How are authors chosen for inclusion in Authors4Teens?
Our choice of authors is neither random nor scientific. A number of factors are considered, the first being notability and quality. We started with authors who are in the forefront of books for teenagers. That means mostly fiction writers, especially recent award winners (such as Laurie Halse Anderson and Ellen Wittlinger) as well as those generally considered tops in the field (like Jerry Spinelli, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Chris Crutcher, Joan Bauer, Walter Dean Myers, and Paul Zindel). The most important factor we consider is whether the authors specialize in writing books for teenagers. Teens read contemporary authors such as Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Terry McMillan, and Orson Scott Card, but those authors write mainly for an adult audience, and their main characters are not usually teenagers. Similarly, some high schools include works by authors such as Sandra Cisneros, Toni Morrison, Amy Tan, and Elie Wiesel, but those, too, are authors whose main audience has not been teenager
