I’m like her, when I was a teen YA was didn’t really exist. I remember reading Sweet Valley and wondering why one of the twins didn’t just tell one another to eff off sometimes. I’m glad YA isn’t sheltered anymore because there are a lot of things I went through as a teen that are in books now. Back then I would have loved to read a character that was going through the same stuff as me.

There are some wonderful premises in YA books. So much imagination and that much more material to serve us voracious readers. I have a few on my shelf and need to get to them, plus I need to add some more!

Thanks for cluing me into a blog I’d not been familiar with. Will be visiting Story Siren more in the future.

I have two daughters, 10 and 14, and I keep aware of what they are reading so I can be sure it is age appropriate and we can discuss any material which I feel they’d need guidance with. The age appropriateness part mostly pertains to my 10 year old. At this point, my 14 year old has the maturity to read just about anything she wants to now. Thankfully, she still likes to talk books with me, so I’m keeping abreast of what she’s exposed to.

I appreciate Diana Peterfreund’s comment above about the topics teens are exposed to in high school literature classes that teach the “classics.” Quite frankly, I find the social issues of those novels often more disturbing than most of the more contemporary novels a teen would find at the YA department of their library or bookstore.

I think most YA authors today are wonderfully in tune to the challenges and joys of being a young adult and with that, their stories are often both comforting and inspirational, even those that deal with tragedy.

I’m a fan of this quote, from Madeline L’Engle:

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”