Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal posted an article entitled “Darkness Too Visible” which posited the idea that young adult literature is rife with dark subject matter that may be considered too much for teen readers. What resulted was a cry of dismay from the YA community in the form of the #yasaves hash tag on twitter. Readers, young and old, posted tweets about how youth literature tackling difficult subject matter saved their life and/or influenced them.
Most interesting was the array of responses in the YA blogosphere. Whether opposing Meghan Cox Gurdon’s article, or in support, the dialogue that erupted has been thought provoking and emotional.
Some of the great responses you might like to read:
- Original WSJ article
- Liz Burns’ ‘There’s Dark Things in Them There Books‘ from the Online School Library Journal in the US (great list of links to further thoughts on the subject)
- US blogger, Steph Su’s take on this “…attack on change and progress.“
- NPR’s ‘Seeing Teenagers As We Wish They Were: The Debate Over YA Fiction‘ - “Banning is banning, not guidance…”
- Salon’s ‘Has young adult fiction become too dark?’ ”…That “adult” aspect of reading is scary for many of us.“
- One-Minute Book Review’s defence of Meghan Cox Gurdan’s article.
- The New Yorkers: ‘A Tale of Hashtaggery‘ an interesting take on the twitter uprising
- Laurie Halse Anderson’s reaction – ‘Stuck between rage and compassion‘
- #YAsaves
