I've been thinking about the canon discussion on here this week. I was definitely a "teach the canon" person for the early part of my career & still think we can teach alongside certain texts. But I also think a lot about how much kids need YA that reaches them. A THREAD: (1/7)

(2/7) My gateway to being a YA reader *as an adult* was The Fault in Our Stars by @johngreen. It was released in 2012, which is only important in that my mom had been living w/cancer for nearly 10 years at that point. By the time the movie was released, my mom had passed away.

(3/7) @johngreen's treatment of living w/cancer, while not a reflection of my mom's experience, had touch points. More importantly, the book had cancer humor, which isn't for everyone, but at that point, as my mom was slowing down, it was what I needed, to find light moments

(4/7) I would read the book & sob & laugh & sob again. It was cathartic. It let me know it was OK to find light moments. I keep coming back to it. And I imagine what if I had found books like that as a teen? What if as a teen I had been told those books "didn't count?"

(5/7) What if I were led to think I hated reading Or worse, what if I had been told I was *bad* at reading? No one in my books looked like me or had relatable experiences to me? Or if I were told that those books also didn't count, weren't real, never measured up?

(6/7) What if I had been given more books by people whose experiences were NOT mine when I was a teen? White, middle class--most books looked like me, and that was my loss. I learn so much from YA books today. YA authors, I argue, are doing so much of the heavy lifting right now

(7/7) I guess what I'm saying is: give kids books. If we want kids to love reading, LET them love reading. Honor lived experiences. Honor their ability to be readers. Don't try to "catch them" not reading. Build space & time for them to read. The classics can still be there.