The Kerlan. A name invoked in hushed tones by devotees of children’s literature. A sort of heaven where manuscripts of the books we love go to be preserved forever. A collection of 100,000 books, as well as 16,000 files of holographs, typescripts, page proofs, artwork, editorial letters, and other assorted...

Incredible as it sounds, at least to me, I have been involved with young adult literature for thirty-three years now, which makes me and the genre almost exact contemporaries. It began in 1967–68, and I began working with it in 1970. This entitles me, I suppose, to call myself a...