Explains the author's views on writing for young adult readers, and tries to present the awkward realities of the modern world in a way that makes them explicable to the immature mind. Emphasizes that it is important that teachers, librarians, and academics continue selecting and discarding, discussing and analyzing, and making comparisons with…

Describes the life and work of Rebecca Caudill, an author of young adult and children's literature, and discusses how she captures major characteristics of Appalachian culture. Examines four young adult novels: (1) "Tree of Freedom"; (2) "The Far-Off Land"; (3) "Barrie and Daughter"; and (4) "Susan Cornish."…

Discusses external and internal influences, such as pressure from critics and drive for financial reward, which must be eradicated for a writer of children's literature to remain focused on the primary task of writing to entertain, enchant, and inform young readers. (NH)

Chronicles the variety of means with which the novelist Michael Crichton has attempted to give his works the appearance of nonfiction. Specific and successful techniques utilized in "Eaters of the Dead" are noted, and the resulting erroneous classifications by the Library of Congress and subsequent catalogers are discussed. (Author)

Tells the story of Mario, a high school student who struggled with school and with anger, but who found a story (by Ray Bradbury) which engaged his interest, a connection which helped him, in a key moment, look to a hopeful future rather than a difficult past. (SR)

Addresses authors' motivations for citing documents through a literature review and an empirical study. The works of two highly cited authors in communication were identified and all authors who cited them were surveyed regarding why a document was cited and the citer's relationship to the cited author and document. (Author/LRW)

Describes the shifts in the author's literacy in the three years she has been a mother. Discusses the two books she has had time to read for pleasure, as well as the books she has written and edited (in her role as a teacher educator). Shares how this reflects the fragmented, challenging, exhilarating existence of motherhood. (SR)

Looks closely at the way an illustrator and picture book maker, Colin McNaughton, draws children into a special sense of being "in the know." States that McNaughton adapts a wide range of features from comics to the constraints of the picture book and relies on an unspoken pact between reader and writer/artist familiar to all comics…

Presents an interview with E.L. Konigsburg, acclaimed author of books for middle-school children. Discusses her writing, her many award-winning books, and her latest success, the 1997 Newbery Medal winner "The View From Saturday." (SR)

Presents brief biographical information on the contributing authors (professors, counselors, graduate students) to this special issue devoted to the mental and psychological health concerns relevant to Chicanas/os. (JDM)

Discusses ways that authors use time as it relates to the setting or time period, and to reveal changes throughout the story. Provides activities for elementary school students to help them understand how authors show time and changes, includes a worksheet to show examples of time relationships, and suggests assessment possibilities. (LRW)

No work by Zora Neale Hurston has received harsher critical evaluation than her anthropological study of Haiti and Jamaica, "Tell My Horse." Although her aim in part was to write a commercially successful popular book, she also aimed, with some success, to offer significant social commentary. (SLD)

Discusses the currently controversial issue in children's literature of writing outside one's culture. Discusses issues of origin and setting, issues of authorship, and writing powerfully outside one's own culture. (SR)

Presents an essay by renowned author of young adult literature Robert Cormier, musing on the autobiographical aspects of his own writings as well as writing in the guise of people or about situations to which he is a complete stranger. (SR)

Collects and presents comments made by authors of young adult literature about their writing and about literature. Discusses how writing for young adults and teaching young adults might be related; why write books for adolescent readers; what their goals are as writers of young adult literature; and how they move from a blank page to a finished…