I’m very sorry that some reviewers of YA were upset or worried by yesterday’s post. I truly was not talking about you. If you’re reading my blog. odds are you know and care about the genre, which is something the people who write those kinds of reviews are often lacking—especially the knowledge.
There are two groups who are writing the kinds of reviews I was mocking:
- Reviewers for trade mags/journals/newspaper who are being asked to review outside their area of expertise
- Amateur reviewers whose gateway drug to YA was Twilight
The vast majority of specialist kidlit bloggers and trade reviewers are mad keen lovers of the genre who are knowledgeable about its history and don’t make idiotic mistakes like accusing L. J. Smith of ripping off Stephenie Meyer. My post was not aimed at any of you. The kidlit bloggers and reviewers do a wonderful job of keeping people like me informed about our genre and what books we should be reading.
Keep up the good work!
There are definitely plenty of good YA reviewers! My pet peeve is when a teen reviews a book and says, “I didn’t really like it, it wasn’t as good as Twilight”. I mean, liking Twilight is one thing, it’s a good book. But saying you don’t like a book because it’s not as good as Twilight… well, there are great books out there that have nothing in common with Twilight! When one book is all you compare anything to, it gets annoying to the reader.
Oh, and also, I just finished How to Ditch Your Fairy and I loved it! I can’t wait to read Liar! It sounds really good!