Why I’m obsessed with young adult (YA) fiction

Call it a case of arrested development, but I write teen fiction because that’s what I need to read. Scratch the surface of any YA story worth its salt, and you’ve got at least one important life lesson you get to learn/relearn right along with the protagonist. We’re talking biggies, like overcoming fears, accepting reality, learning to trust others or oneself, assuming responsibility, sticking up for someone, and sorting out different kinds of love. Stuff teens have to deal with every day as part of growing up, along with studying for the math test (they’re my heroes).

How do YA authors do it? I mean, the novels I’m talking about aren’t exactly self-help books. The answer: sneakily. The reader thinks they’re reading one story, but they’re actually reading two: the easy-to-see story on the surface that has the exciting plot, and the subtle one underneath where the real transformation takes place. All good YA stories involve transformation—the protagonist starts out with a want and a need (she may not know her need), and ends up transformed because her need has been met (even if her want has not). It’s that transformation that keeps me coming back for more, because it gives me hope. Hope that I can still change. Hope that the world can still change.

In Call of the Desert: Crossing, Claire and her two closest friends continue the YA tradition of transformation that brings hope.