Is Any Topic Off Limits When You Write for Teenagers? Maybe Just One - The New York Times

I usually answer with an anecdote about a near-crisis at my publisher nine years ago, regarding a single use of the F-word in my second novel (the F-word remained). Now, I say, we are long past that worry. A writer can go as dark and violent as it gets (see "The Hunger Games"). Sex is more than fine (see all of B. T. Gottfred's giddy, explicit novels). Graphic, instructive, erotic, romantic, disappointing: Bring it all on! Even better, current Y.A. novels now have many L.G.B.T.Q. protagonists (see Meredith Russo's "If I Was Your Girl"), which was not the case even 10 years ago.

Now, I say, the sky is the limit.

But reader, I lie.

Religion. Religion is the last taboo.