This study investigated the adolescent experience with adult literature. Sixty-six eighth graders' free written responses to the Junior novel "Turned Out" were compared to their responses to the adult novel "A Separate Peace." Both novels were segmented into four divisions representing the exposition, development, climax, and conclusion of each work. The reactions of the sixty-six students to each division of "A Separate Peace" were compared to the corresponding divisions of "Tuned Out" using the Purves System of classifying elements of written response to literature by category, subcategory, and element. Reactions to each novel as a complete work were also compared. Character analysis provided nearly seventy-five percent of all interpretive responses and girls wrote a higher percentage of interpretive statements than boys did. The largest portion of evaluative responses to both books was affective evaluation. Both formal and affective evaluation occured more often in response to "A Separate Peace" than to "Tuned Out." Patterns of responses across the exposition, development, climax, and conclusion divisions of each novel showed covariant patterns for statements of involvement and evaluation. Statements of perception for "A Separate Peace" were highest as response to the exposition and lowest at the point of climax, while for "Tuned Out" they were lowest in response to the exposition and highest at the climax. (Author/WR)