The Reductive Approach to YA Revisited: Contemporary YA & Generosity to Readers

January 7, 2014 |

Over the holidays — right before them, actually — a review for A. S. King’s Reality Boy hit the New York Times, written by John Green. The review itself wasn’t necessarily noteworthy, but a line in that review struck a chord with me and it’s one I’ve been thinking about for the past few weeks, trying to figure out exactly what was meant by it.

The review continues on, without elaborating nor explaining what’s meant by this line.

I’ve pointed out a few times where Green’s been used as a yardstick for YA fiction. Last year, a review of Andrew Smith’s Winger was noted as being a part of the “Green Lit” trend. That was published in The New York Times and reduced Smith’s unique story to being a part of a trend, rather than a story that stood wholly on its own. Rather than suggesting the book was a read alike to Green, the review credits Green as the standard for quality YA, especially of the realistic variety. It’s the reductive approach to YA.

A review of Matt de la Pena’s The Living, published in Entertainment Weekly a couple months ago, suggested that the characters in his book were “worthy of a John Green novel.” I’m linking to the discussion about this as it played out on tumblr because I think it offered even more insight into the context of the review.

Article after article from publishing insiders talk about how contemporary realistic fiction is on the rise. That it’s the next trend to really hit YA fiction. While I disagree that it’s the next trend — it’s always been a staple of YA fiction as much as being a teenager has been a staple of being between the ages of 13 and 19 — I think the actual trend is the rise in YA fiction that reads like or can be sold as being a John Green alike.

Here’s a short list of 2014 titles being pitched as Green alikes:

Love and Other Four Letter Words by Erin McCahan
Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor
Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer
Starbird Murphy and The World Outside by Karen Finneyfrock (this isn’t a pitch but a bookseller’s quote, which reads as suggesting the book for “teen fans of John Green” — emphasis mine)

Even non-contemporary YA books are being pitched as in the vein of or for fans of John Green:

The Drowned Forest by Kristopher Reisz notes that it blends Looking for Alaska‘s theme of friendship with Stephen King’s sense of small-town horror.
Everyday Angel, a middle grade series by Victoria Schwab, is being pitched as John Green for middle grade, with a touch of magic.

I’ve noted before and will repeat over and over: John Green writes good books. His stories resonate with teen readers as much as they resonate with adult readers. I don’t think it’s necessary to talk about his contributions to the greater landscape of YA because when we talk about books and about the book world, we’re talking about the words on a page. Marketing certainly plays a part in success, and there’s no doubt that Green’s been successful at getting his name out there. But even when all of that is stripped away, at the end of the day, he writes great books. Looking for Alaska is and will remain one of the first books that really got me into YA and it’s one that I’ll always hold as one of those special books to me as a reader.

The problem though is that John Green’s name has become a tool of power and force in the YA world. When mainstream writers talk about YA, his name is held with affection and as an ideal to which others should aspire. Forget Stephenie Meyer and her vampires. That’s laughable, and it remains a means of degrading the entire category of fiction. John Green, though — he’s helped save and revive YA fiction from being a crumbling cesspool of . . . whatever a crumbling cesspool of an entire category of fiction can be.

It’s clearly not just undereducated and unfamiliar media that does this though.

I noted all of those John Green alikes above because it’s clearly become a means of getting books attention. But it does precisely what I noted last year: it creates a reductive approach to YA fiction. Good books — ones you should read — are classified as Green alikes, regardless of whether or not they’re really read alikes to his work. What does it even mean that a book is “in the tradition of The Fault In Our Stars?” Plenty of books tackled the very topics Green does in that book prior to its publication and plenty will cover them after. But I think because Green’s name carries power — and I don’t need to get into the gender dynamics associated with it (I covered much of that that here and here) — he’s unfairly seen as the savior of YA, as well as the spokesperson for YA.

Fair or not, when you get the opportunity to review your fellow YA writers in the New York Times, you have a platform and a voice that makes you a spokesperson. Fair or not, when your books are seen as the standards to which others should aspire, that makes you a spokesperson.

Let me be clear in saying that I don’t think Green abuses this power in the least. And I think that’s not only admirable, but I think it speaks to his character and his passion for YA more broadly. That said, his defenses about his success and his popularity are hard for me to take as seriously understanding the problems people have when he is considered the voice for and savior of YA. Jennifer Lynn Barnes knocked out it of the park in this post, where she talks about the factors that have helped — rather than hurt — him as an author. And I think it’s interesting, too, that he has denied having played a large role in the outstanding success of Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park — even the editor of the New York Times Book Review notes that his powerful, passionate, and enthusiastic review helped that book do as well as it did (and she links to one of the aforementioned articles about the trend in contemporary YA fiction).

Green was outspoken in the wake of Veronica Roth’s Allegiant that readers have an obligation to be generous in their reading:

Screen cap via dearauthor.com

Note that Green says that readers “are just, like, wrong about what books are/should do.” So what is it that a book is or what a book should do? And more than that, why does the reader owe generosity toward a book? He doesn’t offer a suggestion here, but rather a platitude that doesn’t dig deeper into the implications of what being a generous reader means.

So with that all in place, let’s go back to that review of Reality Boy and more specifically, that line. Let me share it again:

King’s obsession with reality makes the novel drag in places, but it’s nice to see someone subtly parody the over-the-top young adult adventure stories that dominate so-called contemporary realistic Y.A.

In this statement, Green is being a really generous reader. He notes that while King’s obsession with reality makes the novel’s pacing slow down, it does a great job of doing something else — it manages to parody “over-the-top” YA adventures stories that are “dominating” contemporary realistic fiction.

But wait a minute — what is he talking about here? What are these “over-the-top young adult adventure stories” that “dominate” the “so-called contemporary realistic Y.A.” world? As the review continues, Green offers no insight into the types of books he’s referring to. He’s not telling us any titles nor is he telling us anything further about how King’s book parodies these stories.

He sets up an argument in the same manner he does when he suggests readers need to be generous.

Perhaps it was a throwaway line, one that needed more consideration or nuanced thinking or a stronger editorial eye to challenge and expand upon it, but as someone who loves and champions for “so-called contemporary realistic Y.A.” because I find the stories to be worth championing and absolutely worth getting into the hands of teenagers who are living these types of “over-the-top adventure stories” every single day, this made me scratch my head. Green’s stories and Green’s name itself dominate contemporary-realistic YA fiction. He’s seen as the person who is bringing it back, bit by bit, and his name is being slapped onto books as fast as it can be, so those books stand a fighting chance at being seen or recognized as worth reading.

If I remember right, there’s a scene or two in The Fault in Our Stars where two teenagers manage to get out of the country and go searching for a reclusive novelist. Is that not an over-the-top adventure story? Is Green critiquing his own work in light of King’s parody or is he giving that critique to other books — perhaps ones that are much more grounded in the gritty, less intelligent, less lauded work that also resonates with readers but doesn’t benefit from the same sorts of privileges his own work has? Does he prefer teen characters to be of one ilk and one type? Is one type more palatable and more realistic than another? I think about this question and I consider audience specifically: is there a kind of teen or teen story in contemporary realistic that’s more “real” for adult readers, as opposed to teen readers?

Without offering any insight into what books he’s talking about — and it’s his right not to name names, seeing that this is a business and those people are indeed his colleagues — he sets up an argument which can’t be toppled. He suggests there is one set of books that are real realistic and there are another set of books which are over the top and “so-called” contemporary realistic YA. That there’s a type of YA fiction that can parody that realistic fiction and do so subtly, in a manner that grants generosity to parts of a story which don’t necessarily work. There’s a yardstick for what is good and what is not, but what that yardstick is remains a mystery.

Contemporary realistic fiction is meant to be fiction based on some character’s reality. Every single one of these stories is over-the-top in some capacity simply because none of these stories are non-fiction. It’s fantasy. It’s creative storytelling that renders characters in a world that is our world and pits them in situations that happen every single day somewhere in our world. Can it be extreme? Sure. But to deny that extreme reality doesn’t happen somewhere is to deny the existence of over-the-top stuff happening to teens every single day. It’s to deny that their stories are worthwhile. It suggests whatever’s happening to them, whether daily or periodically or once or never (but they want to know and be informed in the event it’s happening to someone they know or might know), is “over-the-top.”

Isn’t adolescence itself “over-the-top?”

YA’s audience is all over the place, but these are stories about teenagers, and within the context of contemporary realistic fiction, the bulk of the characters in YA are themselves teenagers. Teens want to read stories about those who are like them, and this is particularly true in contemporary/realistic fiction. To suggest that what they may experience or may want to read within this subset of YA is “over the top” and can be parodied says a lot about the generosity he extends to readers, who so often are looking for an anchor or connection to these very stories.

As someone with such power in the industry, with a voice that can certainly help others gain traction and one which is so frequently cited as the golden standard within YA, this line and suggestion and the implications around it are disappointing to read.

The comment Green makes denies generosity to the reader.

What is easily dismissed as “over-the-top” to an adult reader says more about the adult reader than it does about the story, the teen in the story, or the teens who need the story.

Get Genrefied: Short Stories

January 6, 2014 |

Every month last year we featured a genre or a format of YA fiction, talked about the defining characteristics, resources for learning more about them, and then a book list of current titles. If you go back and check out last month’s guide on humor, you can get through to all of the guides before. Because we enjoyed writing the series, we’re continuing it this year, and we have twelve new genres and/or formats to tackle. To kick it off, we’re going to start with the short story.

Like graphic novels, short stories are a format, rather than a genre, since they can be written in any genre. Short stories can be fiction or non-fiction; there are short stories that are more about personal experiences (think very short memoirs) and they’re non-fiction. They may also be written and illustrated in graphic format.

Short stories are shorter in length than a novel or a novella, though the word counts on what defines each of those varies. The Science Fiction Writers of America define a short story as being under 7,500 words, a novelette as a story between 7,500 and 17,500 words, a novella as a story between 17,500 and 40,000 words and a novel as something over 40,000 words in length. These aren’t strict rules or laws, and there’s a lot of flexibility and leeway, but they give a general idea of how short stories differ from novels.

There’s not a huge market for short stories in the YA world. The bulk of YA short stories are published in anthologies, which contain stories written by more than one author and they either revolve around a theme, a mood, or a genre. There are a few notable authors who write entire books of short stories, as well — Margo Lanagan quickly comes to mind. Over the last few years, there’s been a trend toward more publishers having authors of well-known and popular series write short story companions set within the worlds of their books. The bulk of these have been produced as e-originals, releasing at various times during the first runs of the series; most of the time, they’re meant to be extras and aren’t essential to understanding or enjoying the series. Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, for example, has a handful of short stories and all of them are e-only. Lauren Oliver’s Delirium series included a handful of short stories, but rather than keep them exclusively electronic, they were bound up and republished in print form.

Sometimes short stories can be published entirely online, as a means of giving fans a bit more or as a way of getting those who haven’t read the author’s work to try it — for example, there’s an e-short story by Courtney Summers to her book Fall for Anything told from the perspective of the main character’s best friend available on the publisher’s webpage. Other times, short stories can be included as a bonus in a release of a new print edition of a book — the paperback editions of Malinda Lo’s Huntress and Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, as well as the paperback of Kiersten White’s Mind Games include extra material in them. The paperback of Tiffany Schmidt’s Send Me A Sign will include a bonus story told from the point of view of one of the main male characters. Sara Ryan’s Empress of the World included bonus short stories in comic form, as well as other extras, and those were included in the book’s reissue, rather than in its initial paperback release.

The YA novella arena has been growing, thanks in part to these digital companions to popular series books. Harper Teen Impulse is an entire line of YA novellas written by well-known YA authors that are either somehow related to the author’s novels, re-worked pieces from prior anthology inclusions, or are entirely brand new material. Bloomsbury published a series of e-novellas that coincided with Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series. These were originally e-only, but they will be put to print later on this year. Penguin did a prequel novella to Marie Lu’s Legend series, too, which is an e-only title.

YA short stories can also be found in other places, as well. One Teen Story is a journal dedicated to exactly what it says: publishing one teen short story. The journal publishes one issue — and one story — nine times a year. It’s very much like a zine in shape, size, format, and appearance. Cicada, as well as Sucker Literary, also publish YA short stories. There are also places like the Young Adult Review Network (YARN) that publish short stories. YARN is particularly interesting because readers may be familiar with some of the names of authors who publish short stories or poetry there; many have also published novels that are familiar.

All of these sources vet their submissions and the stories go through some sort of editorial process, so not just anyone can share something they’ve written. I recommend spending some time reading YA Highway’s post about literary journals, as they offer even more outlets for finding YA short stories.

For readers who are eager to read short stories, there are many places and outlets in which to find them. It’s a format that’s adaptable to print, to digital, and to books, as well as magazines and online journals, publishers websites, and more. For books which are doing exceptionally well with readers, it’s more than worthwhile to develop a reading guide to places where fans can find more stories. Perhaps noting this in a circulating copy of the book would help guide readers to more work they’d enjoy. If you work in a library that circulates e-readers to teens, one way to offer those e-original short stories or novellas would be to purchase them for that device and catalog the titles as being available on the e-reader.

There aren’t any specific short story writers associations, though there are awards and honors for well-done short stories offered through many outlets. Likewise, there aren’t a lot of solid short story resources which include reviews or discussions of the format for YA. Bloggers who review short stories tend to review anthologies as they’re published, often discussion the individual stories on their own and within the bigger context. Books of short stories tend to be reviewed in traditional sources, as well. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as e-only novellas and short stories continue to emerge: it’s a trend that I see value in but question audience for (teens who have the technology and teens who have access to credit cards to use aren’t necessarily large nor overlapping groups).

Here’s a look at a number of YA short story collections from the last few years, as well as a preview of a few to come soon. All descriptions are from WorldCat, though much of the description of the anthologies are pretty straightforward from the titles. If you know of others published in the last five or so years, feel free to add them to the comments!

Defy the Dark edited by Saundra Mitchell: Seventeen original stories that take place in the absence of light.

Extremities by David Lubar: A group of high school girls takes revenge on their sadistic gym teacher in the most fitting way possible. Two stowaways find themselves on a ship for the dead. An ancient predator stalks the wrong victim. Here are thirteen tales of death, murder, and revenge.

Shards & Ashes edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong: Original stories of dystopian worlds from New York Times bestselling authors.

After edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling: An anthology of nineteen tales by well-known authors of young adult and adult literature which explore the lives of teens raised after a catastrophe, either in the first few years after the change or in the distant future.

Unnatural Creatures edited by Neil Gaiman: A collection of sixteen stories introduces a host of strange, wondrous beings that have never existed anywhere but in the imagination, with stories from Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, and E. Nesbit.

Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan: A collection of ten short stories of unusual people, places, and events, including reimagined classic tales and original works, most of which were previously published.

Brave New Love edited by Paula Guran: Presents a collection of fifteen stories about finding romance and danger in repressive, futuristic societies by such authors as Steve Berman, Jesse Karp, Diana Peterfreund, and Amanda Downum.

Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance edited by Rhoda Belleza: An anthology of fourteen stories illuminates the experiences of being bullied in today’s world, in a volume that includes contributions from such established writers as Kirsten Miller, Jennifer Brown, and James Lecesne.

The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff: An anthology of darkly paranormal stories, with comments by the authors on their writing process.

Faery Tales & Nightmares by Melissa Marr: A collection of short stories featuring tales of characters from the Wicked Lovely novels that mix with accounts of new characters.

Guys Read: Funny Business edited by Jon Scieszka: A collection of humorous stories featuring a teenaged mummy, a homicidal turkey, and the world’s largest pool of chocolate milk. (“Guys Read” is an entire series of short story anthologies).

Starry, Starry Night by Lurlene McDaniel: A collection of three stories in which teenagers face life-altering situations. (This is an older anthology but it recently got a facelift).

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci: A collection of twenty-nine short stories about geeks.

Owning It: Stories About Teens with Disabilities edited by Donald Gallo: Presents ten stories of teenagers facing all of the usual challenges of school, parents, boyfriends and girlfriends, plus the additional complications that come with having a physical or psychological disability.

There is No Long Distance Now by Naomi Shihab Nye: Forty short stories by an award-winning author and poet.

Diverse Energies edited by Tobias S. Buckell and Joe Monti: In this collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the diverse stars are students, street kids, “good girls,” kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds.

Steampunk edited by Kelley Link and Gavin J. Grant: A collection of fourteen fantasy stories by well-known authors, set in the age of steam engines and featuring automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never existed.

Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce: A collection of fantasy stories by Tamora Pierce that are set in her created land of Tortall and feature a range of familiar and unknown characters.

Free? Stories About Human Rights edited by Amnesty International: An anthology of fourteen stories by young adult authors from around the world, on such themes as asylum, law, education, and faith, compiled in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Kiss Me Deadly edited by Trisha Telep and Michelle Zink: A collection of short stories combining dark seduction and modern romance presents a variety of tales featuring the romantic lives of humans and werewolves, ghosts, fallen angels, zombies, and shape-shifters.

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier: Twelve short stories by a variety of authors seek to answer the question of whether zombies are better than unicorns.

Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor and illustrated by Jim di Bartolo: Three short stories about kissing, featuring elements of the supernatural.

The Poison Eaters by Holly Black: A girl wagers her soul in a sour-gummy-frog-eating contest with the devil. Love and a homemade coat rescue a boy from his fairyland jailers. A newly bitten teenage vampire uses the Internet to show the world just how uncool the “cold” life is. In this collection of stories, the supernatural intersects with everyday life in surprising and dangerous ways.

You Don’t Even Know Me by Sharon G. Flake: Tow-Kaye just learned that the love of his life is pregnant–and though he knows what the right thing to do is, he’s scared to death to do it. Jeffrey hates having a mom who dresses like a teenager, but when another sexy mom moves in next door–well, that’s a different kind of problem. In these and twenty-two other short stories and poems, readers plumb the inner lives of African American teenage boys.

Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures edited by Mitali Perkins: Shares stories about growing up in diverse homes or communities, from an Asian youth who gains temporary popularity by making up a false background, to a biracial girl whose father clears subway seats by calmly sitting between two prejudiced women.

Dear Teen Me edited by E. Kristin Anderson and Miranda Kenneally: How many times have you looked back on your teenage years and cringed, wishing you could offer your younger self some guidance? This book of nearly 70 letters by top young adult authors — including bestselling writers Lauren Oliver, Ellen Hopkins, and Nancy Holder — does just that, and today’s teens will benefit.

Girl Meets Boy edited by Kelly Milner Halls: Twelve authors of young adult fiction collaborate on this collection of paired stories told alternately from the point of view of the boy and the girl.

Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror edited by RL Stine: A collection of thirteen horror stories.

Enthralled edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong: A collection of sixteen original short stories by writers of paranormal tales, featuring journeys made by teens and magical beings.

Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt: In this collection, award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked.

Foretold: 14 Stories of Prophecy and Prediction edited by Carrie Ryan: Collects fourteen stories that delve into the obsession with life’s unknowns and the prospect of altering the future, by such authors as Meg Cabot, Diana Peterfreund, and Michael Grant.

Break These Rules: 35 YA Authors on Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself edited by Luke Reynolds: Middle grade and young adult authors speak candidly on the unspoken “rules” of adolescence in this collection of moving, inspiring, and often funny essays. This unique volume encourages readers to break with conformity and defy age-old, and typically inaccurate, orthodoxy–including such conventions as Boys can’t be gentle, kind, or caring; One must wear Abercrombie & Fitch in order to fit in; Girls should act like girls; and One must go to college after finishing high school. With contributions from acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning young adult authors–including Gary D. Schmidt, author of The Wednesday Wars; Matthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook; Sara Zarr, author of Story of a Girl; and Wendy Mass, author of A Mango-Shaped Space–this collection encourages individuality by breaking traditionally held norms, making it an ideal resource for tweens and teens.

Losing It edited by Keith Gray: An anthology of ten stories about teens losing their virginity.

Starry-Eyed: 16 Stories that Steal the Spotlight edited by Ted Michael and Josh Pultz: Sixteen star-studded YA voices explore the glamour, struggles, and backstage chaos of the performing arts, while some of the biggest stars of stage and screen share their real-life stories of how they achieved their dreams–including American Idol finalist, Broadway star, and recording artists Clay Aiken.

Grim edited by Christine Johnson (February 2014): Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today. (Description via Goodreads).

Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (forthcoming 2015): Tales of gritty girls fighting back, seeking revenge, and claiming their victims. (Description via Goodreads).

A Quick Break – Cybils Finalists

January 3, 2014 |

I’m a second-round judge for the YA speculative fiction Cybils awards this year. (As an aside, I love the renaming of the category this year, from fantasy and science fiction to speculative fiction. I’ve long felt that’s a better term to describe the kind of stories that I love, and I hope this helps bring it into more popular use.)

The finalists were announced January 1, and I’m excited to dig into them. I’ve listed them all below, but be sure to check out the annotated list created by the Round 1 panelists at the main Cybils website.

Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
Pantomime by Laura Lam
Shadows by Robin McKinley
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher

We’re on vacation!

December 30, 2013 |

In the 4.5 years Kimberly and I have been blogging, we have never once taken a planned break. We’ve always had something up and ready to go.

But knowing the end of the year and start of a new one are stressful times, and they tend to be lower-readership times because of that, we decided we’re taking this week to recharge, reflect, and work on some of the backend stuff here at STACKED. We’re reworking some of our archives and organizational schemes here for finding content, so you might notice little things moving around, too. We’re also brainstorming and putting together massive lists of things we want to write about in the coming months.

We’ll be back next Monday, January 6, with programming as usual.

Kelly’s Top Five Posts of 2013: A Look Back

December 27, 2013 |

Kimberly hit on a lot of what I have to say about 2013 when it comes to blogging. We reached over a million hits, continued a couple of old series, kicked off new ones, and we passed our fourth year blogging together. In addition to all of those exciting — and big — milestones, 2013 was, I think, our strongest year when it came to writing and blogging more generally. I think for the first time for me, this blog felt like a real outlet and place to explore new ideas. Some of them began as small ideas and exploded into much bigger things when I wrote them out, while others I thought were bigger stayed small and confined to the blog. It was such a different year for blogging more broadly, too, which I plan on talking a bit more about next week sometime.

As Kim said, we thought it would be worthwhile to talk about some of our individual favorite posts from the past year. Here are five of my top picks, in no particular order:

Female Sexuality in YA Fiction

After writing this post back in June about female sexuality in YA, I’ve not stopped thinking about this topic. And I’m not just thinking about it as more books publish that tackle the subject, but I’m thinking about it in terms of backlist, too. A few people pointed me to older titles that explore female sexuality in some capacity, and I am really looking forward to reading them and thinking about how far — or not far — YA fiction has come in how it approaches girls and sexuality.

When We Talk About “Girl Problems”

Kind of going hand-in-hand with the sexuality post was this one about the notion of “girl problems.” What does it mean to be a girl and how are the problems girls face handled in YA fiction? More than that, how are they responded to by readers? I loved talking about love triangles, as well as talking about the idea of the “every girl” that Sarah Dessen writes about (and that I think Dessen gets unfairly dinged for sometimes, too). I also think this post corresponded quite a bit with what I talked about in terms of “unlikable” female characters, too.

Getting Past the Easy Reach

When you commit something to paper (or blog, as the case may be), it’s harder to ignore your own words since you have to face them if someone calls you out on them. This particular post was one that I needed to write because I needed the reminder of the value of recommending the reads that fit the reader, rather than the reads which are most obvious and easiest to grab. It was this post that really inspired me to want to write the “Beyond the Bestsellers” series at Book Riot, and it’s the post I think those who do reader’s advisory should think about — I’d love to see more people talk about how to move beyond the easy reach.

Fat Isn’t A Disability, But It Is A Book Deal Breaker

The more I think about my favorite posts this year, the more interrelated I see that they are. The long and short of it seems to be that it’s hard to be a girl.

On Book Packagers and Literary Development Companies

This was just a straight-up fun post to write. There are posts you write that you know took you a long time to write because they required a lot of work — I’m looking at the New York Times Bestsellers Posts — and then there are posts you write that you know took a long time because you kept letting yourself fall down new rabbit holes. This was the rabbit hole post.

It was a real blast this year to return to the So You Want to Read YA series, as well as the Contemporary YA Week series. It was equally fun to try out a group read along for Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War, as well as giving a series about reader’s advisory a shot, too. Kimberly and I both loved putting together the monthly genre guides, as well as interviewing authors we respect for our monthly Twitterview series. Of course, writing reviews for books that really worked — as well as dissecting what didn’t work within a book that wasn’t a knock out for me — is always enjoyable, too.

One thing I discovered this year and that I’ll talk a bit more about in a future post is how much readership and audience has changed over the last year. When we once knew our readership pretty well, now we’re less aware (and maybe less concerned, too). It’s neat to see where and how people are finding us, and it’s been so great to see not just our content be shared, but it’s enjoyable to reader other people’s responses to our posts via their own blogs, tumblr, Twitter, and other outlets. There’s never a time when I don’t have at least a page worth of post ideas, thanks in big part to those of you who read and think about what it is we have to say.

I’m not a resolutions person, though I do like to set goals (resolutions to me sound too absolute and focus too much on an end result, whereas goals allow for celebrating and feeling accomplishment in the interim steps along the path). In the coming year, it’s my goal to keep writing what I feel like writing and to cover some of the things people have suggested I look at but I thought maybe I didn’t have the time or energy to do. The truth is, that time is there. It’s just a matter of sitting down and putting the effort in to do it — and that’s one of those interim steps along the way I love and look forward to but forget about until I get the chance to reflect upon the value it brings to me.

As always, a huge thank you to our readers, to those who comment or share or encourage us along the way. We’d probably still blog without it, but it’d be a much less enjoyable or inspiring experience.