Darkness Lifted

I recently linked to a Wall Street Journal article which discussed the dark trend in teen literature. There were some definite errors in the article, and on Wednesday they corrected some of those mistakes.

In the novel “Thirteen Reasons Why,” published in October 2007, the main character kills herself when she is a high-school junior. A June 6 Weekend Journal essay on young-adult fiction incorrectly said that the book was published in March 2007 and that the suicide occurs freshman year.

The newspaper also corrected an error in the description of The Hunger Games.

But they decided not to clarify the unsourced (read: made-up for effect) and creepy comment about librarians who “...want to keep the book off the shelves…” So to put that comment behind me, allow me to clarify what the article was trying to say about librarians wanting to keep my book off the shelves.

Librarians want to keep the book off the shelves where it would only gather dust. Since librarians hear firsthand from teens who’ve actually read the book, they thoroughly enjoy seeing it checked-out at all times. That’s why they give it awards and add it to summer reading lists.

Okay, obviously it’s been a while since I was on the high school newspaper staff.