good to know you

I would like to thank Prof. Alsup for introducing us with this site, I liked it and I was trying to create a website for my self, but I did not have the time to write any thing in it yet.
Any way, I hope that this class will help me to know more about YA in this country. When we were talking about the common characteristics of YA I felt that there is a very big difference betweem adolecents in the US and those back home(Palestine). When I went home last night I told my husband, you know it would be very helpful class to know more about YA in this country to be aware of the changes and develpoment stages that our own children might go through and experience in the coming few years. I was ignorant of the cultural diversities among these groups of people. I'v read very few YA books in my life, so this is a good chance to know more about the features of this genre. I'm addicted to picture books that's why I worked in my master's thesis on picture books both in Arabic and in English. One can't ignore the cultural differences presented in books even if they are written for youngersters. I usually talk more in other classes but in this one I feel I need to hear more to have a background about the American cultural aspects at this particular age, to know more about the authors, and even the publishing companies, etc. I'm really ignorant of all thsese aspects. I hope that I will learn more about YA from this class. I really enjoyed all your discussions.
Nisreen Anati