I found the current list of Alex Awards while browsing the NYPL website. These are the annual top ten books originally written for adults but felt to have teen appeal as well. The criteria includes a demonstrated/probable appeal to teens’ reading tastes, but the 9 committee members are also to consider “language, plot, style, setting, dialog, characterization, and design” according to YALSA. Personally I found most of the 2013 titles to be rather depressing. The topics include the life of Jeffrey Dahlmer, abuse, assault, incarcerated youth, nuclear war, AIDS, and dangerous relationships. The other three were lighter: sports, mystery and comedy. I know we read to discover the world at large, I just wonder if the same topics would have surfaced years ago as well. I looked at the first year’s listing in 1998 and with the exception of The Perfect Storm, the topics all seemed to be more uplifting. Any thoughts?