Defining children's literature Daisy Ashford as a child There is some debate on what constitutes children's literature.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier".[1] The broadest definition of children's literature applies to books that are actually selected and read by children. Children choose many books, such as comics, which some would not consider to be literature at all in the traditional sense; they also choose literary classics and recognized great works by modern writers, and often enjoy stories which speak on multiple levels. In the opinion of novelist Orson Scott Card, "one can make a good case for the idea that children are often the guardians of the truly great literature of the world, for in their love of story and unconcern for stylistic fads and literary tricks, children unerringly gravitate toward truth and power."[4]

Children's literature by age category Children's literature is an age category opposite adult literature, but it is subdivided further due to the divergent interests of children age 018. Picture books appropriate for pre-readers ages 05. Caldecott Medal winners often (but not always) fall within this category. Early Reader Books appropriate for children age 57. These books are often designed to help a child build his or her reading skills. Children's literature 4 Chapter book appropriate for children ages 711. Short chapter books, appropriate for children ages 79. Longer chapter books, appropriate for children ages 912. Newbery Medal winners often (but not always) fall within this category. Young-adult fiction appropriate for children age 1318.

Young-adult fiction Young-adult fiction or young adult literature (often abbreviated as YA),[1] [2] also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21.[3] The Young Adult Library Services (YALSA) of the American Library Association (ALA) defines a young adult as "someone between the ages of twelve and eighteen". Young adult novels have also been defined as texts written for the ages of twelve and up. Authors and readers of young adult (YA) novels often define the genre as "literature written for ages ranging from ten years up to the age of twenty" (Cole). Another suggestion for the definition is that Young Adult Literature is any text being read by adolescents, though this definition is still somewhat controversial.

Accordingly, the terms young-adult novel, juvenile novel, young-adult book, etc. refer to the works in the YA category. Although YA literature shares the fundamental elements of character, plot, setting, theme, and style common to other genres of fiction, theme and style are often subordinated to the more tangible basic narrative elements such as plot, setting, and character, which appeal more readily to younger readers. The vast majority of YA stories portray an adolescent as the protagonist, rather than an adult or a child It is generally agreed that Young Adult Literature is literature written for adolescent readers, and in some cases published by adolescent writers. The subject matter and story lines are typically consistent with the age and experience of the main character, but beyond that YA stories span the entire spectrum of fiction genres. Themes in YA stories often focus on the challenges of youth, so much so that the entire age category is sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming of age novels.[4] Writing styles of YA stories range widely, from the richness of literary style to the clarity and speed of the unobtrusive and even free verse. Young-adult fiction 36 History of young-adult fiction Sarah Trimmer The first recognition of young adults as a distinct group was by Sarah Trimmer, who in 1802 described "young adulthood" as lasting from ages 14 to 21.[3] In her self-founded children's literature periodical, The Guardian of Education, Trimmer introduced the terms "Books for Children" (for those under fourteen) and "Books for Young Persons" (for those between fourteen and twenty-one), establishing terms of reference for young adult literature that remain in use today.[3] However, nineteenth-century publishers did not specifically market to young readers, and adolescent culture did not exist in a modern sense. The Beginning Beginning in the 1920s, it was said that "this was the first time when it became clear that the young were a separate generation" (Cart 43); but multiple novels that fit into the YA category had been published long before. In the nineteenth century there are several early examples that appealed to young readers (Garland 1998, p. 6) including The Swiss Family Robinson (1812), Waverley (1814), Oliver Twist (1838), The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857), Great Expectations (1860), Alice in Wonderland (1865), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Kidnapped (1886), The Jungle Book (1894) and Moonfleet (1898). A few other novels that were published around the turn of the century include Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Heidi, by Johanna Spyri, and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. In 1937 The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, was published, and Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) also is a beloved by adolescents today. Some claim that the first real young adult novel was The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, and that it opened up a whole new eye to what types of texts adolescent readers read. Following this novel, other classic texts such as Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird; Maya Angelou's novel, I Know

Why the Caged Bird Sings; and Toni Morrison's, The Bluest Eye all entered the genre of Young Adult Literature as well, along with many others. Mid-Century In the 1950s, shortly before the advent of modern publishing for the teen romance market, two novels drew the attention of adolescent readers: The Catcher in the Rye (1951), and Lord of the Flies (1954). Unlike more-recent fiction classified as YA, these two were written with an adult audience in mind.[5] The modern classification of young-adult fiction originated during the 1950s and 1960s, especially after the publication of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. This book focused on a group of teens not yet represented and instead of having the nostalgic tone that was typical in young adult books written by adults, it displayed a truer, darker side of young adult life because it was written by a young adult. As the decades moved on, the stormy sixties became the era "when the 'under 30' generation became a subject of popular concern, and that research on adolescence began to emerge. It would also be the decade when literature for adolescents could be said to have come into its own" (Cart 43). For this reason others adopt The Outsiders, published in 1967 by S. E. Hinton who at the time was only a teenager, as the initiator of the adolescent literature genre. This book sparked talk about what adolescents face, and that adolescents can produce books that they can relate to. 1967 was the year when a multitude of YA books began to be seen, and ever since YA lit has grown into a thriving, popular genre. In the 1970s, what has become to be known as the "fab five" were published. "For the record, the fab five are: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou; The Friends by Rosa Guy; The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath; Bless the Beasts and Children by Glendon Swarthout; and Deathwatch by Robb White" (Cart 77). Young-adult fiction 37 70's and 80's As publishers began to focus on the emerging adolescent market, booksellers and libraries, in turn, began creating YA sections distinct from either children's literature or novels written for adults. The 1970s to the mid-1980s have been described as the golden age of young-adult fictionwhen challenging novels began speaking directly to the interests of the identified adolescent market.[3] In the 1980s: "the 1980s contained a large amount of Young Adult publications which pushed the threshold of topics that adolescents faced such as rape, suicide, parental death, and murder. Also in the 1980s, "teenagers seemed to want to read about something closer to their daily lives-romance novels were revived" (Cart 99). In the 1990s, Young Adult Literature pushed adolescent issues even further by including topics such as, drinking, sexuality, drug use, identity, beauty, and even teen pregnancy" (Lubar). Also in the 1990s, it seemed as though the era of Young Adult Literature was going to lose steam but "due in part to an increase in the number of teenagers in the 1990s the field matured, blossomed, and came into

its own with the better written, more serious, and more varied young adult books published during the last two decades" (Tomlinson and Lynch-Brown 5). Marketing Teens have also become more and more marketable to text publications, bookstores have begun dedicating entire sections of their bookshelves to "teen" and "young adult" novels and texts, and movies are now produced more often that portray popular young adult texts with adolescent protagonists. As the genre continues to become more popular, and authors continue to publish texts that adolescents can relate to, Young Adult Literature will continue to be read and supported by adolescent and adult readers alike. Examples of other novels that predate the young-adult classification, but that are now frequently presented alongside YA novels are (Garland 1998, p. 6): Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903) Anne of Green Gables (1908) The Secret Garden (1909) The Yearling (1938) My Friend Flicka (1941) Johnny Tremain (1943) The Outsiders (1967) The Pigman (1968) Notable authors

Genre Young Adult Literature has become a genre which covers various text types including: novels, graphic novels, short stories, and poetry. Much of the literature published consists of young adult fiction which in itself contains several different types of text, but the genre also contains other various types of non-fiction such as biographies, autobiographies, journal entries/diaries, and letters. Although many genres exist in young adult literature, the problem novel tends to be the most popular among young readers. Problem novel refers to young adult novels in the realistic fiction category that addresses personal and social issues across socioeconomic boundaries and within both traditional and nontraditional family structures (Cole 98). Memoirs are also popular forms of Young Adult Literature. The genre itself has been challenged due its seemingly mature content by critics of Young Adult Literature, but "other converted critics have embraced Young Adult so dearly that they have scoured the canon for any classics they could adopt into the YA family" (Stephens 2007).

Themes Young Adult Literature uses a wide array of themes in order to appeal to a wide variety of adolescent readers. Some of these themes include: identity, sexuality, science fiction, depression, suicide, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, familial struggles, bullying, and numerous others. Some issues that are talked about in young adult literature are things such as friendship, love, race, money, divorce, relationships within families.[8] The culture that surrounds and absorbs young adults plays a huge role in their lives. Young Adult Literature explores themes important and crucial to adolescence such as relationships to authority figures, peer pressure and ensuing experimentations, issues of diversity as it relates to gender, sociocultural, and/or socioeconomic status. Primarily, the focus is centered around a young lead character and the reader experiences emotions, situations, and the like through this character and is able to see how these problems/situations are resolved.[9] It also needs to play a significant role in how we approach this group and the books we offer them to read (Lesesne 14). Reading about issues that adolescents can relate to allows them to identify with a particular character, and creates a sense of security when experiencing something that is going on within their lives. "Whether you call them archetypes or stereotypes, there are certain experiences and certain kinds of people that are common to adolescents. Reading about it may help a young person validate his or her own experience and make some kind of meaning out of it" (Blasingame, 12). In a paper written by April Dawn Wells, she discovers seventeen common traits of young adult novels. These include: friendship, getting into trouble, interest in the opposite sex, money, divorce, single parents, remarriage, problems with parents, grandparents, younger siblings, concern over grades/school, popularity, puberty, race, death, neighborhood, and job/working. [10] Characteristics Young adult literature contains specific characteristics that are present throughout the genre. These characteristics encompass: multi-themed story, tension versus shock effect, memorable characters, accurate facts and details, no unlikely coincidences, original idea, memorable voice, authentic dialogue, effective/clear writing style, sense of humor, widespread appeal, intriguing openings and memorable closings (Cole 61-65). Other characteristics of Young Adult Literature include: "(1) Characters and issues young readers can identify with; those issues and characters are treated in a way that does not invalidate, minimize, or devalue them; (2) Is framed in language that young readers can understand; (3) Emphasizes plot above everything else; and (4)Is written for an audience of young adults" (Blasingame 11). Overall, Young Adult Literature needs to contain specific elements that will not only interest adolescent readers, but elements that relate directly to real situations adolescents face, and contain believable, empathetic characters. Young-adult fiction 41 Literature

Whether any particular work of fiction qualifies as literature can be disputed. In recent years, however, YA fiction has been increasingly treated as an object of serious study by children's literature critics. A growing number of young-adultfiction awards recognize outstanding works of fiction for adolescents. Trends The category of YA fiction continues to expand into new genres: graphic novels, light novels, manga, fantasy, mystery fiction, romance novels, even subcategories such as cyberpunk, splatterpunk, techno-thrillers, and contemporary Christian fiction. New formats such as ebooks make it easier for teens to access these online. Boundaries between children's, YA, and adult fiction The distinctions between children's literature, YA literature, and adult literature have historically been flexible and loosely defined. This line is often policed by adults who feel strongly about the border.[13] At the lower end of the YA age spectrum, fiction targeted to readers age 10 to 12 is referred to as middle-grade fiction. Some novels originally marketed to adults have been identified as being of interest and value to adolescents and, in the case of several books such as the Harry Potter novels, vice versa.