The new teenage heroines

Naomi Wolf has an interesting article in the NYTimes about young adult novels being published today. Rather than being told from a traditional teenage heroine's point of view (the not-so-popular girl trying to find her identity or some riff on that theme), these heroines ARE the Mean Girls. Not only do these middle schoolers tote Prada bags filled with cell phones and Sidekicks, they're poppin' E, Viagra and doin' public "Semi-sex" because Oral Sex "is so over." These are the girls you used to be afraid of in high school, and were the traditional villain in the young adult novel.

Yuck. Give me "Are you there God? It's Me Margaret" any day.

Young Adult Fiction: Wild Things