Friday, September 05, 2008

Terry Pratchett Interview

Publisher's Weekly had a nice Q&A with Terry Pratchett, author of the most serious funny books out there. In this quote, he talks about his audience:
Yes, for this one I was assuming that the bulk of the readers’ ages would probably be into double figures so there was no reason to hold back on some of the horror.
Love. There's respect for the YA audience inherent in that statement. At the same time, there's an implied expectation, like, "Well, they're getting closer to adulthood so they'd better learn to handle this stuff."

Granted, I do wonder how much actual YA audience Pratchett has for his YA books (the Tiffany Aching series and this new one, Nation), but I think his writing, whether it's labeled YA or not, has appeal for a certain kind of teen, the ones who like to pick things apart and look at them upside down.

What do you think?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I wonder that, too. I just ordered a bunch of Pratchett's MG & YA books for our junior high paperback section (Tiffany Aching, Johnny Maxwell, Bromeliad) and am curious to see how they do. I love the Tiffany Aching books, but I wonder if their thickness and weirdo covers put kids off. On the other hand, the other week I had a kid come looking specifically for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents-- so the readers are out there!