A recent national newspaper feature bemoaned – with surprising ferocity and not a little generalisation – the “darkness” of current teen fiction: complained about the absence of anything joyful or humorous currently being offered to children. It was an article that, frankly, left quite a few authors looking curiously down at our own laps and wondering if we’d become invisible overnight, or had perhaps spontaneously evaporated out of the literary canon along with our vast book sales.Because while it’s true that the media may like to sensationalise and focus on the darker books at times (as do, let’s be honest, a few of the awards panels), children don’t. Children go – as children always have – where they like. They read what they like, they explore any world that appeals to them at that moment. And they love – with intensity, with loyalty, with passion – a million different types of book, infinite types of narrative, of life, of story, all at once. That fluidity – an imagination and ability to adapt and adjust – is what makes them children. It’s what makes us love writing for them, above and beyond anyone else
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