Writing for Young People

Critical Readings and Discussions on Craft

Elen Caldecott

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350413139
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism

Applying the approach of 'reading-as-a-writer' to the craft of writing for young people, this textbook combines critical analysis, unique author-insight and practical application of ideas to give writers the skills to create successful fiction for youth audiences. Under the guidance of children's author Elen Caldecott, compelling close readings dig deep into the construction of modern classics and contemporary middle grade, YA, picture books and more to explore how paragraphs, sentences and words engineer specific reader responses. Interviews with the author of the extracted work follow before each chapter rounds off with writing exercises that prompt writers to engage with techniques and ideas discussed.

Accessible and equipping writers with the valuable knowledge and skills to write in one of the fastest-growing fields in creative writing, Writing for Young People draws upon the works of prominent writers such as Jon Klassen, Patrick Ness, Liz Kessler, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and more. It also features:
- Author interviews covering topics such as their writing and editing process, their perspective on the analysis made of their work, and the book's origin
- Discussion of vital craft techniques in novel-writing and editing including language, plotting, character construction, narrative time, worldbuilding, dialogue, cultural history, tropes and conventions
- Coverage of key contemporary issues that students, teachers and professional writers of fiction for youth audiences will encounter from archetypes, class and race, and transnational writing, to conceptions of childhood, environment, colonialism, power, coming-of-age and social justice
- Consideration of the role of wider literary and community landscapes in creating compelling texts

Light-hearted but intellectually rigorous and rewarding, the field of writing for youth readers has been waiting for this book.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Permissions Page
• Introduction
• Chapter One
• Chapter Two
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five
• Chapter Six
• Chapter Seven
• Chapter Eight
• Bibliography
• Index
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