6 Young Adult Literature in Action that appeal to teens. Young adult classics may be well written and have great style. They may be disturbing and have meaningful themes. Whatever the specifics, classic titles touch young adult readers generation after generation. A sampling of classics for young adults: Little Women (1868) by Louisa May Alcott Out of the Silent Planet (1938) by C. S. Lewis Seventeenth Summer (1942) by Maureen Daly The Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury Lord of the Flies (1951) by William Golding Stranger in a Strange Land (1960) by Robert Heinlein The Ship Who Sang (1961) by Anne McCaffrey The Chosen (1967) by Chaim Potok The Outsiders (1967) by S. E. Hinton The Pigman (1968) by Paul Zindel The Chocolate War (1974) by Robert Cormier Forever (1975) by Judy Blume Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (1978) by Robin McKinley Jacob Have I Loved (1980) by Katherine Paterson Annie on My Mind (1982) by Nancy Garden The Blue Sword (1982) by Robin McKinley Poetspeak: In Their Work, About Their Work (1983) by Paul Janeczko, ed. Running Loose (1983) by Chris Crutcher Lincoln: A Photobiography (1987) by Russell Freedman Eva (1988) by Peter Dickinson Fallen Angels (1988) by Walter Dean Myers Make Lemonade (1993) by Virginia Euwer Wolff ItÊs Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health (1994) by Robie Harris Tears of a Tiger (1994) by Sharon Draper Speak (1998) by Laurie Halse Anderson Harry Potter and the SorcererÊs Stone (1998) by J. K. Rowling If You Come Softly (1998) by Jacqueline Woodson Defi ning Young Adults through Reading Preferences, Interests, and Choices ItÊs relatively simple to determine which books young adults want to read. Two of the best ways to make that determination is by asking the young adults you serve and by ob- serving what they check out and read and by following the social media and digital tools they prefer. Reading Surveys Regardless of how information is collected, reading surveys offer insight into the read- ing preferences, interests, and choices. Through reading surveys, you can determine what individual readers are already reading and what they want to read. By collating the data on the surveys, you can determine what the majority of readers want to read. For results a librarian can use to better understand the reading interests of young adults, questions should be both open-ended and specific. For a quick survey, ask a dozen or fewer questions. Answering these questions shouldnÊt feel like a homework task to
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