Martha Parravano’s reviews of superior supernaturals above reminds me that there will always be books that survive genre fatigue: just when you think you can’t look at another vampire (or dystopia, or fallen angel, or fantasy intrigue) story, one comes along to renew our understanding of just why these themes resonate with writers and readers. The trick is finding them, and I’m grateful to the Horn Book staff and reviewers who somehow manage to persevere through each new boxful of fat teen novels with misty photos of dreamy-eyed girls on their covers to unearth (heh) the ones that really matter.

Having seen previous reading trends come and go, I do wonder when the craze for YA vampire and other paranormal stories might change. It will; it always does. Will the current surfeit of the futuristic and fantastical make readers turn again to the here and now, or perhaps to historical fiction? We shall see.



 

 

Roger Sutton
Editor in Chief

From Notes from the Horn Book, October 2011