Cart's Top 200 Adult Books for Young Adults

October 1, 2013

Cart uses his years of experience, reviews from Booklist, VOYA, and School Library Journal, plus criteria used for the Alex Awards to choose the adult books, both fiction and nonfiction, he considers to be of interest to young adults. Chosen titles are annotated and presented in alphabetical order with category symbols such as GF for general fiction. Also included is an index of authors and titles, and appendixes of titles "Not to be missed" and "Something Entirely Different," which would be more valuable if the titles were all different from those included in the annotated lists. While the book is of possible use to new librarians with little collection-development experience and/or a library with a limited YA collection, most experienced librarians will see no need for such a volume, relying instead on review journals.-Suanne B. Roush, Osceola High School, Seminole, FL

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
In a career spanning more than 30 years, Cart (a noted expert in young adult literature and Booklist contributor) has seen the canon morph in ways no librarian could have foretold, and he still believes there's no absolute answer to the question, What kind of adult books interest and benefit young adults? In this slim yet valuable addition to young adult literature resources, Cart reviews adult books from the past two decades (although a couple of classics sneak in via reprints). He divides the book into two sections Fiction and Nonfiction and categorizes each book with a symbol to inform the user of genre or type. Come for the stellar lists but stay for the deftly written annotations. Cart includes a succinct description of plot and characters, employing the language of appeal. He also notes any awards the book has earned and film adaptations. The selections cover the spectrum of genres and topics. This book is ideal for browsing, but readers may have a hard time putting it down, wanting to read just one more enticing entry. Book-group facilitators and collection developers will also find some great suggestions in here, too. A worthy purchase for all public library collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)