中文摘要：

美国少年小说是在美国这一特定的社会、文化背景中创作的,以少年读者为主要阅读对象,主要表现美国少年生活、学习、成长等方面题材的小说作品。它既有一般少年小说的特点,又有鲜明的国别特色。一般认为,现当代美国少年小说始于莫瑞·黛丽的《第十七个夏季》,成熟于20世纪60年代后期。从七个方面探讨现当代美国少年小说的主要特征,即：成长的主题、少年的视角、乐观的基调、多元的文化、多样的题材与类型、与影视作品相辅相成以及生活化的语言与新颖的形式。

英文摘要：

American young adult fiction refers to novels created against the background of American culture and society,with American adolescents as the target readers,showing chiefly their life,study and growth. American young adult fiction has the common features of young adult fiction as well as obvious American national characteristics. It is generally believed that modern American young adult fiction starts with Maureen Daly＇s Seventeenth Summer,and comes of age in 1960 s. This paper explores the major features of modern American young adult fiction from seven aspects,namely,theme of growth,perspective of young adult,optimistic keynote,multi- culture,various subject matter and genres,tie- in with movie and TV programs,living language and new forms.