An Introduction to Ten Outstanding Young-Adult Authors in the United States

Abstract

Virginia Euwer Wolff 6 T / OUNG-adult literature is literature read by young \X people in approximately grades 7 through 12. j-i I Unlike other publishing movements, young-adult \g^ literature in the United States became a phenomenon in almost a single year, 1967, when writers and publishers of materials for teenagers reached beyond the simple plots and white, middle-class protagonists of the postWorld War II era and presented the more culturally diverse and socially complex environment of the 1960s. Three groundbreaking novels published expressly for the young-adult audience in 1967 were S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders, Ann Head's Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, and Robert Lipsyte's The Contender. Among generalized characteristics of these and subsequent contemporary realistic young-adult novels are their varied subjects and often fast-paced narratives about independent and accomplishing protagonists who are presented from the point of view of a young person addressing emotions shared by young adult readers. These characteristics, emphasizing the needs and interests of young adults, appealed to the readership of the day. Since 1967, young-adult authors across many genres have created an enduring and respected body of literature that young adults have chosen to read. Any reader, young or old, may enjoy the best of young-adult literature by selecting from the wide range of works by ten outstanding U.S. authors: Robert Cormier, Paul Fleischman, Russell Freedman, Lois Lowry, Robin McKinley, Walter Dean Myers, Katherine Paterson, Gary Paulsen, Richard Peck, and Virginia Euwer Wolff. These ten have produced works that appeal emotionally to young people at their developmental levels and offer them opportunities to read with understanding and literary appreciation. As a group, their combined works represent the broad scope of youngadult literature, including the genres of poetry, contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, biography, and information books. More important, however, authorities in the field have recognized these authors. For example, Alleen Pace Nilsen and Kenneth Donelson have included the nine who are fiction writers in their honor list, a standard feature in their classic textbook, Literature