Jen Robinson wrote over the weekend about a topic that gotten some notice lately - the apparently big concentration on fantasy books for YA readers. Apparently most of this discussion comes from a new article in the School Library Journal that starts with "Move over Holden Caulfield" and then keeps sounding the trumpet for dragons and wizards from there. (I'll pause here to say that I do not agree with writer Anita Silvey's take on Catcher in the Rye as " the book that established the formula for young adult novels." Personally it has always seemed like the book that adults read to remember how it was to be a teen, more than teens read to identify with. I think it skews a bit older then 15-16 year olds at least and would put it more at a college age readership, even when the book was fairly new. But that's all opinion and not that big of a deal.)

I clearly do not receive the kind of books that the SLJ folks do, but while I have noticed fantasy titles lately they haven't seemed any greater in number to me than in the past. JK Rowling has been around for awhile now, and Philip Pullman but look back to Garth Nix and Susan Cooper and Lloyd Alexander who proved fantasy sold a while ago. (Heck you could go back to Madeleine L'Engle and her Murray series for proof that it sold in the 1970s.) I think fantasy has always been popular and it's not going to nudge the Gossip Girls books out of the way anytime soon. This seems like an article not so much about a new trend but just a recognition of an old one - if that makes any sense. And as for realistic YA books falling by the wayside in all this, well, oddly enough I just finished a piece on five YA family dramas for the current edition of Eclectica. I also have war fiction for next month at Bookslut, quirky families for December and historical fiction for the next Eclectica.

My next fantasy column is sometime this winter. Does this mean anything significant - I have no idea, but it was an interesting coincidence.

So the Eclectica piece. I wrote about five YA books that deal with missing or lost parents and other tragedies and confusions. They had sad moments, to be sure, but all were ultimately hopeful books and quite well done.

I also had my semi-annual picture book review with 15 - whoa baby! - picture books discussed. Everything from castles to lizards to railroads is in there somewhere. Lots of fun stuff and hopefully a book or two that will be new for readers.

And I have a couple of grown-up pieces. I reviewed the awesome WWI book, Generals Die in Bed. This was originally published in the 1930s and was based on the real experiences of the author, Charles Yale Harrison. It's as good as anything else (and more well known) that I have ever read about the war and is recommended for both young and old readers. I also read two great books by Scott Russell Sanders, a very smart and evocative writer who shares stories from his own life and how he came to be a writer. These are the kind of books that never seem to make it to the Reference/Writing section of the B&N but should. Skip the silly How To books and give Sanders to wannabe writers - their craft will thank you very much.

It's funny how some people see trends going in one way while others miss it completely. I'm not sure who is right on this whole fantasy vs drama trend for YAs but I'm going to pay a bit more attention - not because I think one way or the other is better for teens, but because as an author of a YA urban fantasy in progress, I do have a bit of a stake in how things go.

And on that note - back to my book.