Wednesday, January 19, 2011

IS YA Getting Darker?

You HAVE to read this New York Times debate between Ship Breaker author Paolo Bacigalupi, who claims that teens seek and deserve truth; Shiver author Maggie Stiefvater, who writes that teens flock to darkness because they'll never actually experience it; and Uglies mastermind Scott Westerfeld, who argues that dark YA grants teens freedom, privacy, and independence.

What do you think?

5 comments:

BK Mattingly said...

I think they're all right. Thanks for the link, I can't wait to read it:)

Angela said...

Dark or edgy?

I think all the edgyness reflects the attitude of the world we live in. Where we'd rather discuss and acknowledge our dirty laundry than hide it and pretend everything is peaches and cream.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I'll hop over and read it!

Jennie Englund said...

Good question, Angela!

This NYT section is really great -- another topic: extreme parenting.

walk2write said...

I don't read or write YA so I'm not up on the current trends. It's probably true that every generation and culture has its own dystopian outlook on society. At least in an open society, there is intelligent discussion about it, and I find that encouraging. Thanks for leading us to this one.