Teen Angels - Arts Extra - Newsweek - MSNBC.com
Teen Angels
A bestselling novelist on why boys aren’t the only ones who like sci-fi, and how writing helped her survive a tough adolescence.
An interview with Libbie Bray author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels.
Yes! A girl after my own heart. I always loved sci fi as a child and young adult. I think the genre provides just what the teenage heart and mind (both male and female) needs - a forum for the exploration of big ideas combined with hugely imaginative story-telling. I do think there could still be a difference in the type of sci fi girls and boys might choose to read, though. Speaking from personal experience and a very small sample of my friends back then, girls tended to go for the philosophical,'social-issue' based sci fi, boys were more for the techno-science/big machines sci fi with detailed (yawn) explanations of how time travel or hyperdrive actually worked.
I'm not sure there is so much 'pure' sci fi around now. The adventure/horror/fantasy/sci fi genres tend to blend much more these days - especially in children's books. That's probably a good thing - inclusive reading!