Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 416 pages
- Published by: Houghton Mifflin
- Edition: 1st Edition October 3, 2006
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0618612963
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0618612963
-
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 5.6 x 1.5 inches
- Weighs: 12 ounces
From School Library Journal
Silvey has put together contemporary and classic adult and YA titles that meet her criteria for exemplary writing and wide appeal. Familiar groupings such as "Fantasy," "Historical Fiction," and "Mystery" accompany newer subject areas such as "Many Cultures, Many Realities," "Edgy, Trendsetting Novels," and "Politics and Social Conscience." Nonfiction titles, such as
Into Thin Air and
Young Men and Fire, are included in the "Adventure and Survival" category, and a unique chapter called "Information" contains books such as
Undaunted Courage, Nickel and Dimed, and
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science. All Printz Award-winners and honor books are included, as well as some Newberys, Pulitzers, National Book Awards, and other noteworthy winners. In a conversational tone, Silvey introduces each chapter, noting characteristics of the genre followed by a two- or three-paragraph description of each book briefly outlining the plot and other elements such as writing style, themes, and significance to young adult literature. Silvey's classics include
Hound of the Baskervilles, Our Town, and
To Kill a Mockingbird, but librarians will agree she has a pulse on contemporary titles that will endure, such as
The Da Vinci Code, Looking for Alaska, I Am the Messenger, and
A Certain Slant of Light. Extras include a time line, geographical location for settings, additional titles for each subject area, and a list of recommended audiobooks.—
Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Description
If you are looking for a book to give to a teenage reader, here's the reference you've been waiting for. Until now, there's been no accepted guide to what's good, bad, or indifferent in the flood of books coming off the presses in the hot new category of young-adult publishing. If it's true that you can't judge a book by its cover, it is especially true for teen books, as publishers take aim at a new class of readers. The books land on shelves without a history, and so there is no standard by which to judge them.
Anita Silvey, one of the country's leading authorities on books for young people, has interviewed teenage readers all over the country and immersed herself in young-adult books, with an emphasis on books published in the last five years. The result is this invaluable and very readable guide for parents, teachers, librarians, booksellers, reading groups, and of course teens themselves.
With its extended essays describing 500 selections, parents will quickly see what their teenagers are actually reading -- and will be able to find good books to introduce them to. Teachers can spot great additions to summer reading lists. Booksellers can move customers from one favorite to a host of others in the same genre. Librarians can round out collections. Book groups -- for adults, teens, or both -- will have hundreds of new titles to consider.
500 Great Books for Teens is divided into twenty-one sections, including adventure and survival, politics and social history, horror, romance, war and conflict, fantasy, plays, graphic novels, poetry, memoir, and spirituality. Every section offers up classics, but the majority of titles are new. In "Beyond the 500," Silvey compiles a number of useful lists, including books organized by geographic location and historical period, as well as recommended audio books.
Reader ReviewsThe first thing that I did when I saw this book was check the index to see if Harry Potter books was listed. It was. And the opening sentence about the book says: 'As a way to entice the young into reading, few stories surpass the Harry Potter novels.' Again as Ms. Silvey says, the Harry Potter books will naturally 'find its detractors.' Sure. But the first sentence is the key. More kids have gotten into reading by being introduced to Harry Potter than any other book ever. OK, if she got this one right, how about other books? In this same section: 'Fantasy' - Ms. Silvey talks about the Diana Wynne Jones Chrestomanci series. About these books she says: 'its advocates always argue its literary superiority to the Harry Potter saga.' Right On! When the kid has finished the Harry Potter series and looking for something else, point him to the Jones books. Or to Narnia. Or to Anne McCaffrey -- all of which are discussed by Ms. Silvey. This is exactly what a book like this should do. Give you the ideas to get the youngers to reading. And this is exactly what the book delivers. If not in Fantasy, then in advernture, history, mystery, science fiction and several other categories. Complaints, a few - she doesn't list Isaac Asimov's Foundation series in the science fiction section. Things like that. But could you ever pick 500 titles upon which we would all agree. An excellent resource book.
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