Continued misconceptions about YA fiction

I found this article while cruising around on the internet today and was somewhat irked at what it had to say about YA fiction. The author claims that YA's huge appeal to adults as well as teens can be explained by the fact that it:

"fills a gap that ex-chick lit readers have been hungry for. Consider the subject matter disclosed in a large majority of popular YA fiction, most of it resembles at its core, the things that make chick lit and other adult fiction so popular: a mix of social and societal trends and a light, easy-reading appeal. Factor in the steamy R-rated scenes and it's easy to understand the appeal YA has on a large audience...They are fun, light and easy to digest." (bad editing copied from the original article)

Really? Chick lit? No wonder YA fiction is having a difficult time being seen as a serious and well-written genre in its own right. People still have a certain image in their minds about what fiction for teens is: it used to be a cover of Sweet Valley High and is now a cover of Gossip Girl. I would challenge anyone to read "The Book Thief" and report back that it is "fun, light and easy to digest." It's none of the above. It's also one of the best books I have ever read - including adult fiction. And "the large majority of popular YA fiction" does not consist solely of the Gossip Girl series, a fact this author seems to have overlooked entirely. That's like summarizing the entire fantasy genre based on the Sookie Stackhouse books. Yikes. Today's New York Times Children's Bestseller list for paperbacks doesn't have one book from the Clique, Gossip Girl, or A-List series; books about President Obama, the holocaust ("The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and "The Book Thief"), meth addiction ("Tweak"), and teenage pregnancy ("Slam") dominate instead.

So how to encourage the slowly-changing view of YA fiction? The article also states that "YA book sales have increased 23% since 1993, while adult book sales have decreased in the same time period by one percent." Should we let YA speak for itself (as it has been doing and will likely continue to do)? Keep reading it and passing it on to our friends? Maybe write our own articles!