The troubled years
As YA novelists attempt to represent the gritty reality of the teenage years, they face constant competition from lighter, giggle-inducing reads, and an increasing resistance amid the conservative political sector in the US. In an article about YA novelists Brent Hartinger and Natasha Friend, Bookslut.com writer Colleen Mondor discusses the widespread resistance to these challenging themes: “Writers who are drawn to the young adult age group know … that their stories have the difficult task of addressing the emotional turmoil of teenagers without collapsing under the weight of adult themes. Add to this gay primary characters or a complicated illness like bulimia and you might as well be turning on a blinking light that attracts everyone who is afraid of boys and girls getting ideas (any ideas) from books.”
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Click here for the full article from BookSlut.com
