Primary and Adolescent Literature

Characteristics of Primary and Adolescent Literature

Best Books for Children from Vanderbilt University

Amazing 17 month old Reads!

Young Adult Literature Genres and Awards 

Promoting Life-Long Readers for Teens

Teens Speak - Why They Read

Seven Characteristics of Young Adult Literature

1. YA authors write from the viewpoint of young people
2. "I want the credit." In many YA novels the parents or other authority figures are absent. The characters are forced to confront their problems on their own.
3. The literature is fast-paced, the stories told as a frantic pace with emphasis on powerful images.
4. YA literature involves a variety of genres and subjects, with about half being contemporary realistic fiction.
5. It iincludes stories about characters from many different ethnic and cultural groups. The characters are no longer all white, middle class characters. There are fewer taboos about what can be included.
6. YA books are basically optimistic with characters making worthy accomplishments. The characters are faced with challenges, which earn the reader's respect, even if they don't succeed. The characters show change and growth.
7. Successful young adult novels deal with emotions that are important to young people.

Children's Literature Author Videos and Material 

Award Winning Books and Links

General Characteristics of the Primary Reader

Each child will develop reading skills at a different rate and not every book is right for every child. It is an excellent idea to talk to your child’s teacher about reading and skill development. The children’s librarian at your public library can help you and your child select age-appropriate material.

The Kindergarten age child recognizes ABCs, can listen to longer stories and enjoys stories with rhyming language.

The First Grade child can develop basic reading skills, may be able to read books with a few words per page and uses pictures to know what’s happening in the story.

The Second Grade child develops more reading skills, increases reading comprehension skills, reads for fun and reads more words per page. These children can understand more difficult stories than they can read, and find that pictures are important in understanding the story.

The Third Grade child continues to build their reading and vocabulary comprehension, learns to deal with new words, begins to choose short chapter books to read, enjoys fairy tales, jokes and riddles, and likes to choose their own book