And Then Patty Said, And Then Roger Said

Over the years, I have enjoyed many of Patty Campbell's articles for the Horn Book. Many of them. I was very sorry when she left the magazine. I was particularly impressed with her last column.

Imagine my delight when I found that Roger Sutton had interviewed her for the September/October 2010 issue of The Horn Book. And guess what the resulting article is called--An Interview with Patty Campbell!

The interview was great. There was lots of talk about defining children's literature vs. young adult. I think I've made it clear here over the years that I love definitions. There was also a question about "coming-of-age" novels, something I pretty much hate but enjoyed reading about because don't we all enjoy reading about things we hate? Roger and Patty also talked about the presence of YA books for older YAs, and "the recognition of a growing adult audience for YA lit," which, Patty says, outsells "adult fiction by a large margin." In response to that, Roger said, "I wonder if this will age YA books up even more, as publishers seek to capture an adult as well as a teen audience." Now, I really loved reading that because I've wondered that, too, but I've never seen anyone address the issue before. It just seems so obvious to me that YA could pretty much disappear as publishers try to make it more and more desirable to adult readers with money to buy books. But what seems obvious to me is often much less so to others

Really, it appears you just can't go wrong reading an article either by or about Patty Campbell. And lucky us, she has a book out that collects many of her essays, articles, and columns, Campbell's Scoop: Reflections on Young Adult Literature.