Importance of YA

I love this audio interview with S.E. Hinton (thanks to Mitali Perkins for the link!), author of The Outsiders, and Patrick Henry Bass, senior editor of Essence magazine. Ms. Hinton was one of the authors who made me want to write YA lit, by the way, when I was thirteen. I especially love the part in this audio where they talk about the fact that Hinton was one of the first to address class, i.e. she was writing about the tension between the "greasers" and the "socs" when most authors of her time were writing about prom kings and queens -- and how that hasn't changed all that much today . . .