YA saves. You bet it does

Some of you, dear readers may have heard about the Wall Street Journal article titled "Darkness too Visible" about how terrible all this dark violent YA literature is with its vampires, rape, and misery.  Aside from the fact that I think the author's real issue is with victims who don't hide their victimization away, where she can ignore it, I have some serious issues with the idea that children need to be protected from dark books when we're not all that good at protecting them from dark lives.

( What follows may be triggering to some of you. I talk about stalking, attempted rape, severe childhood illness, suicide, emotional child abuse, and drug addiction. )