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- Description
- Table of Contents
- About the authors
- Reviews
A fast-growing area in fiction for the young, genre blends allow for new possibilities and ideas, stimulating children’s imaginations. This helpful guide orients readers' advisory staff, educators, and collection development librarians with a hand-picked selection of hybrid genres and novels published since 2000.
It’s no wonder that genre blends are some of most popular books for children and teens. When you mash up two different traditional genres, it’s like doubling what makes each one pleasurable on its own. This guide, the first of its kind, will help public and school librarians, teachers, and collections staff identify genre blends for readers' advisory, curriculum development, or creating core collections. Profiling more than 200 titles, inside its pages you’ll
- learn about six of the most in-demand genre blends for young readers, including Fantasy Mysteries, Magical Realism, Steampunk, and Verse Novels;
- be introduced to each genre blend’s most compelling novels and contemporary authors;
- understand both book appeal factors (such as genre and theme) and reader-appeal factors, assisting you in matching readers with the perfect book;
- receive guidance on finding genre blends for children who are facing difficult circumstances, such as their parents’ divorce, cliques in school, lack of popularity, poor body image, or self-blame; and
- find what you’re looking for quickly and efficiently with the help of succinct annotations and a thorough index.
Series Introduction, by Joyce Saricks and Neal Wyatt
Acknowledgments
Part I Foundations
Chapter 1 Genre Blends
Their Emergence, Appeal, and Special Considerations
Chapter 2 Reader Appeals and Book Appeals
Doorways into the RA Conversation
Part II Annotations
Chapter 3 Graphic Novels
Chapter 4 Historical Fantasies
Chapter 5 Historical Mysteries
Chapter 6 Magical Realism
Chapter 7 Steampunk Fiction
Chapter 8 Verse Novels
Subject/Theme/Appeals Index
Coping with Challenges Index
Author/Title Index
"This is an excellent resource for readers and students interested in discovering the concepts and backgrounds of different genre blends for children and young adult readers ... Each chapter includes an introduction to the genre, matching readers to each genre, and essential novels with summaries and breakdowns of themes, subjects, suggestions for readers for specific coping issues and tastes, and read alikes. The summaries leading up to these breakdowns are well written, comprehensive, and informative."
— Choice
"Readers' advisory can be daunting, especially for frontline library workers who have enough difficulties keeping up with current adult titles, let alone those for children and young adults. Here comes the ALA Readers' Advisory Series to the rescue, with an annotated guide to six types of genre-blending titles suitable for audiences in grades three through twelve ... This authoritative and accessible guide will be welcomed by library students and practicing professionals alike.”
— Booklist
"Dewan and Lacy both have backgrounds in children’s literature and libraries and have collaborated on these easy-to-read genre descriptions ... At present, there is a lack of guides for RA that focus solely on children and young adult genre blend literature. This guide is a timely and useful addition to the literature for filling that void. As a newcomer to RA, I am walking away with confidence to use genre blends as a source for successful RA when I am unsure of what to suggest for these age groups. Well, that and a much longer TBR list!”
— Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association