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Children's and Young Adult Literature

Your guide to finding information about youth literature.

Introduction

Welcome!

This guide is intended to help you research topics in children's and young adult literature. Use the tabs at the top of the guide to navigate. Please note that some of the tabs have drop-down menus for specific topics.

About Children's and Young Adult Literature

Academic interest in literature for children and young adults has increased dramatically in recent decades. The information in this guide is intended to help stduents, faculty, educators, librarians and researchers navigate various topics in this field. The resources contained in this guide may be used for both scholarly (research / theses), and practical (curriculum / programming) purposes. With the amount of information available on children's and young adult literature, the resources contained in this guide should be viewed as jumping off points for individual research. If at any time additional help is needed, don't hesitate to contact a librarian.

Finding Book Collections in the Library Catalog

OneSearch Catalog

Enter Your Search Term:

TIps:

  • To search the Award Winning Book Collection, begin with the advanced search. Filter by location and enter Award Winners Lower Level. From there, you can add additional filters (keyword, author, title).
  • To search the Historical Juvenile Collection, begin with the advanced search. Filter by location and enter Juvenile Lower Level. Add additional filters as desired or needed.
  • Follow the same procedure to search Big Books and Historical Textbooks Collections, Location (respectively): Historical Calif Textbooks Lower Level / Big Books Lower Level.

 

The Education Resource Collection

The Educational Resource Collections:

Award Winning Books - Available on the lower level - Award winning children's book (both fiction and nonfiction). These include many different award winners, including the Newbery, Caldecott, Belpre, and many other awards.

Big Books - Available on the lower level - Oversize copies of children's books, often classics.

California Adopted Textbooks - Available on the 7th floor - The California Department of Education web site has a database of adopted state textbooks and their prices. This database provides excellent information on what instructional materials are available.  Older textbooks and those no longer adopted are located in the lower level of the King Library. 

Curriculum Available on the 7th floor - Includes professional development materials based on current learning theory and research; also includes lesson planning materials for practical application in classrooms.

Historical Juvenile Collection  - Available on the lower level - An expansive collection of historical materials for children and young adults spanning the late 18th - 20th centuries. Includes fiction, nonfiction, picture books, periodicals, novelty books, primers and other historic educational materials. King Lower Level.

Historical Texbooks Collection  - Available on the lower level - Inlcudes outdated California state adopted textbooks and curricular materials. King Lower Level.

Narrowing Your Topic

Click on the link below to view a tutorial walking your through the process of narrowing your research topic.

Search Tips

Search tips, tutorials and examples appear on nearly every page of this LibGuide. While some are topic specific, most can be applied to any area of research into children's and young adult literature. Browse through and check them out if you need help in the following areas:

1. Developing your topic

2. Searching the King Library catalog effectively

3. Searching the King Library's article databases

4. Using Link+ or InterLibrary Loan (ILLiad)

5. Researching specific topics effectively

If you go through the tutorials and tips and still have questions, please contact a librarian.