Though publishing still has a long way to go, young adult readers have more choices than ever when it comes to LGBTQ characters. No longer just angst-ridden stories of encountering violent homophobia or coming out to a hateful family, plenty of young adult novels allow their queer characters to be...

The internet has recently been weighing in on the literary merits of Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird, published fifty years ago last week. Kathleen Parker defended Harper Lee in response to Malcolm Gladwell's negative 2009 article in the New Yorker (although why anyone would take anything...

Writer and Huffington Post blogger Zetta Elliott recently wrote a thoughtful and deeply insightful post for Australian YA writer Justine Larbalestier's blog. Though Elliott's focus is largely on race and authority, something she said spoke deeply to something I've been thinking about for a...

Last year, the publishing house Bloomsbury sparked a storm of controversy in issuing an American edition of YA author Justine Larbalestier's Liar. Though the book's narrator clearly describes herself as black, Bloomsbury elected to put a photograph of a white girl on the cover. The ensuing criticism, which took place...

Christopher Pike's debut young adult title, the instant bestseller "Slumber Party," came out in 1985. Its premise is hardly groundbreaking: six busty young ladies are snowbound in their luxurious winter vacation rental, gory mayhem ensues. Most of his earlier books mirror "Slumber Party"'s horror-movie cliches, with varying batches of stranded...