Junior & YA Collections

In order to simplify the browsing process for youth and their parents, the Bullitt County Public Library uses two age categories for classifying materials whose core audience is between the ages of 8 and 18. Generally, our Junior collections are targeted to middle-grade readers (ages 8–12) and “tween” readers (ages 10–14). Junior readers typically have moved beyond early chapter books—or, in the case of the youngest Junior readers, are in the process of doing so—but are not yet ready for or interested in books with more adult themes or content. Our Young Adult collections include materials that are most likely to interest readers ages 12 to 18, or grades 7 and up.

These distinctions are not intended to make readers feel in any way limited to a particular category when they are choosing materials. Rather, these classifications are meant to (1) make it easier for readers to locate the materials that best match their interests and maturity/reading skill levels and (2) help parents feel comfortable in allowing their elementary and middle school aged children to explore and select books on their own. Upper elementary students who “read up” and middle school students may often select books from both Junior and Young Adult collections. And of course, teens and adults are encouraged to select books from any and all categories that appeal to them.

Junior & Young Adult Books

Junior Fiction

Books in our Junior Fiction collection typically include storylines and vocabulary appropriate to grades 3 to 6, though some of the tween-directed titles may fall more in the grades 5 to 8 category. While titles may include growing-up themes or social issues like alternative lifestyles, racism, sexuality, violence, or differing belief systems, they are addressed with age-appropriate details. Graphic description of sensitive topics is minimal, and the use of profanity is limited.

Our Junior Fiction section ranges from series like The Boxcar Children for the youngest Junior readers to Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle on the older end of the spectrum. Series where the books’ characters and the primary readership “age up”—as with the Harry Potter series—are usually kept in the Junior Fiction section in their entirety.

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Other popular books and series in this category include:

Young Adult Fiction

Books in our Young Adult (YA) Fiction collection feature storylines and vocabulary appropriate for grades 7 to 12, though some titles in the collection may contain content that is best for older or more mature teens. Typically, the protagonists in these titles are high school aged, though characters may be slightly younger or older. These books often explore potentially sensitive topics—including abuse and self-harming, alternative lifestyles, bullying, drug culture/addiction, mental illness, racism/discrimination, war, etc.—in a more direct or explicit manner than the titles included in our Junior Fiction collection. However, more gentle reads that appeal to teens are also included in our YA Fiction collection.

Series where the initial book may be appropriate for most Junior Fiction readers but where issues and content in later books are more suited to readers ages 12 and up are housed in the YA Fiction collection. Titles in this category include Lois Lowry’s Giver Quartet, Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness series, and Megan Whalen Turner’s The Queen’s Thief series.

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Other popular fiction books and series in the YA category include:

Junior Nonfiction & Biography

Because of the high audience age overlap for many nonfiction titles, Bullitt County Public Library does not have separate nonfiction categories for middle-grade readers and teens. Instead, we have highly varied Junior collections that cover materials intended for grades 3 or 4 through grade 12.

Junior Nonfiction titles are informational books based on real facts, people, and events that are directed at upper elementary, middle, and/or high school ages. These titles often include a variety of sidebars and images, but they may also be highly text-based with few visual accompaniments, especially titles directed at the upper end of the age range. Junior Nonfiction titles generally address topics in more depth than the books in our Children’s Nonfiction collection but may be less detailed than Adult Nonfiction books. Junior Nonfiction works are interfiled with our Adult Nonfiction collection according to subject-based Dewey call numbers.

Junior Biographies include true stories—either biographies or autobiographies—that are written about the life of a specific person. The materials in this collection are designed primarily for middle-grade or young-adult readers. Titles are interfiled with our Adult Biography collection according to the subject of the work (e.g., a junior biography of Abraham Lincoln will be found under “Lincoln”).

Junior Graphic Novels & Young Adult Graphic Novels

Bullitt County Public Library’s graphic novel collections include both fictional stories and nonfiction stories that are published in the graphic novel format. These are generally novel-length works where the visual component is essential to the storytelling and often use techniques such as art panels and speech bubbles. Our graphic novel collection also includes titles that readers might refer to as comic books, manga, manhua, or manhwa. (The last two are essentially the Chinese and Korean counterparts to Japanese manga.).

Junior Graphic Novels are intended for roughly the same audience as the Junior Fiction collection. However, the collection also includes graphic novels for early chapter book–level readers. Titles range in age and interest level from Superman Family Adventures and graphic-novel adaptations of Scooby Doo and Geronimo Stilton to books like Raina Telgemeier’s Drama and Paul Pope’s Battling Boy on the older end of the spectrum.

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Other popular series and titles in this collection include:

Young Adult Graphic Novels are intended for roughly the same audience as the Young Adult Fiction collection; however, this collection also includes some middle-grade and tween-interest titles we feel also appeal to teen readers. Except for series published especially for very young readers and those with strong adult content, most of the superhero comics from Marvel and DC are included in the Young Adult Graphic Novel collection.

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Other popular series and titles in this collection include:

Junior & Young Adult Media

Audiobooks

Audiobooks are a fantastic option for reluctant readers or readers who are often on the go, and BCPL offers a range of format options to fit the needs of our middle-grade and young-adult patrons. Audiobooks on compact discs are available in our Junior Books on CD and Young Adult Books on CD collections. Audiences correspond exactly with the Junior and Young Adult print collections. There are also a few titles for these groups available on MP3 CDs, which look and sound like a regular CD but use a compressed file type to fit an entire narrated book on one disc. MP3 CDs are interfiled with our Junior Books on CD and YA Books on CD collections.

Additionally, we have growing collections of Junior and Young Adult Playaways. Playaways are small, portable devices that are pre-loaded with an audiobook. They are much like an iPod or MP3 player dedicated to one book; to listen, just use your own AAA battery and earphones!

Hoopla and OverDrive also each offer a fantastic selection of downloadable and streaming audiobooks for Young Adults. Titles that would be located in our Junior collection are mostly located in their children’s and juvenile collections.

Young Adult Audiobooks on Hoopla

Children’s Audiobooks on Hoopla

Young Adult Audiobooks on OverDrive

Juvenile Audiobooks on OverDrive

Movies & Music

A number of movies and music CDs that appeal to middle-grade and young-adult audiences are available in the general Blu-ray, DVD, and Music CD collections.

Here are a few of our favorites movies adapted from popular Junior and YA books:
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