What are teens reading?

I signed up for PW's children's books up-dates and I love reading them. (I guess they're doing a good job, according to Alex, of giving me the information that I really want.) What surprised me today was that teens apparently are reading a lot of dystopian society/world books.

I remember having to read A Brave New World and The Giver when I was in junior high and high school, but I didn't search them out, they were basically required reading. According to PW, teens are searching out all of these books and there are a bunch that are going to be hitting the market in the near future. Themes in these books cover threatening issues like no more gas, no more water, out breaks of horrible viruses, genetic manipulation, totalitarian leaders, reality TV gone too far, and countless others.

All of these issues are things that people are seeing and hearing about on a daily basis, so it isn't shocking that they're making their way into the minds of authors. I'm just surprised that teens are so attracted to these topics. I dont' understand why you'd want to read about things that are potentially realistic and a little bit scary. For me, I want to get away from these fears and not delve into a novel completely focused on them.

I should be thinking and saying, "well at least they're reading," but part of me is a little nervous that they're so focused on the negative aspects of the world we live in. I think this interest they have in the future show that they're a little nervous about the future. That's my opinion though, maybe they just like the dystopian theme.

I suppose everyone reads for different reasons. Some people like the scary possibilities of the future and want to read about them. While others, like myself, like to read to get away from all of the negativity.