down by genre with tons of short blurbs on great books. Great for librarians! Readers can be knowledgeable about a ton of books in a wide variety of genres without reading all of them.

[McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written academic book. I discovered the layout very helpful and the narrative entertaining. Much more enjoyable than some of the other textbooks I have read over the years. Content is up to date and has a recent review, interviews, and bios of the author.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid intro to YA lit. Bought it and making myself read it cover to cover (it's interesting reading, but it's still a textbook so requires discipline to keep going!).

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another boring textbook. It had an exhaustive list of YAL books of each genre it explained. The book was mostly organized by genre.

[Ronni · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star only for the good up-to-date reading lists. Only. One of the dullest text books I've ever read. Which is funny since the subject matter has so much potential.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this a textbook and a resource. I wish more textbooks were this user friendly!

[Tracy Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outdated in a big way. Also authors' tone was annoying, for some reason. Anyway, pretty comprehensive resource, if you get one that's current.

[José Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is always good to know what is up to date.

[Julie S.]

American literature for young adults fall of sophomore year

[Bonny Jean Waggoner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lists are extremely useful (different types of books for the classroom... with authors and titles), but the information is kind of repetitive...

[Mrs. Schonour · Rating 3 out of 5]

This textbook has a lot of good information, but was not really used in my class. It would be a good text for teachers unfamiliar with YA literature.