LRC 585: Literature for Adolescents Spring 2006 Facilitator: Judi Moreillon

The purpose of this project is to keep a record of the titles you read during this course. These books must be titles you have not previously read. You will turn in all of your reading records on April 27th. (Group A will turn in initial reading records on March 2nd; Group B will turn in initial reading records on February 23rd.) You will include the number of reading records you intend to accomplish among your course goals. The course facilitator will negotiate an agree-upon number on an individual basis.

Reading young adult literature is the heart of this course. Design a record-keeping system that will meet your needs as a teacher or teacher-librarian and perhaps as a resource for students. Possible formats are note cards, looseleaf notebook pages, or a database. Whatever you choose, you'll want to be sure it is organized so that you'll be able to make additions to it in the future.

These are the essential pieces of information you will record for each book:

1. all of these: bibliographic information: author, title, illustrator, publisher, date of publication, number of pages, ISBN#
2. short summary of the plot;
3. description of the illustrations (if appropriate);
4. theme(s);
5. your personal reactions to the book;
6. curricular connections (how you might use it with students in a classroom).

Link to information about how to locate various genres in libraries that use the Dewey Decimal System.

These are some resources that may help you locate books of particular interest to students and to teachers:

Arizona Young Reader Award Nominees - 2006
These titles are nominated by Arizona students each spring. Teachers and teacher-librarians share them with kids. Each March students vote for their favorite titles in the picture book, chapter book and teen categories.

National Book Awards (Link to 2000-2005 Awards)
Awarded by the National Book Foundation, these awards include a young people's literature category.

The Newbery Award-Winning Books
A committee of the American Library Association votes for the Newbery Award books each year. Since 1922, a first place book receives the Newbery Medal and one or more books is awarded Honor Book status. The award is named after John Newbery, an English publisher and bookseller, who was the first person to print and sell books for children.

Michael Printz Awards
These awards are sponsored by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), a division of the American Library Association.

Nancy J. Keane
Nancy J. Keane is a middle school teacher-librarian and radio children's booktalk host in Concord, New Hampshire. You can read her booktalks indexed by title, author, subject, and interest level and peruse her bibliographies for titles.

Young Adult Librarian's Help/Homepage
Although small this site is good resource for young adult literature, magazines, and comics. The genres/themes represented are adventure, horror, and feminism.

Main Page

Course Schedule

SW Children's Lit Web Site

Last updated: 29 December 2005