Sadia Nowshin on how teen girl literature has changed

Like many now-20-something women who grew up in the UK, Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging was an iconic staple of Sadia Nowshin's early teenhood — the awkwardness of girlhood thrown into sharp relief and a protagonist whose imperfections brought girls on the cusp of young adulthood some comfort.

What teens are reading now looks very different, and you only have to look at a 'TikTok Recommends' table at a bookshop to notice a pattern of romances with questionable themes — but should there be more guidance in place to stop impressionable young women from accessing stories beyond their years, or will teens simply always want to feel older than they are? She and Erica Wagner discuss how books targeting this demographic has changed, from Judy Bloom to toxic tropes.

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