LibGuides: Education Department: Young Adult Literature

Young Adult (YA) Literature at Kemp Library

Kemp Library Resources

Use Primo Library Catalog to search for books. See "How to Find YA Books" tab for screenshots of Primo!

Primo Library Catalog

Use the following library databases to find articles, including book reviews and literary criticism.

Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window Literature Resource Center is a comprehensive literature database that provides researchers up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window JSTOR contains the full text of core scholarly journals in a variety of disciplines. Kemp Library subscribes to all collections from JSTOR. See "More" for collection lists.
Arts & Sciences I-XV
Business IV
Hebrew Journals
Ireland
Life Sciences
Lives of Literature
Public Health Journals
Security Studies
Sustainability

19th Century British Pamphlets
World Heritage Sites: Africa
Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa
Global Plants
MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new window The MLA International Bibliography with Full Text combines the definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film with full text for more than 1,000 journals, including many of the leading publications in these fields. Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA) and international in scope, the bibliography covers scholarly publications from the early 20th century to the present, including journal articles, books, articles in books, series, translations, scholarly editions, websites, and dissertations. The database also includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals and the MLA Thesaurus, a proprietary, searchable collection of thousands of subject terms, and personal names used in indexing the bibliography.

Search for Books in Primo Library Catalog

1) Go to Kemp Library's website. Scroll down and click on Primo Library Catalog.

2) Type in the book title and click on Library Catalog. This limits the search to print materials at the library and e-books.

Primo Library Catalog Search Box. Type in Book title and click on Library Catalog.

3) Browse the results. Click on the book to see more information.

Primo Library Catalog, Browse the Results.

Use the Tweak My Results column on the right if you need to refine the results list.

Tweak My Results column to refine results by location and book/e-book

4) Find out the book's location in the library and the call number. You can text yourself the call number.

Since the Lower Level is currently closed, go to the Circulation Desk with the book title and call number for help.

Primo Library Catalog, Book Location and Call Number

Search for Book Reviews and Literary Criticism

1) Literature Resource Center

Go to library's A-Z Database page and scroll down to click on the Literature Resources Center.

If you're off campus, you'll need to sign in with your ESU username and password. Go here for help.

Type in a book title. As you type, options will appear. You can select the specific book or click the search button. For example, I selected The Hate U Give (Novel), which was second on the list.

Literature Resource Center search box

Next, browse the resource types listed at the top of the results. Browse through the results including Literature Criticism (i.e. scholarly analysis), Topic & Work Overviews (i.e. book summary, breaks down the chapters of the book), and Reviews & News (i.e. short reviews or opinions about the book).

Literature Resource Center Results List for "The Hate U Give"

2) JSTOR

Go to library's A-Z Database page and scroll down to click on JSTOR.
Type in the book title with quotes around it. Example: "The Hate U Give". This searches the words as an exact phrase.

JSTOR Search

Browse the results. Use the Refine Results column on the left if you have a lot of results.

JSTOR Browse Results, Refine Results as Needed

Read the article in the preview or download the PDF.

JSTOR Download the PDF or read the article

Young Adult (YA) Literature

Young Adult (YA) literature is generally geared towards 12 to 18 year-olds. However, in recent years, "conventional definition of 'young adult' has expanded to include those as young as ten and...as old as twenty-five" (The Value of Young Adult Literature).

The Value of Young Adult Literature
A position paper by Michael Cart for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). January 2008.
YA Grows Up.
Hershberger, Katy. “YA Grows Up.” School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 4, Apr. 2021, pp. 32-34. EBSCOhost.

YA Book Lists

Explore the book lists below and then search for the book title in Primo Library Catalog (see the "How to Find a YA Book" tab for instructions).

The 100 Best YA Books of All Time
TIME presents the most compelling, enlightening and influential young-adult books, in chronological order beginning in the 1800s.
The Ultimate YA Bookshelf
YALSA's Ultimate Teen Bookshelf (PDF) highlights must-have teen materials for libraries, including 50 books.
Young Adults' Choices Reading List, International Literacy Association (ILA)
An annual list of new books that will encourage adolescents to read. The books are selected by the readers themselves, so they are bound to be popular with middle and secondary school students.