From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 15:10:00 -600

In his posting yesterday, Marc Aronson raised an interesting question
 about young adult books falling between the cracks when it comes to book awards. As he pointed out, there is no award for books aimed at teenagers over the age 14, in spite of the fact that there are many fine books published each year for these older young adults. Part of the problem is, I think, that young adult literature is such a new field, we are still in the midst of defining what it is and who the audience is.

One of the frustrations of serving on the Newbery Committee is that there doesn't seem to be any universal agreement on where children's literature ends and young adult literature begins. The Newbery Committee is frequently criticized for choosing "young adult books" and we are constantly reminding people that ALSC defines children as up and including age 14. Sometimes it seems as though we get lost in quibbling over the 12 to 14 year olds (are they children or young adults?), and completely ignore readers from ages 15, the audience I believe Marc Aronson had in mind when he wrote about young adult literature. This is a literature that has been enriched by such writers as Robert Cormier, M.E. Kerr, S.E. Hinton, Francesca Lia Block, and Paul Zindel. When you think of the books just of these five writers, you see what a remarkable contribution they've made to the field, yet there's no way to recognize their individual books, let alone encourage other authors who choose to write for older teens.

What do others think of this issue in young adult literature? How do you define "young adult" and do you think there should be an award, similar to Newbery, but for books aimed at readers 15 (or older?)

   KT Horning, CCBC
   UW-Madison
Received on Wed 28 Feb 1996 03:10:00 PM CST