Ariel Silverstein asked Gretchen McNeil:

I am a student currently writing my EPQ on realistic fiction and young adult novels. I was wondering what is your opinion on whether realistic fiction and young adult novels sometimes romanticise topics such as mental health, terminal illness and addiction? As you are a highly skilled author, I would love to hear your ideas on the topic. Thank you for your time!

Gretchen McNeil Hi Ariel! I think it's too simplistic to say that YA fiction, or fiction in general, romnaticizes difficult topics. YA is not a genre, merely a target reader age range, and so we have a huge variety of books under the YA banner. Some deal with topics such as mental health, terminal illness, drug and physical abuse, addiction, race, sex, and sexual orientation in a romanticized way, to be sure. Especially in genre. But there are also so many authors taking realistic, sometimes painfully so, approaches to these topics. That's one of the things I love about YA - there is room for so many typs of books!

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