“The annual award of $5,000 goes to an author for a meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults. Scott O'Dell established this award to encourage other writers--particularly new authors--to focus on historical fiction. He hoped in this way to increase the interest of young readers in the historical background that has helped to shape their country and their world.” WorldWayYearsChildrenBookCountryYoungInterestFictionFocusReaderShapesAdultsIncreaseHistoricalYoung AdultBackgroundsAwardsHistorical FictionAnnualsDellPrevious Years Author:Scott O'Dell
“To me there's no difference between writing YA and adult except that in YA I make the book a little shorter and the protagonists are teens. The difference is in the readers.” WritingLittlesBookDifferencesReaderAdultsTeensProtagonists Author:Charles de Lint
“Children make better readers than adults. They read as carefully as I write; adults read as a means of getting off to sleep. I get letters saying 'I have read your book seventeen times.' If you're an adult novelist and you get that letter, you should be afraid. You're being stalked. Kids always read them seventeen times!” IfsShouldWritingMeanChildrenBookKidsSleepReaderAdultsLettersNovelistsSeventeen Author:Daniel Pinkwater
“I tend to believe that computers are drawing kids -- and adults -- away from reading purely because they provide an alternative, vast source of spare-time amusement and entertainment. I recently heard a frightening statistic: there are less than one million true readers in this country (those who read every day instead of one book per year on a beach). Terrifying.” YearsBelieveBookCountryKidsReadingMillionsHeardSourceReaderComputerAdultsEntertainmentDrawingAlternativesBeachFrighteningSparesAmusementSpare Time Author:Tim Lebbon
“There really is no difference in the actual writing or plotting. I choose to tell different stories for the younger reader and, of course, I would never put sex and extreme violence in a YA book. But writing for adults and children requires the same care and attention.” WritingChildrenBookDifferentStoriesCareCoursesSexDifferencesAttentionViolenceReaderAdultsExtremes Author:Michael Scott
“This is a magical and inspiring metaphor through which adult readers will identify anger issues and discover practical methods to energize enduring change.” IssuesReaderAdultsMethodEndureMetaphorPracticalsAnger Issues Author:Jeffrey K. Zeig
“I know that I'll be writing for young adults for a long time. Mostly because I just love the readers and the teachers and librarians that I interact with.” KnowsWritingLongYoungTeacherReaderLong TimeAdultsYoung AdultLibrarian Author:Veronica Roth
“In a culture defined by shades of gray, I think the absolute black and white choices in dark young adult novels are incredibly satisfying for readers.” ThinkingYoungChoicesCultureBlackDarkWhiteNovelReaderAdultsAbsolutesYoung AdultDefinedGrayShadeSatisfyingBlack And WhiteShades Of Gray Author:Maggie Stiefvater
“What is a novel? I say: an invented story. At the same time a story which, though invented has the power to ring true. True to what? True to life as the reader knows life to be or, it may be, feels life to be. And I mean the adult, the grown-up reader. Such a reader has outgrown fairy tales, and we do not want the fantastic and the impossible. So I say to you that a novel must stand up to the adult tests of reality.” KnowsWantFeelsMayMeanStoriesRealityTruthFictionNovelImpossibleReaderAdultsTestsRingsTalesFantasticFairyFairy TaleRealismTrue Life Author:Elizabeth Bowen
“I am trying to come up with some "adult" reads, but I mostly read young adult fiction (my job), which, by the way is excellent. I will post about some of my favorites that should appeal to adult readers” WayShouldTryingJobsYoungFictionReaderAdultsYoung AdultCome UpPostsAppealsExcellent Author:Megan McCafferty
“It's great that there are so many different kinds of books for kids and adults to choose from. I think an eclectic reader is the best kind of reader to be, which would be why I was always so satisfied to hear that kids read the Baby-Sitters Club books and then went on and discovered other authors and other genres.” ThinkingKindBookDifferentWould BeKidsBabyReaderAdultsClubsSatisfiedGenreDifferent KindsEclecticBooks For Kids Author:Ann M. Martin
“I try to write about complex issues--young people in an adult world-- full of irony and contradiction in a narrative style that relies heavily on suspense with a texture rich in emotion and imagery. I take a great deal of satisfaction in using popular forms-- the adventure, the mystery, the thriller-- so as to hold my reader with the sheer pleasure of a good story. At the same time I try to resolve my books with an ambiguity that compels engagement. In short, I want my readers to feel, to think, sometimes to laugh. But most of all I want them to enjoy a good read.” PeopleThinkingWorldWantFeelsWritingTryingBookSometimesStoriesFormYoungEnjoyPleasureDealsEmotionLaughingIssuesRichMysteryStyleAdventureReaderAdultsComplexesSatisfactionSuspenseNarrativeIronyRelyContradictionResolveEngagementSheerImageryAmbiguityTextureGood StoryThrillersGood Reads Author:Avi
“Well, the fact is, we can never know what people do in the privacy of their own rooms. The door is closed. The blinds are drawn. We don't know. I leave it up to the reader. But there's no doubt in my mind that they loved each other, and this was an ardent, loving relationship between two adult women.” PeopleKnowsMindWellsTwoFactsRoomsDoubtDoorsReaderAdultsNo DoubtPrivacyArdentLoving Relationships Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“It's actually not very hard to re-set between the adult novels and the ones for younger readers. The narrative voices are very similar, the smartass attitude, the environmental battles. Kids love books that are irreverent and challenge authority, when authority is arbitrary, greedy or foolish. They also love it when you make fun of grownups, and I've spent my whole life as a writer doing that.” BookHardWholeKidsFunVoiceChallengesAttitudeNovelReaderBattleAuthorityAdultsEnvironmentalWhole LifeFoolishNarrativeGreedyArbitraryGrownupsKids LoveIrreverentSmartassNarrative Voice Author:Carl Hiaasen
“It is always just telling a story, regardless of the age of the reader. Except, if I'm writing something for kids, I know there has to be hope. I don't necessarily feel that responsibility for adults, but I emphatically feel it for children. That's the only difference. There's no syntax difference. There's no semantics difference. There's no thematic difference.” IfsKnowsFeelsWritingChildrenStoriesKidsAgeDifferencesResponsibilityReaderAdultsSyntaxSemanticsThematic Author:Kate DiCamillo
“I'm not a reader of young adult fiction for the simple reason that these novelists are writing for adolescents, so they are not writing for me.” WritingReasonYoungSimpleFictionReaderAdultsYoung AdultNovelists Author:Robert Cormier
“One of the interesting things about YA books - I don't know about Percy Jackson, but I do know about 'Twilight' and 'Maximum Ride': There are a lot of adult readers. In fact, we released 'Maximum Ride' both as a paperback for kids and as a mass release for adults.” KnowsBookFactsKidsInterestingReaderMassAdultsReleaseTwilightMaximumInteresting ThingsMaximum Ride Author:James Patterson
“I write adult fiction, but a good 40 to 50 per cent of my readers are teenagers. I love that if they have to grow up and move past JK Rowling they can move to me. From Jo to Jodi!” IfsWritingPastMovingGrowsFictionGrowing UpReaderAdultsTeenagerCents Author:Jodi Picoult
“Children's books are often seen as the poor relation of literature. But children are just as demanding as adult readers, if not more so. I should know. I'm a children's writer myself.” IfsKnowsShouldChildrenBookLiteraturePoorReaderAdultsRelationChildren's Books Author:David Walliams
“Allowing yourself to stop reading a book - at page 25, 50, or even, less frequently, a few chapters from the end - is a rite of passage in a reader's life, the literary equivalent of a bar mitzvah or a communion, the moment at which you look at yourself and announce: Today I am an adult. I can make my own decisions.” LooksI CanBookEndsMomentsTodayReadingMy OwnDecisionReaderPagesAdultsBarsAllowingPassagesChaptersCommunionRiteLook At YourselfRite Of PassageBar MitzvahMitzvah Book:So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading Source: So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading
“As readers, we remain in the nursery stage so long as we cannot distinguish between taste and judgment, so long, that is, as the only possible verdicts we can pass on a book are two: this I like; this I don't like. For an adult reader, the possible verdicts are five: I can see this is good and I like it; I can see this is good but I don't like it; I can see this is good and, though at present I don't like it, I believe that with perseverance I shall come to like it; I can see that this is trash but I like it; I can see that this is trash and I don't like it.” BelieveLongI CanTwoBookI BelieveFiveStageReaderTasteJudgmentAdultsPerseveranceNurseTrashNurseryVerdictTaste And Judgment Author:W. H. Auden
“Though now we think of fairy tales as stories intended for very young children, this is a relatively modern idea. In the oral tradition, magical stories were enjoyed by listeners young and old alike, while literary fairy tales (including most of the tales that are best known today) were published primarily for adult readers until the 19th century.” ThinkingChildrenIdeasStoriesTodayYoungKnownModernCenturyReaderAdultsTraditionIncludingTalesEnjoyedFairyFairy TaleListeners19th CenturyYoung ChildrenYoung And OldOral Tradition Author:Terri Windling
“I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy. And yet I cannot pretend that the reading I have done in my adult years matches in its impact on my soul the reading I did as a child. I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Yet it is not the same.” YearsBelieveChildrenStillsBookSoulDoneStoriesJoyReadingForgetMiddleStageReaderAdultsImpactMy SoulGood BookI Still Believe Author:Diane Setterfield
“I don't want to write for adults. I want to write for readers who can perform miracles. Only children perform miracles when they read.” WantWritingChildrenReaderAdultsMiracleOnly ChildWriting Children's Books Author:Astrid Lindgren