Demonstrating once again how to have intelligent, thoughtful discussion and disagreement about YA lit without devolving into name-calling, snark, and gross generalizations, I give you: the women of the “What a Girl Wants” round-table at Chasing Ray. I want to go on a retreat with these women. I probably most agree with what Sara Ryan says in her contribution today:

“I think the YA authors who nail teen girls’ voices credibly — and part of that is recognizing that a monolithic Teen Girl Voice does not exist — respect girls and their lives in a way that authors of adult books with teen girl characters often don’t. The YA authors who get it don’t treat being a teenage girl as the best or worst time ever, or — as is perhaps most common with authors of adult books — as a time of such excruciating awkwardness that they can barely stand to evoke it. Instead, the authors who get it present girls’ teen years simply as a time when a lot is happening, some of it confusing, some of it exhilarating, some of it tragic, some of it amazing. Much like, you know, the rest of life.”

Also, as I read the various responses, I found myself confirmed in my belief that YA fiction is something very specific. It’s not junior varsity adult writing. It’s not practice fiction for younger readers. It’s not just for teens. It’s a specific genre of fiction (with many sub-genres) that accomplishes something unique. Now, putting what exactly that is into words is hard, and maybe not the point. To me, the point is it’s not better or worse than other genres and categories in excellence, purity, usefulness, merit, and potential to inform, entertain, provide escape or connection or whatever else a reader might be looking for. It’s not To Kill a Mockingbird vs. [insert your favorite YA novel] in a “is it YA?” smackdown. It is what it is, and as Sara R. alludes to, we are not all writing for one archetypal Teenager. We’re writing for humans, in our specific ways.

The whole What a Girl Wants series:

• Introduction
• Part I The Books We Can’t Forget
• Part II Girl Detective Fiction
• Part III Representing All the Girls (race/ethnicity in YA)
• Part IV The Girl vs. the Woman (when it comes to reading…why YA?)

Meanwhile, at Readergirlz, Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg chat live tonight.

So, what else is going on? Post your interesting YA-related links in the comments if you’ve got ‘em…