Not Just for the Little Ones: Teen Reads in the S-Collection

While thoughts of the S-Collection may conjure up images of picture books and beginning readers, there are also a large number of young adult materials on the shelves. Books are usually classified as young adult or teen based on their theme and the age of their main characters and target audience. It is also not uncommon to find a considerable amount of cross-over between young adult literature and material that is marketed towards adults. The S-Collection has many titles from popular and award winning young adult authors including Walter Dean Myers, Laurie Anderson, Robert Cormier, Chris Crutcher, and Sarah Dessen.

Finding YA Books in the S-Collection

A subject search in the online catalog using the terms “young adult literature” and “young adult fiction” will provide some titles, but these results are only a handful of the many young adult materials in the UIUC library system, which are often indexed under the same subject headings as adult fiction and literature.

If you do not have a particular author or title in mind, Novelist or the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database will allow you to search for topics and narrow the results by recommended reading age. Titles can then be entered into the online catalog to see if they are part of the UIUC collection. Please note that these resources are available to UIUC affiliates only, but your local library may have access as well. UIUC affiliates will need to authenticate through the proxy server if trying to obtain access from off campus.

In addition to the S-Collection, young adult materials can be found in the collections at the Undergraduate Library, the Residence Hall libraries, the Center for Children’s Books, and the University Laboratory High School Library. The UIUC online catalog will provide information about the location of specific titles.

Teen Read Week 2007 (October 14-20)

Every year during the third week in October, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) sponsors Teen Read Week to encourage teens to read for pleasure. The theme for this year’s celebration is “LOL @ Your Library,” featuring recommended lists of humorous books. [LOL = Laugh Out Loud]

More information can be found at the Teen Read Week website. Some highlights include:
What Makes Authors LOL and Books To Make You LOL @ Your Library.

More recommended reads and award winners from YALSA can be found at the Website.
S-Collection Books to Make You LOL

Here are just a few of the titles from Teen Read Week suggested reading list that can be found in the S-Collection:

Yee, Lisa.
Millicent Min, Girl Genius. 2003.
In a series of journal entries, eleven-year-old child prodigy Millicent Min records her struggles to learn to play volleyball, tutor her enemy, deal with her grandmother’s departure, and make friends over the course of a tumultuous summer.
[S.Y352m]

Bagdasarian, Adam.
First French Kiss and Other Traumas. 2002.
The author recounts humorous, sad, traumatic, romantic, and confusing episodes from his childhood.
[S.B1463fi]

Cabot, Meg.
All-American Girl. 2003.
A sophomore girl stops a presidential assassination attempt, is appointed Teen Ambassador to the United Nations, and catches the eye of the very cute First Son.
[S.C1125a]

Howe, Norma.
Adventures of Blue Avenger. 2000.
On his sixteenth birthday, David Schumacher changes his name to Blue Avenger. . . And things start to happen. To find out more about life and death, romance, gun control, lemon meringue pie, and world peace, you’ll have to read this book. The decision is yours. Or is it?
[S.H8382a]

Rennison, Louise.
Angus, Thongs, & Full-Frontal Snogging. 2000.
Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.
[S.R2952a 2000]

Goldschmidt, Judy.
The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez. 2006.
In a weblog she sends to her best friends back in Berkeley, seventh-grader Raisin Rodriguez chronicles her successes and her more frequent humiliating failures as she attempts to make friends at her new Philadelphia school.
[S.G572s]

Limb, Sue.
Girl, 15, Charming but Insane. 2005.
Fifteen-year-old Jess, living with her mum, separated from her father in Cornwall, and with a best friend who seems to do everything perfectly, finds her own assets through humor.
[S.L629g]

Shusterman, Neil.
The Schwa Was Here. 2006.
A Brooklyn eighth-grader, Anthony, nicknamed Antsy, befriends the Schwa, an “invisible-ish” boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by nearly everyone. Antsy is fascinated by “The Schwa Effect” – the fact that no one ever sees Calvin Schwa. Even when acting weird and dressed like a total freak, The Schwa is only barely noticed. The two boys form a partnership and get away with all kinds of mischief, from conducting experiments at school to confounding opponents on the basketball court.
[S.Sh93sc]

Vizzini, Ned.
Be More Chill. 2005.
Badly in need of self-confidence and a change of image, high school nerd Jeremy Heere swallows a pill-sized super computer that is supposed to help him get whatever he wants.
[S.V839b]