IN "Disturbing the Universe, an award-winning exploration of power and repression in Young Adult literature, Roberta Seelinger Trites expands the notion of the Young Adult novel as a coming-of-age story. By chronicling the dynamics of power and repression that weave their way through YA books, Trites reveals that characters in these novels must learn to negotiate the levels of power that exist in the myriad social institutions in which adolescents function, including family, church, government, and school. Judy Blume, Virginia Hamilton, S. E. Hinton, Ursula K. Le Guin, Madeleine L'Engle, and Paul Zindel are among the contemporary authors discussed in this groundbreaking study.