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Begun in 2011, What's In It?: The Concerned Parent's Guide to Young Adult Literature provided parents with YA book reviews for free to help them guide their teens to good leisure reads without compromising their family values. By its end in March 2025, it had grown to about 300 reviews. In April 2025, I moved all of the reviews to my other website, Once Upon a Pen. They are now available as a free, downloadable, PDF document that you can access here: onceuponapen.studio/readers-nook/.
Why I Can No Longer Review YA Books
My most recent review was for The Ivies. I have read many, many YA novels over the years, some beautiful and worthy of becoming classics someday and others -- far too many -- dark and disturbing. The Ivies is one of the most depraved of the lot, and I realized with this book that I cannot continue reading in this genre. I too often feel sick, disgusted, spiritually compromised, and horrified by what passes for appropriate YA entertainment with modern publishers. Most parents have no idea what their teens are reading, and if they happen to look at the jackets, they most likely shrug and hand it back.
But the jackets seldom adequately indicate what's really inside, and parents tend to assume that anything published for teens must be age-appropriate. I cannot state emphatically enough that this is not true. Many YA novels today are full of sex, drinking, swearing, and other blatantly immoral behavior that is normalized with few consequences. Most novels do not directly denigrate Judeo-Christian faiths, but some do, and many openly flout or dismiss traditional moral and family values. While you may observe that this website only reviews a fraction of the books that have been published over the past decade, please note that I have taken care to choose a variety of books in a every genre and have given each book an equal chance to prove its worth. Therefore, this fraction is probably a good representation of the whole.
If you are a concerned parent with impressionable teens who love to read, please do not take YA literature lightly--or even middle grade literature anymore, for that industry has changed, too. The children's book industry as a whole does not serve parent interests and preferences whatsoever. It serves its bottom line, and that is all. Also, most YA authors write for one of three reasons: 1) to express themselves artistically, 2) to promote or affirm ideas or 3) to earn monetary income. None of these reasons is inherently bad, but the published results make it plain that the least of their concerns is parental approval, especially parents who are trying to instill traditional values.
Sometimes, publishers and authors manage to come together to produce truly wonderful literature worthy of discussion and multiple readings, but more often than not, they offer your teens stories you would never believe they'd dare to publish until you read them for yourself. Don't be fooled by awards and reviews. Screen books carefully, and don't throw out the gems with the trash. Thank you so much for your support over the years!
But the jackets seldom adequately indicate what's really inside, and parents tend to assume that anything published for teens must be age-appropriate. I cannot state emphatically enough that this is not true. Many YA novels today are full of sex, drinking, swearing, and other blatantly immoral behavior that is normalized with few consequences. Most novels do not directly denigrate Judeo-Christian faiths, but some do, and many openly flout or dismiss traditional moral and family values. While you may observe that this website only reviews a fraction of the books that have been published over the past decade, please note that I have taken care to choose a variety of books in a every genre and have given each book an equal chance to prove its worth. Therefore, this fraction is probably a good representation of the whole.
If you are a concerned parent with impressionable teens who love to read, please do not take YA literature lightly--or even middle grade literature anymore, for that industry has changed, too. The children's book industry as a whole does not serve parent interests and preferences whatsoever. It serves its bottom line, and that is all. Also, most YA authors write for one of three reasons: 1) to express themselves artistically, 2) to promote or affirm ideas or 3) to earn monetary income. None of these reasons is inherently bad, but the published results make it plain that the least of their concerns is parental approval, especially parents who are trying to instill traditional values.
Sometimes, publishers and authors manage to come together to produce truly wonderful literature worthy of discussion and multiple readings, but more often than not, they offer your teens stories you would never believe they'd dare to publish until you read them for yourself. Don't be fooled by awards and reviews. Screen books carefully, and don't throw out the gems with the trash. Thank you so much for your support over the years!
