It was a great book for my YAL class, I wish I had actually bought it instead of rented it. ( )

This book arrived belatedly, but what a welcome gift it is as a a new edition of Cart’s major analysis of YA Lit from the 1990s. Cart is so well known, appreciated, and such a good writer/speaker, that he sucks us into the history of a genre he knows about as well as anyone. In this edition, he updates all the previous historical chapters and brings us much more up to date in the various trends of the literature and of the young people who may or may not read it. In such a landscape of change among this generation of teens who live and are educated in such different environments than you or me, one wonders whether the current YAs read printed books any more. IsYA literature the hobby of a previous generation who have the means of supporting an industry with organizational dollars? Cart is a bit more optimistic than this reviewer. It is certain that the amount and type of reading continues to change rapidly. If you already have this edition on your shelves, pull it off and enjoy a well written piece again. But, also do some probing of the teens you serve. Don’t just ask those who frequent your shelves…instead, get a cross section of printed book readers and social media generation readers to ascertain how to serve them better.