Totally YA Tuesday...Prolific Writers of the Genre

A Link You Should Read!

Last week, The Young Adult Literature Journal posted a link on Facebook about YA writers from the past 10 years, and I thought it was an excellent source to for my Tuesday blog.



http://www.omnivoracious.com/2010/01/the-ya-decade.html






The link/article is a blog post on the top 10 prolific YA authors who changed the face of YA. Before I started reading YA, I pretty much only thought of V.C. Andrews and Judy Bloom because that's what I remembered from my own teen years. Is V.C. Andrews even YA? Probably not. Anyways, I had no clue YA was so great! I was reading Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, etc.) just a couple of years ago, right before the first YA book I picked up...Twilight. And that was it. My love for YA was ignited. I have read about 250 books in the las 2 years and I can't stop--most of which have been YA!

Read the link and see if you agree with the listing of top 10 authors at Omnivoracious.

Also, some of the comments are very intersting as they explore the use of rating systems for YA (like movies). Some see it as censoring and others as a way to measure the maturity level. Some parents just want to know and some teens think a rating system wouldn't make a difference. Even I commented, but if you don't feel like scrolling through all the comments, here is what I have to say on the topic...

Look, us parents just want to know what's in the book. I am an avid YA reader, reviewer, and blogger. So I know what's out there and I love it all. But, do I want my 13 year old daughter to read about an extremely intimate act or book full of f-bombs? No. Will my "No" keep her from reading any YA book? No. Will I tell her not to read a certain book? No. But do I have the right as a parent to know the content of her book? Yes. And so does the reader whether he or she is 13 or 56. Book jackets do not say enough. Why not at least say whether a book has adult language or sexual scenes and how much of it. Mild? Strong? I'm not for censoring and I'm not for a rating system, but I am for honest facts about the books up-front. As it is now, it's a free for all when it comes to reading a book. There could be a reference or a whole passage devoted to oral sex and you wouldn't know unless you read it. If YA is going to push the bar of what is appropriate, then YA needs to spill the content of the book up front.