Joan Bauer is one of the most popular young adult novelists today. She is well-respected not only by her readers, but also by librarians and critics, having won a Newbery Honor for Hope Was Here (2001), among other awards. Drawing on personal experiences with divorce and family alcoholism, Bauer has her seemingly ordinary teenage characters face situations that test, and prove, their maturity and confidence. Following an introduction to Bauer's work, and a biographical chapter, this volume examines each novel by breaking it down into sections on plot, characterization, setting, and themes. Readers consulting this book for research, or for deeper analysis of a favorite novel, will find this a complete resource.

Alleen Pace Nilsen is Professor of English and Director of English Education at Arizona State University in Tempe. She is founding editor of the ALAN Review (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE) and co-author of the leading textbook on young adult literature, Literature for Today's Young Adults, 7th ed. She has written numerous articles about books for teenaged readers for such publications as English Journal, School Library Journal, and the Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literature (JAAL) of the International Reading Society.