Popular Books and authors

With so many distractions, it can be hard to interest kids in reading for pleasure. Some kids only read books by one author or in one genre, while those who really struggle with literacy may avoid books altogether. AdLit.org's themed booklists, prepared by our young adult literature advisors, will help you find books to broaden the horizons of reluctant readers and engage struggling readers with high-interest, low-difficulty texts. More »

With so many awards and "best of" lists for great yound adult books, it can be hard to track them all down. We've gathered the winners of the most popular annual awards, as well as links to picks from The New York Times, the International Reading Association, and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). More »

AdLit.org has more than 50 exclusive video interviews with award-winning young adult authors and illustrators. The writers share stories about their own childhoods, why they were drawn to young adult literature, and how they create some of the most popular books around. These interviews are ideal for budding writers and for use with classroom author studies. More »

Looking for a title for your next book club selection? Need help choosing and teaching a book for a class unit? AdLit.org's our discussion guides go beyond a booklist, offering plot synopses, discussion questions, extension activities, and related titles for further reading.

Author Study units give students the opportunity to explore an author's life and works. In addition to reading several works by an author, key components of an Author Study include discussion, research, and a final project. AdLit.org's Author Study Toolkit gives you all the information you need to create a successful author study unit with your students. More »

Historical fiction puts the reader behind the musket, inside the Colosseum, or in the covered wagon heading west. The commonplace details and little known facts of history that permeate historical fiction will not only surprise and delight the reader, but inspire questions and critical thinking. AdLit.org's Unlocking the Past offers educators and students a variety of multimedia resources to enjoy and appreciate history through reading and writing. With a focus on WWII, L.M. Elliott's Under a War-torn Sky and A Troubled Peace act as springboards to this exploration of methods for using historical fiction in the classroom. More »

In Dope Sick, award-winning YA author Walter Dean Myers breaks new ground and stretches the boundaries of realism to bring forth a tale of second chances, redemption, and the promise of hope. Inspired by these ideas of hope and redemption, Walter Dean Myers and AdLit.org joined forces to create The Second Chance Initiative, an effort to motivate teens to overcome life's challenge, move beyond mistakes of the past, take advantage of the second chances they are given, and make better choices in the future. More »

The Exquisite Prompt is a series of monthly writing challenges designed for use in classrooms. Our prompts are inspired by the 18 authors and illustrators who participated in The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, a lively serialized story sponsored by the Library of Congress and the National Childrens' Book and Literacy Alliance. Teachers have used the prompts to complement writing instruction, as free writing assignments, and as part of author study units. The prompts do not need to be completed in order — use them all or use only the ones that work with your lessons. More »