Will we ever shake the manic pixie dream girl?
Why is the manic pixie dreamgirl such a mainstay in youth adult literature, and what does that say about our attitudes on mental health and young women? The post Will we ever shake the manic pixie...
View ArticleTeens Will Read What Teens Will Read
In evaluating the exploding teen paranormal romance genre, a lot of adults are making the mistake of writing it off as garbage, and believing that anyone who reads it isn’t educated or isn’t seriously...
View ArticleAnd Then She Was Pretty, the End
Certain tropes tend to come up again and again in young adult fiction, and there’s one in particular that makes me positively aflame with irritation: the heroine who must become beautiful as part of...
View ArticleYA Is Not A Guidebook to Self-Harm, Teen Sex, or Anything Else
Discussing the slew of concerntrolling editorials about how YA is destroying the world, a radio producer recently asked me if I thought YA acts like a user guide to self-harm and other potentially...
View ArticleEveryone Clutch Your Pearls: There are Books About Young People Having Sex!
The latest bizarre and largely fictional ‘trend’ the media has identified in young adult literature is the ‘steamy,’ which seems to have sprung to life full-formed out of the heads of journos in the...
View ArticleDystopians for an Unstable World
I love talking to booksellers about what is trending and getting their thoughts on it, because they often have incisive commentary based on their years of experience in the trade and interactions with...
View ArticleWhat Makes an Issue Book Work?
‘Oh,’ I said to a public relations representative the other day. ‘I usually avoid issue books, but I’ll check it out if you really feel strongly about it.’ Of course she does–it’s her job to sell...
View ArticleWhy the Pushback on YA?
Every other week, it seems, I’m reading an article attacking young adult literature. It’s trashy, it’s too dark, it’s not dark enough, it’s juvenile, it’s too sexy, it focuses too much on girls…the...
View ArticleIs the YA Takeover About Stress?
Reams and reams and reams have been written about the alleged YA takeover; honestly, it’s a good thing that print media is dying (allegedly) because otherwise entire continents would have been denuded...
View ArticleStop writing YA for adults
I am, as we know, a voracious reader of young adult fiction. I find it deeply enjoyable. My collection of young adult at this point outstrips my adult shelves, and we haven’t even gotten into my...
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