North Texas Teen Book Festival -- be yourself!

 Teen readers -- and some parents, teachers, maybe even kid brothers and sisters -- packed the Irving Convention Center this month for the annual North Texas Teen Book Festival. With more than 40 panels, speakers, and events packed into a single day, it's hard to pick even highlights.

But for those wondering what tales are suitable for teen readers, the answer is almost anything: a spot of mayhem, the darkness of family violence, love-sweet-love, and especially diversity.

Even the staple of fairy tales drew a huge audience of young readers. But these weren't your grandma's tales. They drew from the "Frozen" canon (yes, Disney is still a fave), pop culture remixes, rediscovered tales from a variety of cultures, even tales in which bad guys could take center stage.

"I find villains fascinating," said James Riley, author of The Story Thieves series. "A hero would give up love to save the world. A villain would give up the world to save his love."

(At least, for awhile. . .)

Taking risks with darkness also played out on the panel "Sidelined: Play by your own rules," with among others, panelist Torrey Maldonado, the author of books dealing with broken families, domestic violence, and "how absolute power can corrupt."

"As a teacher for 30 years, toxicity is something I've witnessed and experienced," he said. 

And if this sound too heavy for his middle-grade readers (his books are under 200 words), they've received such real-life accolades from teachers in the trenches of teen life.

It was the same kind of "be yourself, take risks," advocated by author Stacey Lee on the fairy story panel. "I didn't see any books with Asian people in them, so I did a lot of repression (as a teen)." That is, until she had kids and her inner writer demanded books about kids who looked like them. Now she's the author of Reese's YA Book Club pick, The Downstairs Girls, among other books for teen readers.

And on the "looking like me" issue, what if kids are half and half, like the heroine of The Other Half of Happy, by Rebecca Balcárcel, getting flack from both ethnic sides of your family?

Seeing ourselves in story characters isn't only a matter of race, ethnicity, or gender. Neurodiversity got its due as well. Panelist Alyson Gerber told its story in Focus, the tale of a chess champion struggling with her mental spirals. The techniques in the book include those used by Gerber herself, who lives with ADHD.

But if young readers don't shy from the darker side of life, they also long for stories about love. Like those from Elise Bryant, who proclaimed herself a believer in instant love. 

Not incidentally, she's the author of romantic comedies Happily Ever Afters, and others, who said she knew by age 19 who she wanted to marry and made him "pinky-swear" to do so. (Amazingly, despite that he was still willing to ask her out.)

The filled auditorium who greeted the romance writers with applause seconded Bryant's words.

Panelists ranged from lifelong "Jane Austen nerds" like Sayantani DasGupta who still missed seeing characters who looked like her in romance, to J. C. Peterson who "envied the banter," to Bryant, who dubbed herself "the bad girl here" for never having read Austen.

The Bridgerton TV series also received shout-outs for its combination of racial diversity, Regency style romance, and gorgeous clothes.

North Texas Teen Book Fest

Then there was Julian Winters, whose opening statement, "I mostly write queer contemporary fiction. Queer teens fall on their face and fall in love," drew wild applause from the audience.

Love and laughter were in the air, even among the panelists. 

But given that they're writing for young audiences, how far can the romance really go, moderator Gabi Sikes asked. "What's the most challenging part of writing characters falling in love?"

The hardest part, Peterson said, was "showing real flaws. Letting them see the flaws in characters and saying, yet, I still want to be with this person."

Winters said, "I don't want to give young readers false hope," noting that for queer people, finding suitable romantic partners can be tough. But the hardest part of writing romance for teens? "It's the kiss."

(He admitted to keeping a folder of kissing scenes, perhaps for inspiration.)

"The kissing scenes were so difficult," DasGupta agreed, admitting she turned to her own teen kids for help. Their answer, "Where are the kissing scenes, Mom? More kissing!"

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Next: What's up with banned books?