A couple days ago, Bitch Magazine posted a list of 100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader, which, at a glance, is a fairly standard list of books with strong female protagonists. (Though if they're gonna put Harriet the Spy and Speak on the same list, they might want to redefine their terms.)
After the list went up, a Bitch staffer announced in the comments that they were "reading and re-considering...the three or so [books] that deal with rape." And then this:
A couple of us at the office read and re-read Sisters Red, Tender Morsels and Living Dead Girl this weekend. We've decided to remove these books from the list — Sisters Red because of the victim-blaming scene that was discussed earlier in this post, Tender Morsels because of the way that the book validates (by failing to critique or discuss) characters who use rape as an act of vengeance, and Living Dead Girl because of its triggering nature. We still feel that these books have merit and would not hesitate to recommend them in certain instances, but we don't feel comfortable keeping them on this particular list.We've replaced these books with Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley and Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. Thanks to several commenters who pointed out the need to include these excellent books on our list. I'm excited to add a few more rad girls to our list and I can't say how happy I am to know that there are WAY more than 100 young adult books out there that tackle sexism, racism, homophobia, etc... while presenting us with amazing young adult characters. Young adult lit has come a long way. We're really excited to keep talking about feminist-friendly YA books on the blog.
YA author Scott Westerfeld's outraged response, and Bitch's response to HIS response, after the jump!