Young Adult Fiction! discussion
The Classroom-(gen. discussion)
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Authors that Cross Age Groups
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SE Hinton has written a picture book. John Coy is a picture book author who just wrote his first YA book (Crackback, a sports book that reluctant male readers eat up).
How about Cynthia Rylant? She runs the gamut, age-wise!
Dean Hughes
Don Wulffson
Frequently when I search these authors at amazon in search of more YA, I run into younger readers' fare. I'm sure there are many more, but that's off the top of my head for now. Good luck with that admirable project!
Meg Cabot now writes books for middle school kids, as well as for teens and adults.
Laurie Halse Anderson comes to mind. Robert Cormier wrote books for age 8 or so up to adult.
I love Anderson's books as well. You know, I would really argue that many of the writers writing for teens right now are crossovers. I am surprised by the response I get from adults about my novel, which is a 12 and up reading level. I think those of us who are drawn to these kinds of stories like them well past our teens and into adulthood.
I would say Robert Cormier would be too much for most 8-year-olds. His books are quite disturbing psycologically. I would say he would be "safe" for 14+ though many of his books are rated as 12+.
Most of his books are for mid to late teens. But Other Bells For Us to Ring and Tunes for Bears to Dance To would be suitable for eight or nine year olds I think. Both of them are rather gentle stories (though still dark in their way), with child protagonists, and reasonably upbeat endings.
Mod
Madeleine L'Engle does children through YA.
That would include myself. I have a published picture book (A Dragon's Birth) and a teen mystery published called (The Attic Above).
Two of my personal favorite books/authors that span the interests of different ages/generations are, Dr. Suess and the Where's Waldo series. I can still only find Waldo on one of the pages in the Hollywood edition. As a forth grade teacher in South-Central Los Angeles I had all of the Where's books; and a Where's Waldo doll and used to hide him in a different spot each time the kids went to recess, or to lunch and they had a blast trying to find his new location each time- and would let me know it anytime I had forgotten to move him from his previous location... Those habits and the kids reading books they found interesting, and turning in reports each week---earned them the distinction of becoming the Top Readers at our K-5th Elementary school in 2002. They were so far ahead on points that year that the librarian had to add an extra long sheet of paper just to accurately chart their efforts. The kids also did a clean sweep that year in the five-month-long Principal's Reading Report Race, and won all three of the forth grade trophies with 300 forth graders competing.
On a local Fairbanks, Alaska News front, my newly relesed book; Champion A Story of the Happy Life of Roman Lefthanded Losinski is having great success with kids and adults of all ages... It was my secret plan to Hook as many kids on Books as I could... And now, the book seems to be affecting adults as well--How cool is that?
Miles Cobbett AlaskaMiles
Congrats on the book, Miles - it looks wonderful. I have to second your Dr. Seuss comment mentioned above. I just finished reading Horton Hears a Who to my three year old daughter. We could all pay a little more attention to Horton :-)
Neil Gaiman- yes he wrote a scary picture bookCynthia Rylant
What are some great authors that don't write for just one age group or grade level? I am looking for authors whose writing spans from picture books through teens--who students can grow up with.
Some authors that I have thought of, include:
Jane Yolen
Jacqueline Woodson
Lloyd Alexander
Ursula LeGuin
Walter Dean Myers
Gary Soto
Pam Munoz Ryan
Who else?