The author of "Candy" talks about the reality that a book is only paper until someone has read it and responded to it emotionally. "When I write a book it's alive in my head, but it only really comes alive when it finds a life in someone else's head." His essay is followed by a chapter from "Candy."

Just watch your characters and tell the story of what they're thinking and doing. It sounds easy, but Adoff confides that he becomes attached to his characters in the process of living in their heads, and sometimes awakens wondering if they're okay. It's that level of intimate storytelling that he hopes will connect with readers, allowing them to…

"[Teen literature] is the only genre of writing that is connected not by theme or style, but by an emotional stage of the reader and characters that populate the stories." Brian James embraces the complexity and unpredictability of his teen characters in hopes that readers will discover something about themselves in a confusing time of life. We…

Corrigan remembers well the angst and conflict of adolescence, as well as how important the right book at the right time could be in helping kids understand themselves and others. That ability to identify closely with teens permeates her story in verse, "Splintering," several verses of which are included here.