When I read the article, I got my second surprise: the article blasts darker-themed contemporary fiction for teens. Rage was used as an example to illustrate how “tame” issue-oriented books from the 1970s were in comparison — including Go Ask Alice, Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, and I Am the Cheese. Worse, after mentioning that the protagonist in Rage struggles with self-injury and quoting two lines from the book, the article goes on to say that books like Rage are likely to help “normalize” issues such as self-injury — and “may even spread their plausibility and likelihood to young people who might otherwise never have imagined such extreme measures. Self-destructive adolescent behaviors are observably infectious and have periods of vogue.”

That sound you hear is my blood pressure rising.

To suggest that Rage effectively glamorizes self-injury is both insulting and stupid. The entire purpose of the book — indeed, of all of the Riders of the Apocalypse books — is to raise awareness of issues such as self-injury and eating disorders and bullying.

Not everyone wants to raise awareness of such things, though. The WSJ article argues: “If books show us the world, teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is. There are of course exceptions, but a careless young reader – -or one who seeks out depravity — will find himself surrounded by images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality and losses of the most horrendous kinds.”

Heads up, WSJ: Life isn’t always beautiful and joyous. That’s not the real world; it never was. We just know more today about the issues that have been around for a long time — and we’ve come to a point where we’re not afraid to talk about these issues.

But then, not everyone wants to talk about them. The WSJ article laments, “Alas, literary culture is not sympathetic to adults who object either to the words or storylines in young-adult books” and goes on to suggest that “the book industry’s ever-more-appalling offerings for adolescent readers spring from a desperate desire to keep books relevant for the young.”

You want relevant? Let’s look at the numbers.

According to the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injurious Behavior in Adolescents and Young Adults, “12% to 24% of young people have self-injured” and “about 6%-8% of adolescents and young adults report current, chronic self-injury.” According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, “about 1 in 10 young people will self-harm at one point.”

One in 10. So in a classroom of 30 teens, 3 of them either are or will self-injure.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, 10 million females and 1 million males suffer from anorexia or bulimia, and another 15 million suffer from binge eating disorder.

I was one of those 10 million females.

CyberMentors indicates that “as many as 70% of all young people have experienced some form of bullying” and “1 million kids are bullied every week.”

Let me repeat that: One million kids, every week, are bullied. This is not okay.

These numbers show that issue novels such as Cheryl Rainfield’s Scars and Lauren Myracle’s Shine — two books also mentioned in the WSJ article — are not simply “relevant for the young.” They’re urgent for the young, and for their parents. Ignoring issues such as self-injury or eating disorders or bullying doesn’t make them go away. Covering our ears and shutting our eyes and going “LA LA LA” as loud as we can doesn’t make these problems magically disappear. The only things that go away if you ignore them are your teeth.

Maybe the notion of discussing these issues makes some people uncomfortable. That’s understandable; these are not comfortable topics. But that’s not a good reason to remain quiet. To those who insist that they’re protecting children and teens by not talking about these issues — or by banning books that discuss these issues — don’t you realize that the best way to protect children is to educate them about these issues?

The WSJ article concludes with the following: “The book business exists to sell books; parents exist to rear children, and oughtn’t be daunted by cries of censorship. No family is obliged to acquiesce when publishers use the vehicle of fundamental free-expression principles to try to bulldoze coarseness or misery into their children’s lives.”

That’s right: parents are there to raise their children. And that means teaching our kids about the world, the real world, not just some idealized fantasy where everything is joyous and beautiful. With numbers like “1 in 10″ and “10 million females/1 million males” and “1 million kids,” it’s crucial that kids and teens — and adults — understand that when they’re suffering with conditions or disorders that might otherwise lead them down a path of no return, they’re not alone.

At the very top of the WSJ article, there’s a blurb that sums up the article’s tone: “Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea?”

Why? Easy. Ignoring ugly truths doesn’t make those truths go away. Silence is never the answer. Granted, there may be those who will always advocate censorship rather than frank discussion. But the more that people insist on limiting the books we read, the more those books need to be read.

Learn about the world. Read a book.

To everyone on Twitter who responded to the WSJ article with #YAsaves: Thank you. You all rock out loud.

Here’s a list of all the terrific sites I visited on the official RAGE Blog Tour, with their reviews of RAGE or their interviews with me, or my guest posts (whew!) :

Literary Escapism

Bitten By Books

The Compulsive Reader

The Book Smugglers

Presenting Lenore

Mundie Moms

The Story Siren

Book Faery

Bookworming in the 21st Century

Green Bean Teen Queen

The Neverending Shelf

Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf <--- An A+ review!!! Yow!!!

In Bed With Books

Wicked Awesome Books

Confessions of a Bookaholic

Tales of the Ravenous Reader

Rebecca’s Book Blog

SciFi Guy

A Backwards Story

The Hate-Mongering Tart

Thank you again, everyone!

The good news: I handed in the draft of LOSS to my editor, on time! The manuscript (66,600 words) is much longer than either HUNGER (44,000 words) or RAGE (55,000 words). It looks like LOSS will be a spring 2012 publication. Rah! Details to follow when they are available.

The great news: RAGE had a terrific launch, with lots of amazing reviews, including this one from Mrs. Giggles, who says: “The vicarious beat down that leaves me feeling wonderfully bruised all over is the sign of a story that succeeds in reeling me in, emotionally and intellectually, and damn if it doesn’t feel great.”

**grin**

To everyone who has been reading and reviewing RAGE: Thank you, hugely. I hope you’ll enjoy LOSS even more! (Yeah, okay, you have to wait a year. Sorry about that!)

And hey: a new Post Mortem interview! The amazing Jeri Smith-Ready’s latest book, SHIFT, is now available ((DROOL!!!!!!!! CAN’T WAIT TO READ IT!!!!!!!!)), and her character Logan is interviewed by Death. Complete with playlist! Rah!

I’ll be at the Rochester Teen Book Festival next week, and I hope to see you there.

Yesterday, I guest posted at The Book Smugglers, and Ana shared her thoughts about RAGE.

Today, I should be guest blogging at Presenting Lenore (who, by the way, recently scored a phenomenal deal, so please congratulate her!).

Remember to comment so that you can be entered in the ginormous giveaway for a chance to receive HUNGER, RAGE, and some other goodies!

And now, it’s off to the hotel gym. Rah!

Today I’m answering questions at Bitten By Books. And, bonus, Death interviews me!

I’ll also be at Flights of Fantasy tonight at 7 pm, in Colonie, NY — and tomorrow, it’s off to LA for the RT Booklovers Convention!

All throughout April, I’ll be doing a blogosphere world tour. Lots of guest posts; lots of interviews. Lots of RAGE reviews, eek!

In other news: I finally got my taxes off to my accountant (rah!!!) and I’m full-speed ahead on LOSS (double rah!!!).

And a reminder: If you’re in the Albany, NY area, I’ll be at the Empire State Book Festival this Saturday for a 2:45 pm panel called “She Blinded Me with Science Fiction,” followed by a Meet & Greet (aka, signing copies of RAGE) at 4:45pm. I’ll also be doing a reading at Flights of Fantasy on Monday, April 4, starting at 7 pm. Hope to see you there!

One of...gosh, a lot!

Ooh, FOIL!!! It’s so SHINY!!! I love it! I love it even more than I love the HUNGER cover, and I seriously love the HUNGER cover! Hooray, author copies!!!

Gosh. What am I going to do with all of these copies? Hmm…

Back in October, I showed a picture of Brian and Jen reading HUNGER on the bus to the Rally for Sanity and/or Fear. Here are more pictures of people with copies of HUNGER:

Here’s Julie, showing off her copy. So glad you enjoyed it, Julie!

And here is Neil Gaiman — my god of writing — holding up the copy that I sent him. A huge thanks to his phenomenal mystery aide, Cat Mihos, for the amazing picture!

If you send me a picture of you holding a copy of HUNGER, I’ll put it up on my blog.

Now that HUNGER has officially launched, and I’ve gotten past the initial wave of OMG OMG OMG AAAAAAAAAAH, I’m focusing on writing LOSS (think bullying, Pestilence, Alzheimer’s…and Robin Hood. I swear, I’ll make it work!), and getting ready for RAGE to hit the shelves in four short months. (Gulp.)

Speaking of RAGE, I’m thrilled that it’s a Junior Library Guild selection for spring 2011! I’ll have an updated cover posted soon — it’s the same as what I currently have on my website, but shiner, and with a fantabulous cover quote from the ever-amazing Heather Brewer. Her quote says:

“RAGE is raw and real, a truly dark, honest look at self-harm and teenage psyche. Kessler left me breathless.”

Last month, That Cover Girl interviewed me and cover artist Sammy Yuen about HUNGER and RAGE. Sammy’s interview in particular is a terrific read. Thanks again, That Cover Girl!

New stuff: there’s a new Post Mortem interview posted: Death talks to Laurel from Amy Brecount White’s lovely FORGET-HER-NOTS.

Amberkatze interviewed me on her blog — thanks, Amber!

Over November, more terrific reviews of HUNGER came in, including:

Icey Books

Wondrous Reads

The Diary of a Bookworm

Marie Loves Books

A Simple Love of Reading

Silent T’s Book Blog

Renee’s Book Addiction

CK2s Kwips and Kritiques

My Favourite Books

I once again want to thank all of the folks who have been reading and reviewing HUNGER. You all rock out loud!

GIVEAWAY: Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf has a terrific review of HUNGER…plus an ARC giveaway of the book! Thanks, Lauren!!!

On Wednesday, I’ll be over at The Book Smugglers for my Smugglivus post…which happens to also be my birthday, so there may be a RAGE ARC giveaway. Maybe.

Whew. Note to self: When I don’t blog for a month, there’s a lot of catch up to do!

Ahem.

Okay, back to blogging…

Today’s Crossroads Tour stop at Just Your Typical Book Blog is a little different — it’s not an interview, but rather a guest post in which I answer Amber’s question, “If I were sucked into one of my books, which book would it be, and what kind of reaction or hopes would I have.” The post is called “Let’s Talk About Death,” and in it, I get into how influenced I’ve been by books and comic books when it came to the character of Death — including Neil Gaiman, Piers Anthony and Terry Pratchett. Thanks so much, Amber!

After you read the post, head on over to the Crossroads Tour main page for today’s question. One day to go!

And hey, another HUNGER review, over at Teen Book Review Blog.

Finally, I’m signing copies of HUNGER today at The Little Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza, in Albany NY, from 2 – 3 pm. If you’re local, I hope to see you there! I can show you a shiny RAGE ARC.

More reviews of HUNGER have been coming in…as well as a number for RAGE! (For the record, it’s very surreal to see reviews of book #2 before book #1 has technically launched.) Here are a few:

Wayfaring Writer: another interview with me, as well as a review of HUNGER

Miles 2 Go: reviews both HUNGER and RAGE

Bibliophilic Monologues: re-posts a HUNGER review

Writing Is A Blessing: selects RAGE for this week’s Waiting On Wednesday

Reading Angel: reviews HUNGER

Whatchamacallit Reviews: reviews HUNGER

Okay, so maybe that’s a lot and not a few. My continued heartfelt thanks to all who have read and reviewed HUNGER (OMG, and RAGE)! HUNGER officially launches on Monday. I’m giddy!

Separately…I finished the LOSS synopsis, finally! My fabulous crit partner has weighed in, and now my agent is reviewing it, along with the first five chapters of the book. Fingers crossed she likes it!

Cover to RAGE

I absolutely love it!

Now, I just received my author copies of HUNGER…and I have to say that the final cover, with all its gorgeous artwork and fonts and foil, is even more spectacular than the cover on the ARC, or the still image seen at places like Goodreads and online bookstores. So I’m positive that the final cover to RAGE will be even more phenomenal than this sneak peek.

Like with HUNGER, the cover art for RAGE is (c) Sammy Yuen.

(Now I have to go back to freaking out over HUNGER hitting the shelves in just over three weeks.