Reluctant Readers Gender Breakdown
A recent article in Sunday’s NY Times Book Review breaks down reading habits by gender, reporting that boys read less than girls. This revelation may be surprising given the plethora of YA fiction out...
View ArticleLGBT, SF, YA, and Other Useful/Distracting Acronyms
In an interview for the Young Adult Library Association’s blog, YA novelist Malinda Lo talks about writing within certain genres—young adult, fantasy/sci-fi, feminist, LGBT—and how it can be both...
View ArticleThe Intern and the Rejectionist
It’s your two favorite formerly anonymous publishing-industry-bloggers-turned-YA-novelists in one post!Which is to say: Hilary T. Smith (aka The Intern) interviewed Sarah McCarry (The Rejectionist)...
View ArticleThe Women of YA
S.E. Hinton, a woman, arguably pioneered the young adult genre of literature. So why is it that women are seen as secondary in this genre, and as less valuable as their male counterparts? Book Riot...
View ArticleYA Shaming
Young adult fiction has never been more popular among grownup-adults—more than half of YA books are sold to people over the age of 18. There isn’t anything wrong with the occasional guilty pleasure, or...
View ArticleA Life with Ramona
Beverly Cleary has been held in high esteem in the minds of just-blooming young readers for generations. But that does not mean that her writing isn’t valuable in deciphering adult struggles too:With...
View ArticleA Newly Blooming Blume
Missing favorite childhood author Judy Blume? Well not for long. She is returning with her first new novel in a decade. And its for adults! Find out more here.Related Posts:The Women of YABlume on...
View ArticleMagical Influences
Lev Grossman has given the Harry Potter series an inspirational nod more than once, and he does it again over at Vulture. But he’s just as fond of The Bourne Identity, Marcel Proust, and the music of...
View Article(Un)death in Venice
Do you know what year the word “zombie” first stalked the English lexicon? Do you think you can provide your kids with a “psychologically safe context for contemplating a collapsed world”? Did you read...
View ArticlePatriarchy’s Slow Unwinding
For the New York Times Magazine, A.O. Scott argues about the “slow unwinding” of patriarchy in American culture, drawing on modern television, history, and literature. In part responding to Ruth...
View ArticleIn a World…
With so many contemporary young adult novels taking place in dystopian settings, we’re beginning to wonder whether it’s even possible to come of age in a world that isn’t on the brink of collapse. Soon...
View ArticleSurvivor Literature
YA authors now find themselves walking the fine line between fiction and reality. They have a duty to portray illness accurately, as they must avoid harmfully romanticising dying…they must also be...
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Anna March’s Reading Mixtape #5: Rad Girls
We should all implant these terrific girls in our brains. Reading excellent kid’s books as an adult reveals the world to us in new ways, reminds us of childhood and teaches us about our young selves...
View ArticleAll Mixed Up
Is The Hunger Games feminist? Does it matter? Flavorwire’s Sarah Seltzer wonders whether we’re asking the wrong questions:It seduces us with a good-vs.-evil premise, but then muddies the entire thing...
View ArticleNew Ambassador for Young People’s Lit
The Library of Congress is, for the first time, naming a graphic novelist as the Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The honor goes to Gene Luen Yang, author of the graphic novels American Born...
View ArticleYA Novels Help Parents Talk Sex
A discussion with your kid about the birds and the bees might be one of the more intimidating moments of parenthood, but YA novelists can lend a hand. When YA writers confront modern issues of sex,...
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The Rumpus Interview with Manuel Gonzales
Manuel Gonzales’s first book, The Miniature Wife, a collection of short stories, was often compared to work by George Saunders, Aimee Bender, and Karen Russell. Three years ago, shortly after the...
View ArticleA Trip to Malory Towers
At Aeon, Nakul Krishna revisits Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers, a series of boarding school novels, for a glimpse at the ethics that join Blyton’s novels together.Related Posts:Ramona Quimby All Grown...
View ArticleRamona Quimby All Grown Up
Beverly Cleary guided generations of girls and boys alike through the rocky, messy, color- and dream-filled days of childhood with her long-running Ramona series, which manages to stay at the forefront...
View ArticleSave the Children
Graeme Whiting, headmaster of the Acorn School (motto: “Have courage for the truth”) of Nailsworth, Great Britain, recently published a blog post condemning “sensational” fantasy novels such as the...
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