“When we talk about The Fault in Our Stars, we go straight to the unspeakable sadness, out of all the emotions evoked, because we want to convey the incredible emotional resonance of the book. What we’re trying to say is: this book mattered deeply to me, I think it could matter deeply to you too.” - What We Talk about When We Talk about Crying: John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars by Janet Potter
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“When we talk about The Fault in Our Stars, we go straight to the unspeakable sadness, out of all the emotions evoked, because we want to convey the incredible emotional resonance of the book. What we’re trying to say is: this book mattered deeply to me, I think it could matter deeply to you too.”

- What We Talk about When We Talk about Crying: John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars by Janet Potter

…with a few exceptions, the most successful and prominent contemporary YA writers are women. Furthermore, the cultural infrastructure supporting their books — from agents and editors to librarians, teachers and that formidable new force in the YA world, bloggers — is predominantly female. Some observers blame this state of affairs for the drop-off in boys’ reading habits as they reach their teens; it’s a system ill-suited to producing books that will interest boys, they argue. But if YA has indeed become a gynocracy, few ask why.

The answer, I believe, is prestige. YA is a prestige-free zone, or at least it has been for most of the decades of its existence as a self-identified genre.

Laura Miller, “A prestige-free zone”
“‘How can you say that you’re not reading during the summer?’ I ask, my voice incredulous, and the kids sit back–a little delighted that they have provoked me into one last righteous defense of reading.  ‘Don’t play like you don’t read.  Don’t try to tell me that you hate reading.  I know better!’” - Not Ready to Gush About It: A Brief Book List for Young Readers by Carolyn Ross [Image via Franklin Regional]
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“‘How can you say that you’re not reading during the summer?’ I ask, my voice incredulous, and the kids sit back–a little delighted that they have provoked me into one last righteous defense of reading.  ‘Don’t play like you don’t read.  Don’t try to tell me that you hate reading.  I know better!’”

- Not Ready to Gush About It: A Brief Book List for Young Readers by Carolyn Ross

[Image via Franklin Regional]