Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Hello everyone! I'm a journalism student and i'm currently writing a piece about hard hitting issues in YA novels. I was wondering if any YA authors would be willing to answer some questions for my research? If you can just comment with your answers then i'll be forever grateful! Thanks! :)

Questions:
1. What are your thoughts on YA books about hard hitting issues?

2. Have you written a book surrounding a difficult issue? Why?

3. How do you think books that include drug use, teen pregnancy, and abuse and so on, can help teenagers?

4. Do you think there are any negative aspects of such issues in books?

1. What are your thoughts on YA books about hard hitting issues?

I love YA specifically because it typically doesn't shy away from big questions. Yes, there's plenty of brain candy out there, just like in adult lit, but YA tends towards looking at big questions and hard issues. I believe this is in large part because young adults themselves are reaching that stage in their lives where they first begin asking harder questions--of themselves, of the order of things, of the universe.

2. Have you written a book surrounding a difficult issue? Why?

Yes. My novel Thorn looks at a host of issues, including trust & betrayal, justice & cruelty, and the effects of violence. Why wouldn't I want to write about something real? :)

3. How do you think books that include drug use, teen pregnancy, and abuse and so on, can help teenagers?

Well-written books ask questions and raise issues. They give us food for thought, without necessarily positing answers. Putting contemporary issues into perspective via a novel gives readers a way to step out of their lives to consider the issues, impacts and realities of your topic of choice in a fictional world...but they take that back with them when they step out of the world and back into their own.

4. Do you think there are any negative aspects of such issues in books?

Of course. Glorifying something negative (e.g. violence) can impact how teens approach that issue in their own lives. Normalizing drug use, intimate partner violence, or any number of other things would clearly also be negative. I think the fact that so few YA books offer positive models of functional families may have a latent impact on how teens try to engage with their families--that's not something I can prove, but it is something I think about.

Good luck with your project!
Intisar

Hi Katie. I wrote a similar question and here are the replies: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Thanks for the replies so far - they have been much appreciated!