Thoughts on Newbery: Patrick Ness’s CBAITS

Someof you may bristle (or already have) about this topic, but I think it is one to take very, very seriously.It isPatrick Ness‘s provocative point in his SLJ Battle of the Kids’ Book decision this week about what he has termedCBAITs:

Crappy Books About Important Things; you know exactly what I’m talking about: books with either important subject matter or important formats that are so terrible-but-worthy they turn reading into medicine for young people.People tend to be far too afraid to give...