all aspects of society, present, past and in the future. While the impetus for teenage
fiction may have come from the need to provide a vociferous band of readers with
amusing stories about themselves, it is now a vehicle for telling the same readers about
the world as it really is. Indeed as novels become increasingly bleak, partly because of
the bleakness of social issues such as homelessness, unemployment and the rest, there
are serious concerns about what may and may not be suitable fictional fare.
Whatever the direct subject matter of teenage fiction, what remains important is the
steady flow of good-quality writing for an eager but easily distracted age group.
Further ReadingChambers, A. (1985) Booktalk, London: Bodley Head.
Eccleshare, J. (1984–1993) Children’s Books of the Year, London: Andersen Press.
Landsberg, M. (1988) The World of Children’s Books, London: Simon and Schuster.
Moss, E. (1970–1980) Children’s Books of the Year, London: Hamish Hamilton.
——(1986) Part of the Pattern, London: Bodley Head.
Yates, J. (1986) Teenager to Young Adult, London: School Library Association.
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