A recent New York Times profile on Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany reflects that her masterful portrayals of Project Leda’s disparate clones represent a range of female TV archetypes, from Desperate Housewives to a European horror story to a police procedural. I’d like to argue that the members of the Clone Club also embody many of the archetypes observed in YA novels: the scrappy fighter, […]
For as long as the YA genre has existed, there has been the accompanying anxiety over how dark is too dark? Depictions of murder, suicide, and other dark consequences have rattled educators and parents. But as author Maureen Johnson pointed out in a 2011 editorial, “If subjects like these are in YA books, it’s to show that they […]
Ruth Graham’s Slate piece, “Against YA,” has everyone asking, “is YA embarrassing?” We had to weigh in. Below, two contrasting opinions of the debate of YA validity. We can’t wait to hear where you stand! Grown-ups: We Are Better Than This, by Ester Bloom “Embarrassment” is not a productive emotion, and “should” is not a […]
Have you recovered from the Big Little Lies series finale yet? After seven intense and increasingly twisty-turny episodes we found out exactly who died and who did it and how and why and now we just need more! With no sign of a season 2 on the horizon (yet—both Reese Witherspoon and Big Little Lies […]