We have heard young adults defined as those who think they’re too old
to be children but who others think are too young to be adults. In this book, we use the term to include students in junior high as well as those graduating from
high school and still finding their way into adult life. By young adult literature,
we mean anything that readers between the approximate ages of twelve and eighteen
choose to read either for leisure reading or to fill school assignments. When
we talk about children’s literature, we refer to books released by the juvenile or
junior division of a publisher and intended for children from prekindergarten to
about sixth grade.