My resolution not to get so riled by the Daily Mail this year didn't last long. With January only three days old, a familiar sense of rage tinged with despair was sparked by a particularly daft article about "the disturbing rise of sick-lit" – otherwise known as young adult fiction that dares to deal with real-life situations rather than dragons, wizards and vampire romances.

The Mail is faux-outraged – in the way only the Mail can be – at the rise of these "distasteful" books, "peppered with sex and swearing", that feature teenagers grappling with terminal illness, self-harm and depression.

It gives some examples: John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, in which two teenagers suffering from terminal cancer fall in love after meeting at a support group; Before I Die, Jenny Downham's story about a teen with leukemia and a bucket list; Red Tears by Joanna Kenrick, which deals with self-harm; and The Lovely Bones (which – sorry, Daily Mail – was never marketed as a young adult read).

The Mail sneers that the blurbs of these books "trip over themselves to promise their books will drive readers 'to tears' or leave them 'devastated'." Frankly, I'd be more worried about a teen who wasn't a little moist-eyed after reading a well-written book in which the main character, whom they've grown to know and love, dies at the end. Generation of cold-hearted psychopaths, anyone?

As it happens, The Fault in Our Stars is this month's teen book club choice over on the children's books site. I edit the site, and I chose it because it's a gripping read, featuring two compelling characters, that deals sensitively and even humorously with a difficult situation without descending into mawkishness. It offers lots of scope for discussion among teenagers about the things that they, much like everyone, care for most – friendship, love, family – while, yes, being pegged to a story about kids with cancer.

Illness, depression, sexuality – these are all issues that teens are going to bump up against in their lives, whether directly or at one remove, through family members, friends or representations in other media such as TV, films, and the internet. The Daily Mail seems to be suggesting that it is inappropriate for these issues to be looked at in the one place where difficult subjects have traditionally been most sensitively explored for teens: fiction written specifically for them.

Writers for children and teens tend to be some of the most thoughtful people I've met, at least in terms of the impact of their work on their audience. They think long and carefully about the effect that writing about difficult, even taboo, topics might have on young readers who are dealing with those things directly, or might be influenced by what they read. Writers and publishers know they have a responsibility when publishing for children and teens. They also adhere to codes of suitability around the three Ss – swearing, shagging and slaughter – to a much greater extent than writers in other forms of media regularly consumed by teens. They have to. With young adult fiction, there are "gatekeepers" – as James Dawson, the author of teen thriller Hollow Pike, calls the booksellers, book groups, librarians and bookshop buyers involved with the genre – ensuring that teens in books generally behave in a much more sanitised way, certainly in terms of swearing, than they ever do in real life.

In fact, despite what the Mail article implies, fiction written for teens often actively protects them. Dawson writes: "As a 12-year-old, I had no access to young adult fiction because it didn't exist. Instead I went straight to Stephen King and James Herbert. I was able to choose what was suitable and unsuitable. The rise of young adult means we are able to explore 'the darkness' with the safety wheels on."

Children and teens – well, all of us really – read to explore and experience other lives and thoughts and situations in a safe way, not purely for escapism and adventures and fantasy (although this is a valuable and cherished tradition in children's fiction, too). Kate Wilson, managing director of children's publisher Nosy Crow – which publishes for a younger age group than that targeted in the Mail piece – points out that so-called sick-lit is nothing new. "Think of Heidi," she says, "or Katy in What Katy Did, or Colin in The Secret Garden".

However, the last word on the subject must go to The Fault in Our Stars author John Green, who simply tweeted: "Here is my entire, official response to the Daily Mail article about 'sick lit' that mentions A Fault in Our Stars."