Notes that Lois Lowry's novel "The Giver," with its powerful writing, themes, and issues, provides an introduction to the best in young adult literature for students who might have had few (or no) prior experiences with excellent young adult literature. Discusses how students in an adolescent literature methods course responded to the…

Considers the importance of vocabulary to writers (the author is one), to teachers (the author was one), and teenagers. Reminds us that literacy and abundant vocabulary are important for practical as well as aesthetic reasons: survival regularly depends upon communicating with strangers. Suggests ways in which teachers can improve their students'…

Suggests that adolescence is a time of searching for understanding and that literature that deals with a diversity of spirituality can support that search. Appends a 17-item annotated bibliography of young adult books with spiritual themes. (RS)

Presents an interview with Author/Screen Writer David Klass. Discusses his dual role as young adult author and Hollywood screenwriter. Illuminates important differences that Klass finds when working as writer of young adult books and as a screenwriter. (SG)

Argues that Carson McCullers's novel "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" is a fine work of fiction which deals with problems, issues, and themes highly relevant to today's young adult milieu. (SR)

Challenges readers to work harder than they have been working for young adult literature in general and ALAN in particular. Suggests ways to promote young adult literature. (SR)

Weaves a discussion of the female protagonist of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel "Speak" into the main discussion of the female protagonist of Carson McCullers'"The Member of the Wedding." Demonstrates the parallels between the stories as well as the distinctions to reinforce their individual richness, and to assist teachers who may choose to pair…

Makes a case for the importance of young adult literature about homosexuality and discusses a cross-section of the books that publishers have made available, finding some of them stereotypical and misleading, while others informed and worth reading. (TB)

Notes that young adult novels with young female characters often provide layers of insights into their growth, insights that frequently have gone unrecognized. Examines critically acclaimed young adult novels from the past three decades. Finds that many strong female protagonists do exist. (RS)

Analyzes the fiction of Robert Newton Peck with reference to his book "Secrets of Successful Fiction." (TB)

Presents an interview with S.L. Rottman. Considers how her jobs as a teacher and coach of teens informs what she does as a writer for teens. Discusses her choices, as an artist and as a person who is sensitive to adolescents' realities, as they are reflected in characters who have to deal with alcoholic or abusive parents and in the kinds of…

Presents a farewell article to Dr. Pamela Sissi Carroll as editor of this journal. Gives a comical review of the field by covering the entire history of young adult literature, past, present, and future, describing the important people and organizations in the field, and explaining everything he has learned as a writer of young adult novels.…

Presents an interview with Avi and discusses his 2003 Newbery Medal Award. Describes how the art of fiction writing is the art of transforming ideas (which we all have) into written words that build a narrative design. (SG)

Argues that humor is one means of appealing to young people and helping them to search out truth. Explains how the author, who writes young adult fiction, uses humor to approach weighty subjects. Provides several examples from her fiction. (TB)

Discusses numerous young adult novels that use the Second World War as a background. Notes that war books proliferated in the late 1960s as authors who were young during the war years began to come to terms with their war experiences. (RS)