I Didn't Know the New James Patterson was a YA Novel! 

A Crash Course in YA Literature for Adult Services Librarians

Carlie Webber, BCCLS  Ilene Lefkowitz, Denville Free Public

Library

Where did all this YA come from, anyway?

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were

proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you

very much...

Ways to learn about YA lit:

Standard Professional Journals…                      •    VOYA (voya.com)•    School Library Journal • (schoollibraryjournal.com)•    Kirkus (kirkusreviews.com)•    Publishers Weekly (

www.publishersweekly.com)

Young Adult literature websites and blogs

• Readingrants.org• Slayground.net• Teenreads.com• theYAYAYAs• YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association)

• YPulse.com• A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy• BCCLS Teens

No time to read through those journals or sites?

    Set up an RSS reader• Bloglines (bloglines.com)• Google Reader (google.com/reader)• Blogbridge (blogbridge.com)• Suprglu (suprglu.com)• Simply Headlines (simplyheadlines.com)• PageFlakes (pageflakes.com)• Netvibes (netvives.com)

For more information on setting up RSS feeds go here:

 (http://librarygarden.pbwiki.com/Pete's+Favorites)

The gateway authors: Adult authors who also write great

YA

•Sherman Alexie•Charles de Lint•Carl Hiaasen•Alice Hoffman•Gwyneth Jones (writes YA as Ann

Halam)• Jacquelyn Mitchard• Joyce Carol Oates•Rick Riordan•Benjamin Alire Saenz

Gateway Authors

Gateway Authors

Authors who write YA that looks adult

• Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak; Catalyst)• M.T. Anderson (Feed; The Astonishing Life of Octavian

Nothing, Traitor to the Nation)• Holly Black (Tithe; Valiant)• Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty; Rebel Angels)• Garret Freymann-Weyr (Stay with Me, My Heartbeat)• John Green (Looking for Alaska, An Abundance

of Katherines)• Margo Lanagan (Black Juice; White Time)• Walter Dean Myers (Monster; Sunrise over Fallujah)• Scott Westerfeld (Uglies; Pretties; Specials; Extras)• Markus Zusak (I am the Messenger; The Book Thief)

Authors who write YA that looks adult

Authors who write YA that looks like adult

Going the other way: Adult books/authors with YA appeal

• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night

Time by Mark Haddon• Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Anything by Neil Gaiman, Christopher Moore, Jodi Picoult, Alexander McCall Smith, or Mercedes Lackey

Know about the Alex Awards!  Ten adult books with high YA appeal are honored annually by YALSA.

Going the Other Way

Going the Other Way

Middle School fiction to recommend

Titles:Tangerine by Edward BloorOlive's Ocean by Kevin HenkesHoot by Carl HiaasenBlack Duck by Janet Taylor LisleHoles by Louis Sachar

Authors:

Christopher Paul Curtis (Bud Not Buddy; Bucking the Sarge)Nancy Farmer (The House of the Scorpion; The Sea of Trolls)Anthony Horowitz (Stormbreaker; Point Blank)Gary D. Schmidt (The Wednesday Wars; Trouble)Neal Shusterman (The Schwa was Here; Everlost)

Middle School

Titles

Picture this!  (Graphic novels to know)

• The P.L.A.I.N. Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

• most series by CLAMP• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi• Bone by Jeff Smith• Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya• Blankets by Craig Thompson• Runaways by Brian K. Vaughn• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen

Yang

So now comes the big question:

How do I get these books into the hands

of adult readers?

How to Hints/Suggestions

Book DisplaysDisplay YA titles alongside adult titlesDo YA displays for adults

BooklistsIncorporate YA titles into your booklists            Readers' AdvisoryBooktalksHandselling, or, Let me get a book for you.Read-a-Like/Shelf Sitter cards

Collection Development Purchase duplicate copies - shelve in Adult Fiction   

Selling Points for YA Books

• Quick reads• Smart characters• Fun to read • Series books are very hot right now,

so there's lots to read• Universal themes that appeal to

everyone regardless of age• High-quality writing.

REMEMBER

Young Adult literature is not all Eragon and Gossip Girl…

…any more than adult literature is all Danielle Steel and John Grisham.