Literature for Today's Young Adults, Pearson New International Edition, 9th edition

The number one book in the field, Literature for Today’s Young Adults, helps teachers learn how to motivate teenagers to become life-long readers and now features the voices of two new co-authors and ten of the authors’ Ph.D. students in a thorough update of critical topics and ideas.

A comprehensive, reader-friendly introduction to young adult literature, this book provides a look at YA literature framed within a literary, historical, and social context. Using this guide, teachers see how to evaluate books of all genres, from poetry and nonfiction to fantasies, drama, the supernatural, adventure, sports, mysteries, science fiction, graphic novels, and more.

Long respected as the leading textbook in university English departments, colleges of education, and schools of library science, this new edition is even more accessible than its predecessors and includes a number of updated topics of interest to a variety of audiences: teachers of English, reading, social studies, and ESL; as well as librarians, parents, counselors, and other group leaders. The challenges of using Young Adult literature with English Language Learners is explored, while one full chapter deals with Digital and Other New Literacies for Teachers and Librarians (new Ch. 3), and the final chapter (12) focuses on the increasingly important topic of censorship.

Pre- and in-service teachers see how to motivate teenagers to become life-long readers. The book presents a current look at Young Adult Literature framed within a literary, historical, and social context.

Readers see how to evaluate books of all genres, from poetry and nonfiction to fantasies, drama, the supernatural, adventure, sports, mysteries, science fiction, graphic novels, and more.

The challenges and opportunities of using Young Adult Literature with English Language Learners are explored throughout the book.

Readers are brought up to date on using computers and the latest digital technologies and literacies in their classrooms.

The issues of censorship in today’s young adult scene are explored and made clear for teachers.

Wide-ranging pedagogy helps teachers improve student learning, including

• An Honor List highlighting the best books of each year since 1980
• Focus Boxes providing annotated bibliographies on such important new topics as “Bullies in All Their Disguises,” “Going Beyond Dick and Jane,” and “Literal Journeys/Figurative Quests.”
• Additional Focus Boxes organized by time periods, e.g. “A Sampling of Good Books from the Seventies” and “100 Years of Accessible Adult Mysteries"
• Issues and concerns about ethnicity worked into practically every chapter
• Nonfiction books incorporated in many chapters
• A glossary of literary terms, recommended Internet resources, and charts and tables to help with evaluation.
• Recommended readings of scholarly work allowing students–ranging from beginners in the field to doctoral students–to move beyond the text and further explore the concepts being presented

The Ninth Edition of Literature for Today’s Young Adults is updated throughout with the voices of two new co-authors and ten of the authors’ own doctoral students; new information on using digital and other literacies; a fresh look at contemporary poetry; and information on connecting young adult literature to real-life events, understanding the significance of fantasy and supernatural literature, using children’s picture books, working with English Language Learners, dealing with new kinds of censorship issues, and more.

Readers are inspired to think and write about their own special interests through the original ideas and opinions of some of the authors’ own students in new sections called “Young Scholars Speak Out.” This edition brings the voices of ten of the authors’ doctoral or recently graduated students to readers, while the two new authors—Dr. James Blasingame, perhaps the most respected new scholar in the field, and linguistics professor Don L. F. Nilsen—add their own respected work.

Teachers and librarians are kept up to date on how to use digital and other new literacies effectively with students in an almost completely new Chapter 3, rewritten with the help of several teachers experienced in the use of today’s ever-changing technology.

The inclusion of actual poems by two contemporary poets keeps readers informed about this area of tremendous change in Chapter 6. It includes information on poetry, such as hip-hop, gangsta rap, poetry slams, and Brave New Voices. New and old web-based sources for poems and activities are also included.

Students see how to connect young adult literature to significant real-life events over the past 20 years through new artwork, new visualizations, and more in Chapter 2 and throughout the book.

The significance of fantasy and supernatural literature is explored to show teachers how this new phenomenon reflects and shapes popular culture—and how it has brought many adult readers to young adult books. Chapter 5 explores these genres’ overwhelming growth in popularity.

How to use children’s picture books to teach sophisticated literary concepts to teens is presented in Chapter 11, Young Adult Literature in the English Class.

Teachers see how to lead students into understanding the shifts between genres In Chapters 4 and 5 that explore what happens when authors drop magical realism into books that had originally appeared to be serious realistic fiction.

Using young adult books with English Language Learners is presented in a new section in Chapter 10 to help teachers deal effectively with these students in their classrooms.

A better awareness of the issue of bullying and other topics connected to LGBTQ issues—and the many books that are related to these topics—is enhanced in Chapter 9 under Teenagers Emotional and Physical Health.

The authors cross old boundaries to show readers how to help students go beyond self, family, and group identity to interact with other kids in other groups, without segregating characters by race and social class. (Throughout the book and in sections in chapters 3, 4, and 9.)

What students write, what they send online, and what they read is presented in a discussion of recent types of censorship. (See Chapter 12 in particular.)