Publisher’s Weekly (Oct. 3, 2011) reports:
The young adult market these days is a bit like a nephew you haven’t seen in years: transformed from a little darling into a hulking almost-grownup who is maybe even a little scary. Teen titles dominate publishers’ fall lists, and those books overwhelmingly feature menacing creatures, forbidden romances, and apocalyptic versions of this and future Earth. “Blood” is a common word in titles, as is “dark,” “death,” “deadly,” and even “darker still.”
Wait, that is an actual title. Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber (Sourcebooks, Nov.)
“I don’t think the readership is tired of these types of stories,” says Rosemary Stimola, the agent who represents Suzanne Collins and The Hunger Games. “This is a population of young people who don’t remember a time when the country was not at war. It makes perfect sense that their literature would allow them a way to exercise their thoughts about the nature of good and evil, and that it might reflect violence and great loss.”
Read the rest of Sue Corbett’s article HERE
Your title caught my eye because I am reading a number of YA nonfiction titles for the Cybils awards and many of the titles refer to blood and gore as well. Between 911 and the wars, as well as violent video games (Halo) I guess the young adult generation does have its own conflicts to work through.
Some of the titles I am reading, like Flesh and Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin, are about horrific events (Triangle Fire) put into historical perspective.