Young Adult literature and the National Book Award

An interesting article on YA fiction in The Guardian, making points about its seriousness and diversity. I often think that much YA fiction is more challenging than the average Booker nominee–especially in the more fantastic fictions. Hence our celebration here of Gothic/Paranormal Romance and Dark Fantasy (the genre classification really needs sorting out and I might post on that sometime). Of the books discussed here, not many seem that Gothic; I also am a bit wary of YA fiction that earnestly deals with ‘issues’. Still, worth a read.