Judith Blume is an American writer of children's, young adult, and adult fiction. Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 26 novels. Among her best-known works are Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (1970), Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (1972), Deenie (1973), and Blubber (1974). Blume's books have significantly contributed to children's and young adult literature. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.
Susan Eloise Hinton is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially The Outsiders (1967), which she wrote during high school. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genre.
A Wrinkle in Time is a young adult science fantasy novel written by American author Madeleine L'Engle. First published in 1962, the book won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. The main characters – Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry, and Calvin O'Keefe – embark on a journey through space and time, from galaxy to galaxy, as they endeavor to rescue the Murrys' father and fight The Black Thing that has intruded into several worlds.
Robert Edmund Cormier was an American writer and journalist, known for his deeply pessimistic novels, many of which were written for young adults. Recurring themes include abuse, mental illness, violence, revenge, betrayal, and conspiracy. In most of his novels, the protagonists do not win.
Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as friendship, substance abuse, and sexuality. Stories that focus on the challenges of youth may be further categorized as social or coming-of-age novels.
James Morrow is an American novelist and short-story writer known for filtering large philosophical and theological questions through his satiric sensibility.
A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Will Eisner published in 1978. The book's short story cycle revolves around poor Jewish characters who live in a tenement in New York City. Eisner produced two sequels set in the same tenement: A Life Force in 1988, and Dropsie Avenue in 1995. Though the term "graphic novel" did not originate with Eisner, the book is credited with popularizing its use.
William James Bosket Jr. is an American convicted murderer, whose numerous crimes committed while he was still a minor led to a change in New York state law, so that juveniles as young as 13 could be tried as an adult for murder and would face the same penalties. He has been in either prison or reformatories for all but 18 months since 1971, and has spent all but 100 days of his adult life in custody. He is currently serving a sentence of 82 years to life at Wende Correctional Facility.
Nancy Springer is an American author of fantasy, young adult literature, mystery, and science fiction. Her novel Larque on the Wing won the Tiptree Award in 1994. She also received the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her novels Toughing It in 1995 and Looking for Jamie Bridger in 1996. Additionally, she received the Carolyn W. Field Award from the Pennsylvania Library Association in 1999 for her novel I am Mordred. She has written more than fifty books over a career that has spanned nearly four decades.
The Yearling is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Month Club in April 1938. It won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel.
Troy is a young adult novel by Adèle Geras, published in 2000. It is based on events in The Iliad, incorporating original stories set in the heart of the city towards the end of the Trojan War. The novel was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Award.
The Tempering is a young adult novel by the American writer Gloria Skurzynski set in 1911 in the fictional mill town of Canaan.
Good-bye, Billy Radish is a prize-winning, historical, young-adult novel by the American writer Gloria Skurzynski.
Wilderness Boy is an historical, young adult novel by American writer Margery Evernden.
Compass in the Blood is a young-adult novel by the American writer William E. Coles, Jr. (1932–2005) set in 1890's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Dead Man Falling is a crime novel by the American writer Randall Silvis.
Young adult romance literature is a genre of books written for teenagers. As defined by Romance Writers of America, a romance novel consists of a central love story and an emotionally satisfying ending. Early young adult romances feature a teenage protagonist, who is typically female, white, and middle-class, while books in the twenty-first century include a wider variety of protagonist.
Dangerous Girls is the first novel in the Dangerous Girls duology by R. L. Stine. First published in 2003, the novel was followed by a sequel, The Taste of Night, in 2004. Dangerous Girls has won awards, including the ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and the New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy (1999) is a novel in verse by Sonya Sones. The free-verse novel follows Cookie, a thirteen-year-old girl, whose older sister is hospitalized on Christmas Eve when she has an intense breakdown that is eventually diagnosed as manic depression. The novel is loosely based on Sones’ own journals from her childhood, when her own sister went through the same treatment.
A Promise for Joyce is a 1959 novel by Lois Duncan, under the pen name Lois Kerry. It is a sequel to her debut novel, Love Song for Joyce (1958).
