The Strategic Literacy Initiative Home | About SLI What's New Professional Development Publications & Presentations Resources for Teachers Evaluation & Assessment Related Research & Resources Contact Information: Ruth Schoenbach Co-Director (510) 302-4255 rschoen@wested.org Cyndy Greenleaf Co-Director (510) 302-4222 cgreenl@wested.org Jana Bouc Program Coordinator (510) 302-4245 jbouc@wested.org

Young Adult Book Sites   The ALAN Review (The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents) http://english.byu.edu/ALAN/ An excellent resource for the latest research and papers presented on adolescent literature. American Library Association www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/index.html A comprehensive web site of young adult book lists ranging from Quick Picks for the Reluctant Young Reader to Popular Paperback Books that categorizes teen books under Good Sports, Teen Culture, Changing Dimensions, and Different Drummers. The site also includes adult books especially recommended for teen readers. All recommended books are annotated. American Library Association www.ala.org/teenhoopla/bestbooks99.html This book list, compiled by young adult librarians, contains a wide variety of new teen fiction (featuring realistic teen characters) as well as a contemporary list of non-fiction titles covering topics such as African-American art and poetry, life of a migrant child, the afterlife of dead bodies, a relationship between a boy and an elephant, and children in apartheid South Africa. America’s Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CLA/outreach These English and Spanish-language books authentically and engagingly present the experience of individuals in Latin America or the Caribbean, or of Latinos in the United States. Each book is recognized for its quality of story, cultural authenticity/sensitivity, and potential for classroom use. Rich, detailed summaries are provided, as is a suggested range of grade level interest and reading ability. The Best Books for Teens http://www.yahelp.suffolk.lib.ny.us/yalit.html A compilation of three separate book lists: Teen Adventure Books, Feminism in Literature for Young Adults, and Horror Books. Only the bibliography on horror books contains short summaries. Links to Kay E. Vandergrift’s Y. A. Literature Page, Reading Rants, and Y. A. Angst also are available. Booklist Editors’ Choice, 1995-1998 http://www.ala.org/booklist/005.html A very helpful web site listing fiction and non-fiction book lists of recommended adult and young adult titles. All book titles are accompanied by a detailed annotation, publisher’s information and cost. For convenience, young adult titles are categorized separately for Older, Middle and Young Readers. Circle of Friends: Multicultural Books for Children www.cofbooks.com/cof-select.html www.cofbooks.com/list-theme.html This site offers a wide range of quality, high-interest books with characters and themes related to multiculturalism. Books are grouped either by grade range (primary, intermediate and middle/ high school) or cultural themes. Cultural themes include African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, Jewish/The Holocaust, Native American, Gay — Lesbian, Children and AIDS, Differently Abled, and Multicultural. Summaries and book prices are provided for each book. Favorite Teenage Angst Books www.grouchy.com/angstbooks.html This handful of book titles are grouped under the following teen topics: sex and love, mixed-up families, fitting-in, journeys, awakenings, creativity, pressure, trouble, healing, challenge, and out of bounds. A few categories recommend limited titles, however, each book is colorfully and thoroughly reviewed by the web site’s creator. All books are directly linked to Powells.com where new and used books can be purchased on-line. Hungry Mind Review http://bookwire.bowker.com/bookinfo/contents.aspx?Children's An independent book review web site (as in NOT Amazon.com) containing very insightful, thoughtful, and lengthy book reviews of recommended books for children and young adults. Also, linked to web sites for purchasing new, used, and out-of-print books. Kay E. Vandergrift’s Young Adult Literature Page http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/yalit.html The purpose of Vandergrift’s web site is to educate adults on the world of young adult literature. This is an extremely informative web site that provides history, trends, characteristics, theory, research, and pedagogy related to young adult literature. Her book list of 100 Y.A. titles is recommended for adults who want to better understand the books teens read. Multicultural Book Review Homepage www.isomedia.com/homes/jmele/joe.html Although this site hasn’t been updated since 1996, it can still be a valuable resource for identifying specific multicultural titles for children and young adults. Helpful bibliographies include for each book a book review, a "suitable grade level" recommendation, and a personal, evaluative letter grade according to the developer of this website. Along with the four ethnic groups most often included within multiculturalism, other groups include Native Americans/Eskimos, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and East Indian. Multicultural Resources for Children http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/multipub.htm A meta Internet site that offers hundreds of links to bibliographies, book reviews, cultural sites, articles, high-interest/low-vocabulary book publishers, and cool books for tough guys, to name a few. One could get lost here, but there are valuable resources especially within the "Young Adult Literature" section. This is also one of the more comprehensive sites for social studies, history, and science teachers wanting to build a classroom library. National Council of Social Studies http://www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc/woodson.htm The Carter G. Woodson award is given to distinguished young adult books in the social science area that depict multiculturalism and ethnicity in the United States. This site lists the honored book titles and authors of the past twenty-five years for both the elementary and secondary categories. New Books for Young Adults slisweb.lis.wisc.edu/reerler/847/youth.htm This site is building a list of recommended multicultural titles for young adults, however its current offering is quite limited in quantity. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and audio/visual titles are grouped under African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American, and Native-American headings and include a one-sentence summary. Newbery Medal Home Page www.ala.org/alsc/newbery.html A list of the 1922-1999 Newbery Medal winners in recognition for most distinguished contribution to children’s literature. Site includes summaries of the winning book and all honored books from the past six years. Positive Images: Multicultural Books for Children www.wordweb.org/positive A varied selection of books that would be appropriate for Social Studies, Science, English, and Home Economics elementary and middle school classrooms. New books are annotated, and all can be purchased on-line. Reading Rants: Out of the Ordinary Teen Book Lists www.tln.lib.mi.us/~amutch/jen/index.html This is the web site of one New York librarian, who has a penchant for Y.A. literature. She reviews all of the books herself, and quite candidly at that. Her creative genres include Bare Bones (eating disorders), Boy Meets Book (male-interest titles), Reality Bites (non-fiction about teens), and Riot Grrrl (beyond teen romance), to name a few. Recommended Reading for Young Adults www.nsn.org/skkhome/SPLsite/special/yaread.html Extensive links to book lists and reviews, most of which are included here. DRP à Booklink (software) www.tasaliteracy.com The site provides the readability value of over 5,500 textbooks. Although the Booklink software contains the readability values of over 13,000 books, the web site indicates only if the book has been reviewed; it does not provide the readability value of the book.     [an error occurred while processing this directive]   This information can be found at http://www.wested.org /stratlit/research/booklinks.shtml Last modified February 27, 2001 ©2009 WestEd® || (415) 565-3000 || www.WestEd.org All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced without permission of WestEd.