We often dismiss the young adult genre as being filled with a lot of trash and cliches, but I believe that being able to write a good YA novel is an underappreciated art. Some of the books that I call my Favorites of All Time are from this genre. If it’s written well, and is able to posit some great ideas, these books can go on to shape young people’s minds. The Golden Compass (and the entire Dark Material trilogy, for that matter) was an eye-opening experience that made me realize that adults might not always have your best interests at heart, or they think they do, but they really don’t know what they are doing.
Of course, we can’t hold Phillip Pullman’s masterpiece up as a yardstick for every YA novel, because if we do, then everything else basically pales in comparison. But there are other enjoyable and important YA novels of a much smaller scale that I hold dear to my heart. The Giver by Lois Lowry, everything Roald Dahl has written (The Witches scared the shit out of me as a kid), The Girl with Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts (This one is not amazing and not a classic, but as a kid, it really spoke to me).
And herein I arrive at my point: One does not have to aim for the stars to be a great YA writer but one should not condescend to your young readers either.
And for Ron Vitale’s Cinderella’s Secret Diary: Lost, the mark was missed on several counts. This was provided to CBR5 readers as a free e-read, which I am so appreciative for. I can only imagine what it’s like to be writer — it actually gives me a bit of a panic attack to think about putting my work out there in to the masses to judge and criticize… gah, panic attack. (Yes, I am a reporter for a daily newspaper, but that’s totally different.) But we’re encouraged to blog about these free e-reads, and also told to write how we really feel so… here goes.
Cannonball Read V 