Writing Young Adult Fiction

The St. Charles Players present a unique telling of Jules Verne's classic underwater adventure, in a new multi-cast dramatization performed in exciting Radio Theatre style.

Brynn Haper's life has one steadying force - Rachel Maddow. She watches her daily, and after writing to Rachel for a school project - and actually getting a response - Brynn starts drafting emails to Rachel but never sending them. Brynn tells Rachel about breaking up with her first serious girlfriend, about her brother Nick's death, about her passive mother and even worse stepfather, about how she's stuck in remedial courses at school and is considering dropping out. Then Brynn is confronted with a moral dilemma.

When Harold Ross founded The New Yorker in 1925, he described it as a “comic weekly.” And although it has become much more than that, it has remained true in its irreverent heart to the founder’s description, publishing the most illustrious literary humorists of the modern era. This anthology gathers together, for the first time, the funniest work of more than seventy New Yorker contributors.

Amanda Lester wouldn't be caught dead going into the family business. Her ancestor, Sherlock Holmes's colleague Inspector G. Lestrade, is a twit. Nevertheless her parents refuse to see his flaws, and she's going to a secret English school for the descendants of famous detectives whether she likes it or not. When Amanda arrives at the dreaded school, she considers running away - until she and her new friends discover blood and weird pink substances in odd places.

Imagine, if you will, an eleven-year-old boy with an imagination so powerful that he uses it like others would use a compass. Our hero, Jimmy Hamilton, loses his fort on three separate occasions all in the span of one summer. He must battle both his wits and unwanted squatters. He comes to discover each new unwanted tenant proves more difficult to evict than the last. His plans have a modicum of success but each come with unintended consequences.

Imagine coming of age surrounded by terror and militancy. Tamar, Nour, and Rivki all live in Jerusalem, and all are on the cusp of adulthood, but in a city of tribal culture and an intractable conflict, it is almost inconceivable they will ever meet, let alone become friends. Then, one night, during yet another cycle of violence, their paths cross just as a terrorist decides to carry out an attack on the light rail train.

Abandoned as an infant, 15-year-old Bonnie Hartwright doesn't know who she really is. And that just might get her killed. After her latest scrape with the law, foster girl Bonnie is abruptly carted off to a "reform sailing camp" on the Carolina coast. There, she discovers the camp is actually a training compound of a centuries-old secret society, all of whose members are descendants of a notorious pirate.

On planet Delphi, a secret government experiment leads to babies born with supernatural powers. As they grow older, their powers and abilities become stronger. Government leaders, fearing their secret will be discovered soon, decide to take the children away from their parents. But five rogue families flee Delphi taking their children to begin a new life on Earth in 1947.

Whereas only a few months earlier he would not have believed any of it, Salem Swan now finds himself faced with sinister enemies and, equally surreal, surrounded by close friends. He has gained powers as a mythlinguist, and with it a responsibility to reunite the world of humans with the world of myth, known as the Fringe. With his uncle Ulysses and Captain Fern taken prisoner by a growing Regulat force, it's up to Salem and the crew to seek help in old allies. This takes them to the heart of the Amazonian rainforest, where a city concealed in waterfalls tests the measure of their resolve.

Girl Under Glass is the story of a rootless, rebellious young girl sinking deeper into juvenile delinquency. Given one more chance to avoid juvenile hall, a judge assigns her to community service with a cranky botanist studying plant communication. When he is beaten and left for dead, Kelsey must convince the lead detective that an entire greenhouse full of plants is witness to the crime, and she knows how to prove it.

Bianca Monroe knows one thing: her idea for a Sisterhood of Protectors is going to survive whatever the Central Network Council throws against it. She's determined. Ready. And totally lost. When an unexpected letter threatens High Priestess Scarlett, the responsibility to keep their leader safe falls to Bianca. A shocking predator, the fight for legitimacy, and the struggle for Bianca's own safety conspire to hold the fate of the Sisterhood from becoming a reality.

The universe is a hamburger. That’s what sixteen-year-old Nicole Taylor learns when a mysterious time-bending stranger saves her from a rampaging cyborg centipede. See, the top bun? That’s our dimension. The bottom bun? That’s the monster’s dimension. And the patty? That’s a dimension where the two worlds meet—and the Reavers can attack. The Reavers are horrific cybernetic killing machines, and their plans for the top bun? Well, they’re as terrifying as you’d expect. But Nicole isn’t helpless. She has a rare gift. She can bend time around her and even stop it completely.

El storytelling no se trata solo de contar cuentos, por más poético que pueda sonar. Se trata de un método eficaz que te ayudará a potenciar tu mensaje sea cual sea el tema que vayas a tratar. Entenderlo y usarlo para comunicarte será sumamente útil tanto si quieres escribir una novela o tu libro de memorias como si deseas exponer una idea nueva en la empresa donde trabajas.

Rogue Watcher, the next installment of the Second Moon Trilogy, picks up where Alpine Tide left off. The stakes are higher than ever as eighteen-year-old Miriam Madsen and her fellow survivors face new threats from across the Universe. To avoid their certain destruction, Watcher 3 of Earth, known locally as Spence, will stop at no length to protect Miriam, the woman he loves--even if it means going rogue.

Language Arts teacher Mrs. Kelsey Swan randomly has her students pick a writing assignment to be completed in two weeks from a top hat. Seventeen-year-old Veronica "Vroni" Swan draws the legend of her two times great-grandfather having buried treasure somewhere in Swanson. Not only must she write about her family, but her partner on this assignment is the awkward Suzie Carmichael.

Newbery Medalist Paul Fleischman reflects on his childhood with his award-winning father, Sid Fleischman, and details his own path to becoming a writer in this memorable audiobook that is part memoir, part travelogue, and part reflection on craft and creativity. Acclaimed author Paul Fleischman considers how growing up with a father who was an award-winning author helped to shape and inspire his own career. Paul and Sid Fleischman are the only father-son Newbery Medalists in history, and life in the Fleischman home was extraordinary.

A hidden world waits, a dark society schemes, and a ship sails to protect that which cannot be lost. Salem Swan knows none of this as he arrives in Easterly. He knows only that he misses his recently deceased mother, that his new guardian, his uncle Ulysses is unique, and that the boat which will now be his home is unlike anything he has ever seen. Fearful of this new reality, Salem starts to ask questions that uncover the truth about his distant uncle, his long-gone father, and the true nature of the ship.

"Where is my son?" Asher's mother screamed as they loaded her husband's body into the ambulance. Five miles up the trail, Asher was going deeper into the wilderness. His compulsive need for routine, hike to the lake at the same time on the same trail with the same gear, is now amplified by his father's last wish, to find their friend and deliver supplies. In Lincoln, Wyoming, fourteen-year-old Caleb is stunned when the sheriff asks him to urgently bring search dog "Boo" to find Asher. When they find Asher near the lake, the adventure is just beginning.

While in town, Jake Talley stumbles onto a secret that could expose the man responsible for causing the rancher's daughter so much grief. Determined to put an end to the bad luck plaguing the Fuller Ranch, he sets out to find answers. Will taking time away from his duties to investigate endanger the very woman he vows to protect?

This CliffsNotes study guide on Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, critical commentaries, and expanded glossaries, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work.