Young Adult and Children's Literature

More Books.

Books for children and young adults continued their dramatic rise begun in the 1950s. There was a boom in demand for children's books and books for young adults due to increased library funding resulting from the education acts passed in 1965.

Concerned Parents and Librarians.

Also on the rise was the concern of parents and others about the content of the books. A popular target was J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951), an adult novel popular with adolescent readers that self-appointed censors found objectionable due to its language, certain sexual situations, and its criticism of the adult world. In general, books for children and young adults became controversial for presenting critical observations of adults, often couched in more-realistic settings, and for showing children in ways some parents and librarians preferred not to see them. The work of many new young-adult writers,...

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