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The text introduces literary theory to those who have little or no experience with it, explaining how theory establishes and explores relationships among author, reader, text, and cultural contexts. Its conversational style encourages readers to explore the practical applications of theory in their work. Each chapter discusses one theory and demonstrates its application in a close reading of one young adult text: Formalism (Virginia Hamilton’s M. C. Higgins, the Great); archetypal theory (Gary Paulsen’s Dogsong); structuralism/semiotics (Bruce Brooks’ The Moves Make the Man); poststructuralism/deconstruction (Lois Lowry’s The Giver); reader-response theories (Walter Dean Myers’ Fallen Angels); feminism (Budge Wilson’s short story collection The Leaving); black aesthetics (Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying); cultural studies (M. E. Kerr’s Night Kites); and the application of several theories to Katherine Patterson’s Jacob Have I Loved. 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