Discussion question

[rolanni]

Some While Back, I read an interview, it may have been, with an author who writes adult post-apocalyptic SF and also YA post-apocalyptic SF.

The single comment that stuck with me from this interview was that the author worked to make sure the YA work had a happy ending, because young readers deserved hope.

The implicit statement -- I don't remember at this remove if it was explicit -- being that adult readers don't deserve a happy ending.

Discuss.

Comments

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

Last time I looked this was not a Safe World. I think that honesty is best. Life is what it is and should be presented as such, sometimes good and sometimes not. I listen to people talking about all they have done to make everything easy for their children and in some ways I don't think they are doing the kids any favors. Literature is the same. Whether the world is real or imagined, it sometimes comes with warts and YA need to know about the good and the bad.

[berneynator.livejournal.com]

That's true, but adolescents are learning about the world from other sources than just their reading. I'm just out of it myself, and I like happy endings, but I agree that sometimes that doesn't fit the rest of the book. Of course, for many readers, including myself, reading is an escape from everyday life - and it doesn't have to be realistically depressing. Heck, we're reading sci-fi and fantasy- it's not realistic! It's not supposed to be! Certainly it can teach, but I don't think it should</> be just like everyday life.