At Booksellers Conference, Children's Authors Embrace Tough Subjects

Amy Cherrix, children's book buyer at Malaprop's Bookstore in Asheville, N.C., moderated a four-author panel called Tough Subjects Need Special Care on Tuesday, in which authors shared their reasons for taking up difficult themes in books for middle grade and young adult readers. After years of writing about LGBTQ subjects, Bill Konigsberg told booksellers about his reasons for shifting to take on the subject of mental illness in The Bridge (Scholastic Press).

"In some way my books are all about an exploration of self," Konigsberg said. "I was beginning to think, who else am I? And what else can I say? I realized that I should come out about mental health.... Suffering from depression is a big part of who I am, since I was a child. [It was] not a fun book to write, but an important book to write."