John Green, below, asks for our support in preventing Looking for Alaska from being taken out of the curriculum for 11th grade English in a public high school. He explains everything better than I can, but I'd like to add that people often view books for children and teenagers as billboards for behavior. They think, a book in which characters do X (let's say, drink, or have sexual activity) is like a poster saying "hey, this is a good idea!" Or, in some cases, "don't do that, it's a very bad idea and you could DIE."

But books are books. They are long. They are complicated. They are intended for discussion, contemplation, and disagreement. Most of them simultaneously embody different points of views because the characters in them are in conflict with one another, or with themselves.

No one writes books for teenagers because they don't care about teenagers. The people I know who write books for teens (and I know many) all care passionately about creating good literature that speaks to the hearts and minds of young adults. No one has a desire to force an agenda down anyone's throats, much less corrupt the minds of our youth. We just care about our audience and are trying to make good, honest books for them.