So, I ran across this pompous, annoying, infuriating, fug-headed article on Slate.  The title alone should tell you all you need to know — against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.html.

Among her many complaints is that YA books give readers a “satisfying” ending — as if that is a bad thing!  Happy, sad or somewhere in-between I think the failure to deliver a satisfying ending to “stick the landing” if you will is a near crime on the part of an author in whatever genre they work.  People have paid their hard earned money for my books.  The least I can do is not have them going Whaaaaaat? at the end.

As many of you know I have generated a lot of words about “happy endings” and how they have a place in literature too, and I reject the idea that only a completely horrible, downer ending can be considered “serious”.   That doesn’t mean there will be loss and even death in the course of a story, but I think the kernel of joy and hope should exist even in the face of the death of a beloved character.