The New York Times ran an article about young-adult literature on the July 20, in which article author Margo Rabb talked about the marginalizing of YA novels.
Here’s a wonderful letter in the August 3 Book Review:
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To the Editor:
Sherman Alexie, who is quoted in Margo Rabb’s Essay “I’m Y.A., and I’m O.K.” (July 20), is so right when he describes young adult literature as a Garden of Eden. Across half a century of joyfully immersing myself in thousands of books, those that glow most vividly in my memory are the best ones I read before I was 20. Now, as a “novelist for grown-ups” and the mother of a 12-year-old boy who shares my love of fiction, how I envy fellow authors who have not just the talent but the rare sensibility to captivate his fresh passions and unencumbered attention. They hold in their hands the very future of reading.
Julia Glass
Marblehead, MA
(The writer won the National Book Award for Three Junes
and is the author of the forthcoming I See You Everywhere.)