Adult Books for Young Adults

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Adult Books for Young Adults

• Readers Advisory

workshop presented by Beth Gallaway
bethg_at_mmrls.orgMay 2005
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AGENDA

• Icebreaker What adult books did you read as a
  teen?
• Discussion Why do teens like books intended for
  adult audiences?
• Resources How to find out about adult books for
  young adults 
• Booktalks Books for recreational reading, books
  for school reading 
• Audience Participation Share a book, make a
  recommendation 
• Wrap up and Evaluations

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What makes adult books appealing to young
adults?

• Desire to read up
• Adult said not to read it
• Librarian/teacher/friend recommendation
• Teen protagonists/issues
• Interest in topic/genre
• New York Times best seller, booklist, award
  winner, club selection
• Pop culture tie-ins
• Celebrity author/YA author/crossover author
• Flashy cover art
• Well-written
• Deeper content/longer length

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Are you a youth protector or a youth advocate?

• Advocate
• Believes youth are capable of defining their
  needs
• Promotes access and removes barriers and limits
  and empowers youth to identify retrieve and use
  information and resources
• Develops collections to encourage exploration of
  new ideas
• Reserves judgment

• Protector
• Believes adults know what is best for youth, what
  will harm them, and what their needs are/how
  those needs should be met
• Erects barriers and limits to information and
  resources
• Develops collections based on what will elicit
  the least amount of parental/societal displeasure
• Makes judgments

From YALSAs definition of youth advocacy
http//www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/yalsamemonly/yalsomou
nder/definitionsyouth.htm
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Selection List Resources for Adult Books for
Young Adults

• Alex Awards - http//www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/a
  lex Best adult books for young adults, selected
  by a committee of librarians
• Books for the Teen Age - http//teenlink.nypl.org/
  
• NYPLs annual list of top titles for teens are
  often a mix of j/ya/adult titles.
• Modern Library from Random House -
  http//www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/
• Classics and contemporary titles
•  

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Selection List Resources for Adult Books for
Young Adults

• National Council of Teachers of English
  http//www.ncte.org
• Reading lists and award winners
•  
• Outstanding Books for the College Bound
  http//www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/obcb
• Top selections from a number of lists
• New! Issue of YAttitudes Mystery Genre A/YA
  authors
• http//www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/yalsamemonly/members
  only.htm

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Selection List Resources for Adult Books for
Young Adults

• Bare, Beverly. What Do I Read Next? (Gale, 2004)
• Childrens Book Council http//www.cbcbooks.org
• Rorys Book Club http//thewb.com/Shows/WithFeedba
  ck/0,9310,115845,00.html

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Review Sources for Adult Books for Young Adults

• Adult Books for High School Students in School
  Library Journal
• Voice of Youth Advocates A/YA noted in reviews
•  
• Booklist A/YA noted in reviews

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Review Sources for Adult Books for Young Adults

• Library Title Wave (Follett) http//www.flr.follet
  t.com/login/
• BWI Title Tales (Book Wholesalers Inc)
  http//www.bwibooks.com/
• Amazon http//www.amazon.com
• Other?

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Readalikes

• If you're finished with the Princess Diaries and
  Gossip Girls
• Marian Keye
• Meggin Cabot
• Sophie Kinsella
• Jennifer Weiner
• Jane Green

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Readalikes

• Movin' on from Melvin Burgess
• Nick Hornby
• Chuck Palahniuk
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Irvine Welsh
• Chuck Klosterman

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Readalikes

• And more for the "Hipster" set
• Dave Eggers
• Jeffrey Eugenides

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Readalikes

• For those who can't wait for Revenge of the
  Sith
• Orson Scott Card
• Terry Brooks
• Robert Jordan
• Terry Pratchett

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Readalikes

• Genre bests
• Mystery Janet Evanovich
• Romance Nicholas Sparks

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Readalikes

• Oprah is never wrong
• Jodi Picoult
• Anita Shreve
• Amy Tan
• Elizabeth Berg
• Alice Hoffman

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Readalikes

• The "Go Ask Alice" Thank-God-it's-not-me award
  Dave Pelzer
• Gordon Korman meets David Levithan meets David
  Lubar David Sedaris
• After Sharon Draper Omar Tyree

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Readalikes

• Following Fear Street
• Stephen King
• Dean Koontz
• Peter Staub
• Christopher Golden

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And for the brave among you

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And for the brave among you from 5/3

• Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye
• Anne Rice
• L. Ron Hubbard
• Bodice Rippers
• Adult Graphic Novels
• Zane
• Other?

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2005 Alex Awards

• Candyfreak A Journey through the Chocolate
  Underbelly of America by Steve Almond
• Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 21.95
• 1-56512-412-9

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2005 Alex Awards

• Swimming to Antarctica Tales of a Long-Distance
  Swimmer by Lynn Cox
• Knopf, 24.95
• 0-375-41507-6

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2005 Alex Awards

• Donorboy by Brendan Halprin
• Random House, 12.95 1-4000-6277-2

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2005 Alex Awards

• Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
• Random House, 26.95 (0-375-50858-9).

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2005 Alex Awards

• Work of Wolves by Kent Meyers
• Harcourt, 24.00
• 0-15-101057-9

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2005 Alex Awards

• Truth Beauty A Friendship by Ann Patchett
• HarperCollins, 23.95
• 0-06-057214-0

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2005 Alex Awards

• My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult
• Atria, 25.00
• 0-7434-5452-9

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2005 Alex Awards

• Thinner Than Thou by Kit Reed
• Tom Doherty Associates, 24.00
• 0-765-30762-6

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2005 Alex Awards

• Project X by Jim Shepard
• Knopf, 20.00
• 1-4000-4071-X

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2005 Alex Awards

• Rats Observations on the History and Habitat of
  the Citys Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert
  Sullivan
• Bloomsbury, 23.95
• 1-58234-385-3

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2004 Alex Awards

• Wonder When Youll Miss Me by Amanda Davis
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
  Night-time. By Mark Haddon
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer
• Stiff by Mary Roach
• True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
• Leave Myself Behind by Bart Yates

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2003 Alex Awards

• One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry
• My Losing Season by Pat Conroy
• Seeing in the Dark How Backyard Stargazers Are
  Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from
  Interplanetary Peril by Timothy Ferris
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
• The Year of Ice by Brian Malloy
• When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
• The Dive from Clausens Pier by Ann Packer
• The Fall of Rome by Martha Southgate
• 10th Grade by Joseph Weisberg

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2002 Alex Awards

• Year of Wonders A Novel of the Plague by
  Geraldine Brooks
• An American Insurrection The Battle of Oxford,
  Mississippi by William Doyle
• Gabriel's Story by David Anthony Durham
• Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting by in
  Boom-Time America by Barbara Ehrenreich
• Peace like a River by Leif Enger
• The Wilderness Family At Home with Africa's
  Wildlife by Kobie Kruger
• Kit's Law by Donna Morrissey
• The Rover by Mel Odom
• Motherland by Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
• Black, White, and Jewish Autobiography of a
  Shifting Self by Rebecca Walker

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2001 Alex Awards

• Chang And Eng by Darin Strauss
• Counting Coup by Larry Colton
• Daughter Of The Forest by Juliet Marillier
• Diamond Dogs by Alan Watt
• Flags Of Our Fathers by James Bradley and Ron
  Powers
• The Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier,
• In The Heart Of The Sea The Tragedy Of The
  Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
• The Man Who Ate The 747 by Ben Sherwood
• The Sand Reckoner, by Gillian Bradshaw
• Soldier A Poet's Childhood by June Jordan

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2000 Alex Awards

• High Exposure An Enduring Passion for Everest
  and Unforgiving Places by David Breashears
• Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
• River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke
• Educating Esme Diary of a Teacher's First Year
  by Esmé Raji Codell
• The Reappearance of Sam Webber by Jonathon Scott
  Fuqua
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman
• The Hungry Ocean A Swordboat Captain's Journey
  by Linda Greenlaw
• Barefoot Heart Stories of a Migrant Child by
  Elva Trevino Hart
• Plainsong by Kent Haruf
• Imani All Mine by Connie Porter

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1999 Alex Awards

• The Endurance Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic
  Expedition by Caroline Alexander
• Getting In by James Finney Boylan
• Needles by Andie Dominick
• At All Costs by John Gilstrap
• Space by Jesse Lee Kercheval
• Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
• Legends Stories by the Masters of Modern
  Fantasy. Ed. by Robert Silverberg.
• Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago
• Caucasia by Danzy Senna

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1998 Alex Awards

• The Secret Family Twenty-four Hours inside the
  Mysterious Worlds of Our Minds and Bodies by
  David Bodanis
• All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
• Sugar in the Raw Voices of Young Black Girls in
  America by Rebecca Carroll
• What Girls Learn by Karin Cook
• Snow in August by Pete Hamill
• The Perfect Storm A True Story of Men against
  the Sea by Sebastian Junger
• Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mt.
  Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
• Lest We Forget The Passage from Africa to
  Slavery and Emancipation by Velma Maia Thomas
• Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven by Dawn Turner
  Trice
• To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

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Adult Authors for Young Adults Recommendations
compiled from YALSA-BK

• Albom, Mitch
• Berg, Elizabeth M/J
• Card, Orson Scott M/J
• Clark, Mary Higgins S
• Conroy, Pat S
• Cook, Robin S
• Crichton, Michael M/J
• Eugenides, Jeffrey
• Evanovich, Janet S
• Green, Jane S

• Grisham, John
• Hornby, Nick S
• Hunter, Maddy
• Hyde, Catherine Ryan
• Jordan, Robert S
• Keyes, Marian
• Stephen King
• Kinsella, Sophie
• Koontz, Dean
• Levine, Laura

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Adult Books for Young Adults Recommendations
compiled from YALSA-BK

• Lockwood, Cara
• Lovecraft, H.P.
• McCaffery, Anne S
• Moriarty, Laura
• Oates, Joyce Carol S
• Palahniuk, Chuck S
• Pelzer, Dave
• Peters, Elizabeth
• Picoult, Jodi M/J

• Saul, John S
• Sedaris, David S
• Shreve, Anita
• Sparks, Nicholas M/J
• Staub, Peter
• Tartt, Donna
• Tyree, Omar S
• Walker, Alice S
• Winterson, Jeannette S

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Beths Favorites

• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• The Pact by Jodi Picoult
• Back Roads by Tawny ODell
• True to Form by Elizabeth Berg
• Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks
• The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCaffery
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman

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Beths Favorites

• The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola
  Kraus
• The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
• Coffee and Kung Fu by Karen Brichoux
• Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
• Buffalo Soldier by Chris Bojhalian
• House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
• Life at These Speeds by Jeremy Jackson

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Other Recommendations Biog

• Smashed Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren
  Zailckas
• Stick Figure A Diary of My Former Self by Lori
  Gottleib
• Wasted A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya
  Hornbacher
• She Said Yes The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie
  Bernall by Misty Bernall
• Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton
• Riding in Cars with Boys by Beverly Donofrio
• Rocket Boys by Homer Hickham

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Other Recommendations NF

• Pledged the Secret life of Sororities by
  Alexandra Robbins
• Concrete Blonde by Eminem
• The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur
• America The Book by Jon Stewart

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Other Recommendations Novels

• Prep by Curtis Sittenfield
• Chloe Does Yale by Natalie Krinsky
• Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory
  Maguire
• Stone Garden by Molly Moynahan
• Old School by Tobias Wolff
• The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Joshua
  Braff
• The Red Panda by Andrea SeigelRun Catch Kiss by
  Amy Sohn
• The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa
  Bank
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

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Other Recommendations Graphic Novels

• Blankets by Craig Thompson
• Ethel Ernest by Raymond Briggs
• Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman/Charles Vess
• Sandman by Neil Gaiman
• Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
• My New York Life by Julie Doucet

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Other Recommendations Classics

• "A classic is something that everybody wants to
  have read and nobody wants to read."-Mark Twain
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Bette Smith
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse

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When We Were TeensLibrarian Favorites 5/3

• Arundel by Kenneth Roberts
• Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly
• Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
• Desiree by Annemarie Selinko
• Victoria Holt
• The Brontes
• John Jakes
• James Michener

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When We Were TeensLibrarian Favorites