And there are millions of teens who read because they are sad and lonely and enraged. They read because they live in an often-terrible world. They read because they believe, despite the callow protestations of certain adults, that books-especially the dark and dangerous ones-will save them.

As a child, I read because books–violent and not, blasphemous and not, terrifying and not–were the most loving and trustworthy things in my life. I read widely, and loved plenty of the classics so, yes, I recognized the domestic terrors faced by Louisa May Alcott’s March sisters. But I became the kid chased by werewolves, vampires, and evil clowns in Stephen King’s books. I read books about monsters and monstrous things, often written with monstrous language, because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.

And now I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons–in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.

Sherman Alexie, Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood (via thefirstgentleman)

“I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.”

Quote of the night, y’all.

(via womanwithaflowerhead)

cinnamonveins:

i.
when I was a child they first called me medusa when
we learned about her. my hair had a mind of its own
and they laughed, they pointed, they said it must be
snakes, i must be this woman in a child’s body, my
serpents all tangled upon each other, fangs seeping.
i…