he good news is that "kids are reading!" says Nicole Russell in The American Spectator. The bad news? Much of what they're reading is inappropriate "junk": Kids' book series that feature "vivid and brutal" violence and characters with weak morals. Other popular series are written "with all the grace of a parade of elephants" like Twilight, "the most obvious disappointment topping the young adult literature charts." Here's an excerpt from Russell's piece:
Last week, the Association of American Publishers announced hardcover Children's or Young Adult (YA) fiction sales had increased nearly 14 percent in the last year. As optimistic as this is for the industry, which has seen adult fiction sales decline in recent months, parents hoping to snatch the computer and shove a book in front of their children may want to re-consider the current YA market. ...
The Hunger Games trilogy is currently a best-selling science fiction series... The basic premise seems, pardon my old-fashioned thinking, gruesome subject matter for young adults, the youngest being 14. It's as though George Orwell's 1984 and Cormac McCarthy's The Road met "Survivor" (the television show) and invited it to stay the night.
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