Leigh Bardugo's Blog, page 205
August 30, 2016
andrwminyrds:
crooked kingdom countdown challenge: week 1:...
crooked kingdom countdown challenge: week 1: favorite ship(s)
↬ nina x matthias
“i have been made to protect you. only in death will i be kept from this oath.”
Ooh I love this
ignitesthestars:
“Tell me,
Alina, has he claimed you yet?“
“Claimed me? Like a peninsula?”
still...
“Tell me,
Alina, has he claimed you yet?“
“Claimed me? Like a peninsula?”
still the greatest piece of dialogue in the world
Heee
How do you feel about super racy/explicit sex in YA? Or even just sex at all? It seems to be a trend...
I don’t think it’s a trend–I’ve been reading YA for years, and by and large, it’s still pretty tame on that front. I know I have a lot of younger readers (a surprising amount of 5th-8th graders), and I tend to prefer the sexual content in my books to be attached more with the decision and emotions surrounding the act, than the act itself. That, to me, is the difference between adult romance and YA fiction–the narrative weight is given to a young person making that decision or establishing/figuring out their sexual identity and its place in their life. That’s just me, though! I’m not really interested in policing morality, or what people can/can’t read, though I do think there’s something to be said about a reader being able to choose which shelf they’re pulling from and knowing vaguely what they’re going to get in terms of content levels. I’ve always felt that if readers are uncomfortable with something in a book, they’ll simply put the book down. It often opens up an opportunity to discuss it with parents/teachers/friends.
But, I gotta confess, my feeling on super graphic sex (I’m talking adult romance level erotica) in YA is sort of complicated by having worked in School & Library Marketing. I always worry about the teachers and librarians who might order a book for a young student and find themselves in hot water because of upset parents or school boards, simply because they didn’t know or didn’t have a chance to read it for content. For better or worse, sexytimes get condemned so much faster than books with intense violence and swearing. It’s amazing to me that I don’t hear from more people pissed about Vida’s 100000 f-bombs or some of the more graphic deaths in TDM series.
Thankfully most teachers and librarians are very careful about it, but I’m always surprised when I read a trade review (Kirkus, PW, Booklist, School Library Journal, etc.) that doesn’t note the adult content beyond using words like “steamy” or “sizzling” because it seems like it would help people make better purchasing decisions. (For instance, “OK, not right for middle school, but we can order this into our high school.” or “I’ll hold it back and keep it for students I know can handle it.”)
August 29, 2016
rykemedows:
ck countdown; week 1 » favourite ship‘you could be...
ck countdown; week 1 » favourite ship
‘you could be stuck like this.’
‘why does it matter?’
‘i don’t know! maybe i liked your stupid face.’
