Does YA Save Lives?

There's a debate raging in the young adult world.  It was all sparked by this article by Meghan Cox Gurdon in the Wall Street Journal.  I can't restate it better than those who have already discussed it, so i'll just recap:

From Ms. Gurdon's article:

No family is obliged to acquiesce when publishers use the vehicle of fundamental free-expression principles to try to bulldoze coarseness or misery into their children's lives.

From Sherman Alexie's gorgeous response:

I read books about monsters and monstrous things, often written with monstrous language, because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.

From Libba Bray's twitter storm response:

Books are, at their heart, dangerous.  Yes, dangerous.  Because they challenge us: our prejudices, our blind spots.  They open us up to new ideas, new ways of seeing.  They make us hurt in all the right ways.  They can push down the barriers of "them" and open the circle of "us".

And, for a funnier note, a little glimpse at #yakills, the real dangers of YA, courtesy of Kate Hart: