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Diana Rodriguez Wallach | Real Teens Are Saving The World, Just like in YA
Author Guest / March 12, 2018

Young adult authors are sometimes accused of writing unrealistic narratives—teens who save intergalactic worlds, start revolutions, or end The Hunger Games. Where are the parents? We’re asked. Where is the trademark teenage apathy? Where are the cops? Wouldn’t these characters wait for help? Well, maybe they’re tired of waiting. In the first book of the Anastasia Phoenix series, PROOF OF LIES, Anastasia dives into the criminal espionage world that her late parents thrust upon her. She searches for her missing and presumed dead sister on her own, after all the adults in her life tell her she’s wrong and she should give up. She doesn’t. It’s an adventure story, with a lot of action and romance, and I admit the plot can be viewed as unrealistic. A teen fighting spies? A teen who can speak four languages? A teen going after a corrupt organization? But as I look at the world today, as I watch the news, I think maybe us authors in the young adult community are getting it right. I’m not surprised one bit by the activism I’m seeing, by the articulation of a long-needed message, by the change that will undoubtedly be brought to our country by…