Sara Zarr, author of How to Save a Life, critiques a WSJ article on the darkness in young adult literature. The writer of that article claims YA lit is “so dark that kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the run of things in novels directed, broadly speaking, at children from the ages of 12 to 18.”

Sara says she feels that way about adult fiction too and asks why it isn’t frequently criticized for being so dark like YA lit has been for many years. What we need in both book fields, she says, is hope, even if the story is a dark one. “We need context, we need excellence, everywhere. Not just for the young.”