Dominican University Mission: Dominican University, a comprehensive Catholic institution sponsored by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, prepares candidates to pursue truth, to give compassionate service and to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world. The University Motto, Caritas et Veritas, characterizes the essence of this mission.

Dominican University

Graduate School of Library and Information Science

LIS 722 01: Library Materials for Young Adults

Spring, 2008

Mondays, 6:00-9:00 pm

Contact Information:

Jill Bambenek

Crown 103

708-524-6874

jbambenek@dom.edu

Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:00-4:00pm and by appointment

Course Goals and Objectives

The goal of this course is to provide graduate library school students with an understanding of the scope of contemporary young adult literature in the United States, to acquaint them with the tools necessary to effectively address young adult literature collection development issues, and to kindle the enthusiasm and intellectual curiosity needed to pursue mastery of this ever-burgeoning field.

Reaching this goal will enable students to achieve the following objectives:

• To arrive at a working definition of young adult (YA) and YA literature;
• To gain an understanding of the history of YA literature;
• To become familiar with a range of authors, works, & genres for YAs;
• To gain experience in discussing YA literature & resources;

· To apply the skills, techniques, and established criteria for evaluating, reviewing, and selecting young adult books;

• To demonstrate knowledge of print and electronic professional journals and collection development resources that support the evaluation, selection, and discussion of YA literature;

· To become familiar with techniques for introducing literature to YAs;

• To identify and discuss literary and societal trends and issues, including intellectual freedom, affecting work with young adults in libraries and schools;
• To gain an understanding of and familiarity with forms of popular culture oriented toward and appealing to young adults.

Books for Required Reading (see reading list):

You do not need to buy all the books for required reading. Many of the titles can be found in the public library. If you wish to own the books, nearly all are available in paperback and can be purchased at trade bookstores or online from amazon.com. Amazon.com is convenient and less expensive, especially if you are willing to buy used books. There is no text book for this course.

Course Requirements/Assignments

Participation:

Participation requires that you read all assigned texts and that you attend class. Come to every class on time and be prepared to participate in discussions. Open discussion is the rule in my class; any question or comment relevant to the topic at hand is welcome. Through discussion students will not only demonstrate that they have read and reflected upon the materials assigned, but will contribute to an atmosphere of open inquiry that will facilitate the learning process for all. Class participation is worth 25 % of your grade. If you are going to be absent, you need to contact me before class begins. Infrequent class participation and tardiness will substantially lower your overall grade.

Papers, presentations and projects:

1.) Author Presentation (15 points; sign up for due date)

2.) Observation Paper (3-5 pages; 10 points; due March 10)

3.) Booktalk and flyer (15 points; sign up for due date)

4.) Book Review (10 points; due April 14)

5.) Book discussion portfolio with presentation (25 points; due April 28, 2008)

See assignment packet for directions and expectations.

Format for Written Assignments

Written work must be double-spaced with 1 or 1.5 inch margins and no less than 12 point type. Exception to 12 point rule: please include your name in 10 point type in the footer of all written assignments.

No title page is required. Your name, the class number (LIS 722 01), and the name of the assignment must be single-spaced on the upper left hand corner of your written work.

GRADING

Class participation is worth 25% of your grade.

Infrequent class participation will substantially lower your overall grade.

All assignments must be turned in by the due date in order to receive full credit. Due dates are not flexible unless an agreement is made with the instructor at least 24 hours in advance of class time on the due date. Emergencies will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Oral presentations are graded on the speaker’s ability to connect with the audience, organization of information, use of language, fluency, volume, use of visual aids, and adherence to stipulated time limits.

Grades for written assignments are based on clarity of writing, comprehensive attention to both the topic and the assignment requirements, quality of work, and visible demonstration of effort.

Professional, grammatically correct writing is expected. To state this requirement plainly, spelling, punctuation, and grammar do count. If this is a problem, find someone whose skills you trust to proofread your written work, or go to the Academic Resource Center (Lower Level, Parmer Hall, 708/524-6682) for assistance. Please remember that spell-check is fallible.

Academic Honesty and Integrity

"All students of the GSLIS are expected to observe high standards of academic honesty and integrity. Any student whose conduct violates such standards may be subject to disciplinary action as determined by due process." (GSLIS Bulletin, p. 48)  

Plagiarism is unethical and unprofessional and will result in project failure.  Each student is responsible for understanding what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.  See Purdue University's "Avoiding Plagiarism," http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html or Indiana University's "How to Recognize Plagiarism", http://education.indiana.edu/~istd/test.html if you are unsure about what is and what is not acceptable behavior when using other people's words and ideas.

LIS GRADING POLICY (Effective 12/15/2004)

The faculty of GSLIS Dominican uses the following guidelines when grading.

Grade	Numeric Equivalent	Definition
A	4.0	Outstanding achievement. Student performance demonstrates full command of the course materials and evinces a high level of originality and/or creativity that far surpasses course expectations; nearly flawless work.
A-	3.67	Excellent achievement. Student performance demonstrates thorough knowledge of the course materials and exceeds course expectations by completing all requirements in a superior manner.
B+	3.33	Good solid work. Student demonstrates strong comprehension of the course materials and exceeds course expectations on all tasks as defined in the course syllabus.
B	3.0	Satisfactory acceptable work. Student performance meets designated course expectations, demonstrates understanding of the course materials and performs at an acceptable level.
B-	2.67	Marginal work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete, substandard understanding of course materials, or absence of required work; indicates danger of falling below acceptable grading standard.
C+	2.33	Unsatisfactory work. Student performance demonstrates unsatisfactory understanding of course materials and inability to meet course requirements.
C	2.0	Unacceptable work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete and inadequate understanding of course materials.
C-	1.67	Poor work.
F	0.0	Failing grade.

“All students of the GSLIS are expected to observe high standards of academic honesty and integrity. Any student whose conduct violates such standards may be subject to disciplinary action as determined by due process.”

~GSLIS Bulletin

Please note:  According to the GSLIS Grading Policy, the grade for “good, solid work” that “demonstrates strong comprehension of the course materials” is a B+, not an A. 

Grading scale:

100-96 A
95-90 A-
89-87 B+
86-83 B
82-80 B-
79-77 C+

76-73 C
72-70 C-

Course Schedule/Topics

Week 1: January 14: Introduction

Introduction to course, texts and assignments

Defining Young Adult and YA literature

Week 2: January 21: History and Classics of Young Adult Literature

History of Teenagers, Young Adult Literature and Young Adult Services Classics

Discussion of:

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. Pantheon, 1974.

Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. Viking 1967.

Lipsyte, Robert. The Contender. Harper, 1967.

Salinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951.

Zindel, Paul. The Pigman. Harper, 1968

Week 3: January 28: Contemporary Realism

Collection Development

Discussion of:

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. FSG, 1999.

Flake, Sharon. The Skin I’m In. Hyperion, 1998.

Green, John. Looking for Alaska. Duton 2005

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. Simon & Schuster, 2004.

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. HarperCollins, 1999.

Week 4: February 4: Biography and Non-Fiction

Author Presentations

Genres: Information Books

Discussion of:

Bartoletti, Susan. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. Scholastic, 2005.

Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Allies: Microbes that Shape Our Lives. Farrar, 2005.

Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science. Houghton, 2004.

Nelson, Marian. A Wreath for Emmett Till. Houghton, 2005.

Partridge, Elizabeth. John Lennon: All I want is the Truth. Viking, 2005

Assignment due: Author presentation and flyer

Week 5: February 11: Supernatural/Horror/Mystery

Author Presentations

Genres: Horror and Mystery

Discussion of:

Bray, Libba. A Great and Terrible Beauty. Delacorte, 2003.

Klause, Annette Curtis. Blood and Chocolate. Delacorte, 1997.

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight: A Novel. Little Brown/Megan Tingley, 2005

Plum-Ucci, Carol. The Body of Christopher Creed. Harcourt, 2000

Assignment due: Author presentation and flyer

Week 6: Feb 18: Science Fiction

Author Presentations

Genre: Science Fiction

Discussion of:

Adams, Douglas. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Harmony, 1979.

Anderson, M.T. Feed. Candlewick, 2002.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. Doherty, 1985.

Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. Simon Pulse 2005

Assignment due: Author presentation and flyer

Week 7: February 25: Fantasy

Author presentations

Genre: Fantasy

Discussion of:

Billingsley, Franny. The Folk Keeper. Atheneum, 1999.

Colfer, Eoin. Artemis Fowl. Hyperion, 2001

McKinley, Robin. Beauty: a retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast. Harper & Row. 1978

Nix, Garth. Sabriel. HarperCollins. 1995

Assignment due: Author presentation and flyer

March 3 – break - no class

Week 8: March 10: Historical Fiction

Sharing findings of the observation paper: public libraries and YAs

Genre: Historical Fiction

Discussion of:

Cushman, Karen. Catherine Called Birdy. Clarion, 1994.

Donnelly, Catherine. A Northern Light. Harcourt, 2003.

Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. 1997

Rinaldi, Ann. Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley. Harcourt & Brace, 1996

Assignment due: Observation paper

Week 9: March 17: War/Survival/Adventure

Booktalks

Discussion of:

Chambers, Aidan. Postcards from No Man’s Land. Dutton Juvenile, 2002.

Lester, Julius. Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue. Hyperion/Jump at the Sun, 2005.

Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. Lamb, 2004.

Thompson, Julian. The Grounding of Group Six. Henry Holt, 1997.

Assignment due: Booktalk and flyer

Week 10: March 24: Relationships

Booktalks

Discussion of:

Block, Francesca Lia. Weetzie Bat. Harper, 1989

Blume, Judy. Forever. Bradbury, 1975.

Burgess, Melvin. Doing It. Henry Holt & Co., 2004.

Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. Knopf, 2003.

Assignment due: Booktalk and flyer

Week 11: March 31: Teen Angst

Booktalks

Discussion of:

Bloor, Edward. Tangerine. Harcourt Brace, 1997

Chbosky, Steven. Perks of being a Wallflower. Pocket Books. 1999

Bennett, Cherie. Life in the Fat Lane. Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1999.

Thomas, Rob. Rats Saw God. Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Assignment due: Booktalk and flyer

Week 12: April 7: Humor

Booktalks

Discussion of:

Howe, Norma. The Adventures of Blue Avenger. Holt, 1999.

Korman, Gordon. No More Dead Dogs. Hyperion, 2000.

Pratchett, Terry. Wee Free Men. Harper, 2003.

Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia

Nicolson. HarperCollins, 2000.

Assignment due: Booktalk and flyer

Week 13: April 14: Graphic Novels and Comics

Word and Image

Discussion of:

Any of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman books

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Pantheon, 2003.

Speigelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. Pantheon, 1986.

Takaya, Natsuki. Fruits Basket. Tokoyopop, 2005. (Any volume will do.)

One superhero comic such as Batman, Superman, Silver Surfer, etc.

Assignment due: Book review

Week 14: April 21: Poetry

Poetry & Teens

Discussion of:

Carlson, Lorie Marie. Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States. Henry Holt, 2005.

Clinton, Catherine. I, Too, Sing America: African American Poetry. Houghton Mifflin 1998

Herrick, Steven. By the River. Allen & Unwin, 2004.

Nye, Naomi Shihab. Nineteen Varieties of Gazelle. Greenwillow, 2002.

Sidman, Joyce. The World According to Dog: Poems and Teen Voices. Houghton, 2003.

Week 15: April 28: Final Project Presentations

Assignment due: Book Discussion Portfolio presentation and projects

Assignments for LIS 722 01 Spring 2008

Assignment 1: Author presentation with flyer (15 points)

Due date: various dates beginning Week 4 (February 4) through Week 7 (February 25)

Length: 15 minutes. You will be timed, and I will stop you at 15 minutes. If you do not finish within the allotted time your grade will be reduced by 2 points. This means you need to practice and time your talk. Presenting within the allotted time is an important skill. It reflects not only courtesy to your host and audience, but also your ability to identify and synthesize the points you want to make.

Components: An oral presentation and flyer on an author selected from the list.

Description: Using print and online sources you will research a YA author’s life and works and present your findings to the class. In addition to reading biographical essays, articles, and interviews about the author you need to read as many selections of the author’s YA works as possible. This will help you to become familiar with the author’s language, style, and literary world(s). (How does the writer use language to evoke an atmosphere for the reader? How does the author attract and hold the reader’s attention? What sort of narrative or narrator is used?) To understand the author’s literary merit (according to critics) you also need to consider the response of critics, award committees, and readers to the author’s works.

1. Presentation content:

• Biographical sketch;
• Brief summaries of author’s notable works;
• Insight into what influenced the author’s writing;
• Reflections on the author’s writing style and techniques;
• Quotations or interview excerpts from the author being studied;
• Quotes from critics or scholars about the author’s work;
• Awards and honors (if applicable);
• Selected passages from the author’s work to read aloud to the rest of the class.

2. Flyer:

• Submit a complete bibliography and list of resources used for the author study; provide brief annotations for 3 of the author’s works. You should also list his or her awards. Use the MLA style consistently throughout your bibliography. Provide one copy for the instructor and one for each of your classmates

Assignment 2: Observation paper (10 points)

Due: March 10, 2008

Length: 3-5 pages or 1,000-1,500 words.

Description: Different public libraries serve young adults in different ways. In this assignment you will choose a public library and consider the ways in which it provides services and space to young adults. In order to understand the presence that your library affords to young adults, you should visit both the library’s physical and electronic spaces. This in turn will help you to identify, consider, and assess the space, programs, and services offered. This project is not meant to be a critique, but rather an exploration and analysis of the ways in which a particular public library designs spaces, places, and programs for young adults.

Choose a public library and explore the ways in which they provide services to young adults. If you work in a public library, do not use the library where you work. Since the main role of school libraries is to support the curriculum, you need to focus on a public library not a school library.

Note: You are not to interview librarians or users. This is an observational study of the physical and electronic spaces for young adults in a library.

1. Paper content: Your observation should allow you to comment on the following points:

Describe:

• How does the library define young adult? Is it part of the adult department or the children’s department? Is it split between the two departments or is it a free-standing department? What is it called and for what age groups is it intended?
• Collection: Is there a variety of materials and formats? Are there graphic novels, CDs, DVDs? How are the books promoted? Are there book displays and booklists?
• Staffing: is there a full or part-time young adult librarian? If so, does he or she split her responsibilities with other departments? Or is his or her main focus on programming, services, and collection development for young adults?
• What is the physical layout and location of the young adult department or space? Are there book displays? Are there areas to study? Does it look different than the other departments? Does it have signage? Where is it located?
• Website: Does the library have a set of pages aimed at young adults? If so, are they easy to find? How are they labeled? Is the format and design appropriate for the audience? What kinds of information and links can you find there?
• Programming: What kinds of programs are offered for young adults? How are they advertised? Are there flyers?
• Furnishings: Are there computers, a seating area, etc.?
• Users or patrons: When you visited, who was using the space? What were they doing?

Reflect and analyze

• Think about the layout of physical space and the design of the electronic space? Are they appealing? Do they invite use? If not, why not?
• Consider what works and what doesn’t work.
• Libraries are also social spaces. Is the space adequate? Quiet? Noisy? Private?

Assignment 3: Booktalk with flyer (15 points)

Due date: Various dues dates beginning Week 9 (March 17) through Week 12(April 7).

Components: Booktalk presentation; flyer.

Length: 5 to 7 minutes maximum.

Description: Booktalks are brief, promotional presentations featuring several young adult books with accompanying promotional flyer. (Be sure to read all sections of this assignment.)

1. Booktalk presentation

Scope:

• Length: 5 to 7 minutes maximum. You will be timed, and I will stop you at 7 minutes. If you do not finish within the allotted time your grade will be reduced by 2 points. This means you need to practice and time your talk. Presenting within the allotted time is an important skill. It reflects not only courtesy to your host and audience, but also your ability to identify and synthesize the points you want to make.
• Coverage: 3 to 5 books Note: if you present on 3 to 4 books, 1 of the books may be from the required reading list; if you present on 5 books 2 of the books may be from the required reading list.

Content requirements:

· Have a thematic link between books.

· Include a very brief introduction, conclusion, segue/connection between books.

· Include a variety of books: consider genre, setting, era, format, fiction/nonfiction.

· Incorporate a variety of methods to introduce the books to your audience: brief description, questions the book might answer, read-aloud.

· Indicate the age group of your young adult audience.

Format/Oral Presentation:

· Remember visual audience appeal including movement, props, eye contact, etc. is important.

· Remember audio audience appeal including delivery, pace, manner, tone, etc. is important.

· Remember to bring and display all books featured in your booktalk and on your flyer.

2. Promotional flyer with annotations

Content:

· Include all books featured in the booktalk plus additional titles for a total of 8 books.

· Include minimal bibliographic information (author, title, publisher, date) for each work. Please use the MLA citation style consistently throughout this assignment.

· 1-2 sentence informational annotation or teaser for five books.

Format requirements:

• No larger than 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.
• Visual YA appeal (nothing that will actively repel YAs—no bunnies, kitties or other visual elements associated with younger children).
• Your choice of color, graphics, format (flat, folded, single or double-sided,

• book mark, single-fold flyer, handout, etc.).
• Provide one copy for the instructor and one for each of your classmates. The handout for the instructor should look precisely as you would wish it to look (color, type, graphics, paper) if you were producing it for YAs. The handouts for your classmates may be black and white photocopies of the original.

Assignment 4: Book Review (10 points)

Due: April 14, 2008

Length: approximately 500 words.

Description: A professional book review briefly summarizes the book while providing the reviewer’s opinion of the book’s merits or weaknesses. The review should be approximately 30% summary and 70% evaluation. Clear, concise writing is essential.

Choose a contemporary YA book (published within the last five years) to review. You may review one of the books you’ve read for class (from the reading list or one of your projects) or another book of your choice. Your review should be suitable for publication in a professional reviewing journal such as the Hornbook, School Library Journal, or Booklist.

The audience for the review is the professional librarian doing book selection and collection development for a young adult collection. Consider: what does this librarian need to know about the book in order to decide whether or not to purchase it?

The review must contain:

• heading with complete bibliographic information of book being reviewed

• the grade level or age range of the intended audience for the book and whether or not the book succeeds in reaching this audience

• references to specific portions of the book to support your opinion; be sure to put any quotes from the book in quotation marks

• evaluation of relevant literary/design elements such as plot, characterization, pace, theme, organization, art, addenda, context, tone, point of view, etc.

· comparison of the book being reviewed with similar titles if appropriate

Assignment 5: Book Discussion Group Portfolio with Presentation (25 points)

Due date: April 28, 2008.

Scenario: Your director wants you to design and implement a six-week summer book discussion group for young adults. (This means you will be creating materials for discussion of 6 books, one per week.)

Description: This project gives you experience designing a YA book discussion group. On the final day of class you will hand in a portfolio and make your presentation to the class.

Points to consider when designing your book group:

1. Audience:

• Age group: the term young adult has been applied to young people in their pre-teens to their early twenties. As such you must decide which specific age group you will be targeting.
• Other audience parameters: these might include interests or expected gender of participants, etc.
• Publicity ideas based on your target audience.  Where can you find them?  What do they like to do?  How can you reach them to tell them about your book group?

2. Topic/Genre:

• Will your book group focus on a specific topic? For example, you may want to explore the topic of war. You could explore it through different genres including realistic fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, biography, poetry, music, etc. Or you might want to explore war by looking at it from different time periods.
• Will your group read works written in a specific genre, such as science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, biography, etc.?
• Or will you choose to have an eclectic mix of works that aims at introducing your participants to various authors, genres, topics, etc.

3. Criteria for Book Selection:

• Audience: reading level; topic (does the book deal with a topic that is of interest to the age group), etc.
• Topic: if you decide to build a book group around a specific theme, do the works represent enough variety in terms of perspective, format, and genres?
• Genre: if your group will look at one genre, how does each book fit? For instance, in Science Fiction there are numerous subcategories such as contact with aliens, intergalactic wars, dystopias, cyberpunk, etc. Is the work classic Sci-Fi? Or is it a new take on an old theme?  
• “Discuss-ability”: does the book lend itself to discussion? Are there issues, characters, and/or conflicts that can be explored by a group of readers?

Portfolio must content:

• A 4-6 page report (double-spaced) that summarizes the scope and content of your book discussion group, your intended audience, topic/genre, and book selection process. The previous section on ‘points to consider’ should act as a guide for your reflection paper.
• For each book include a short summary with five questions designed to elicit discussion.
• Sample flyer advertising the book discussion group; one copy for each member of the class.

Presentation:

• This is a short presentation (5 to 7 minutes) describing your book discussion group including the theme, audience, setting, and books. You will be timed, and I will stop you at seven minutes. If you do not finish within the allotted time your grade will be reduced by 2 points. This means you need to practice and time your talk. Presenting within the allotted time is an important skill. It reflects not only courtesy to your host and audience, but also your ability to identify and synthesize the points you want to make.

Required Fiction and Non-fiction Reading List

Adams, Douglas. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Harmony, 1979.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. FSG, 1999.

Anderson, M.T. Feed. Candlewick, 2002.

Bartoletti, Susan. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. Scholastic, 2005.

Bennett, Cherie. Life in the Fat Lane. Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1999.

Billingsley, Franny. The Folk Keeper. Atheneum, 1999.

Block, Francesca Lia. Weetzie Bat. Harper, 1989.

Bloor, Edward. Tangerine. Harcourt Brace, 1997

Blume, Judy. Forever. Bradbury, 1975.

Bray, Libba. A Great and Terrible Beauty. Delacorte, 2003.

Burgess, Melvin. Doing It. Henry Holt & Co., 2004.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. Doherty, 1985.

Chambers, Aidan. Postcards from No Man’s Land. Dutton Juvenile, 2002

Carlson, Lorie Marie. Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States. Henry Holt, 2005.

Chbosky, Steven. Perks of being a Wallflower. Pocket Books. 1999

Clinton, Catherine. I, Too, Sing America: African American Poetry. Houghton Mifflin 1998

Colfer, Eoin. Artemis Fowl. Hyperion, 2001

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. Pantheon, 1974.

Cushman, Karen. Catherine Called Birdy. Clarion, 1994.

Donnelly, Catherine. A Northern Light. Harcourt, 2003.

Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Allies: Microbes that Shape Our Lives. Farrar, 2005.

Flake, Sharon. The Skin I’m In. Hyperion, 1998

Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science. Houghton, 2004.

Gaimin, Neil. The Sandman (any volume will do.) DC Comics

Green, John. Looking for Alaska. Dutton Juvenile, 2005.

Herrick, Steven. By the River. Allen & Unwin, 2004.

Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. 1997

Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. Viking, 1967.

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. Simon & Schuster, 2004.

Klause, Annette Curtis. Blood and Chocolate. Delacorte, 1997.

Korman, Gordon. No More Dead Dogs. Hyperion, 2000.

Lester, Julius. Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue. Hyperion/Jump at the Sun, 2005

Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. Knopf, 2003.

Lipsyte, Robert. The Contender. Harper, 1967.

McKinley, Robin. Beauty: a retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast. Harper & Row. 1978

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight: A Novel. Little Brown/Megan Tingley, 2005

Myers, Walter Dean. Fallen Angels. Holt, 1988.

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. HarperCollins, 1999.

Nelson, Marian. A Wreath for Emmett Till. Houghton, 2005.

Nix, Garth. Sabriel. HarperCollins. 1995

Nye, Naomi Shihab. Nineteen Varieties of Gazelle. Greenwillow, 2002.

Partridge, Elizabeth. John Lennon: All I want is the Truth. Viking, 2005.

Plum-Ucci, Carol. The Body of Christopher Creed. Harcourt, 2000

Pratchett, Terry. Wee Free Men. Harper, 2003.

Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. HarperCollins, 2000.

Rinaldi, Ann. Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley Harcourt 7 Brace, 1996.

Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. Lamb, 2004.

Salinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Pantheon, 2003.

Sidman, Joyce. The World According to Dog: Poems and Teen Voices. Houghton, 2003.

Speigelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. Pantheon, 1986.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher. Shabanu. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1989.

Takaya, Natsuki. Fruits Basket. Tokoyopop, 2005. (Any volume will do.)

Thomas, Rob. Rats Saw God. Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Thompson, Julian. The Grounding of Group Six. Henry Holt, 1997.

Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. Simon Pulse 2005

Zindel, Paul. The Pigman. Harper, 1968.

Recommended Texts:

Horning, Kathleen T. From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

Lukens, Rebecca J. A Critical Handbook of Children’s Literature. Boston: Pearson Education, 2003.

You should also have a style manual for MLA citations.

For help with rules of English grammar and punctuation, I recommend one of the following titles:

Gordon, Elizabeth. The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1993.

Strunk, William. The Elements of Style. 4^th Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.

Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books, 2003.