Links roundup of YA Saves posts

[dolorosa_12]

I first found out about the original article via this excellent post on Tiger Beatdown. It's especially good because the comments are all incredibly perceptive and further explore some of the issues arising from the WSJ article.

ceilidh_ann makes the important point that we should deplore the shoddy reviewing going on in the original article for the same reason that we should hold YA literature up to the same scrutiny as other types of literature: we should be thinking about YA writing critically.

There's a discussion going on at the bookfails lj comm.

In my opinion, however, the best response so far has come from Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak (a book about a teenage survivor of sexual assault which is often criticised for containing overly dark material). As well as making the crucial point that people who want to ban books tend to be people uncomfortable discussing difficult issues with their children, she reposts a wonderful video she made a while ago. The video consists of a poem made up of quotes from letters readers sent to her about Speak. I'm going to repost it with a trigger warning. It makes me tear up every time.