Young Adult Materials

GG AWard for Children's Text goes to juvenile nonfiction title

In interesting news today, Christopher Moore's nonfiction book, "From Then to Now", published by Tundra Books was awarded the Governor General award for english-language Children's Literature - Text. And last year, Caroline Pignat won for her historical novel about the Irish famine, The Greener Grass: The Famine Years.

other finalists over the years

Reading List: Novels

We will be reading selections from short story anthologies, magazines, poetry and more during the term, but these are the novels that will be assigned throughout the term. All of the titles listed here are widely available from public libraries and bookstores. I have not placed an order for class texts at the UWO Bookstore, so if you intend to purchase your selections from this bookstore you will need to order them. You will only need to read ONE of the selections for each category for class, although you are encouraged to read as many as possible (you will be looking at many more novels and other kinds of literature for your assignments and seminars). Some titles are available as e-books or e-audio from London Public Library. I highly recommend that you get a library card. 

Note: You are welcome to "read ahead" but if you do, be sure to make good notes on plot, setting, characters, appeal, potential challenges etc.  Also, be prepared to revisit the title when we get to it in class. If you've already read titles on the list, please re-read for class, or better yet, choose a title you haven't read. Any questions, feel free to email me.

YA firsts
Hold Fast by Kevin Major
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (e-book available from LPL)
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (e-audio available from LPL)

Recent Award Winners
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingstone (e-audio available from LPL)
Monkeyface Chronicles by Richard Scarsbrook 
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (e-audio available from LPL)
Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine (e-book available from LPL)

ORCA Soundings
Any title on the ORCA Soundings imprint. Please bring a copy of whatever you read with you to class. There are 51 titles available from LPL (do a basic keyword search for "Orca Soundings" to browse titles).

Doing It: Sex in YA Lit
Forever by Judy Blume
Doing It by Melvin Burgess (e-audio available from LPL)
101 Ways to Dance by Kathy Stinson
Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky

Censorship Challenge Read: Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Bat (e-book available from LPL)

From Zero to Hero
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini (read the book or watch the movie)
I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (available as e-audio)
Paper Towns by John Green (available as e-audio)
Getting the Girl by Susan Juby
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Dystopian YA Lit
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (free download available @ author's website; also e-audio @ LPL)
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (e-book and e-audio from LPL)
Unwind by Neal Shusterman (e-audio)
Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (e-audio)
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (e-audio)
The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld