The filmmaker John Hughes died today. It’s probably fair to say that his movies laid the foundation for a lot of the great YA being written today. I can’t say anything on the subject that author Steve Brezenoff didn’t say better on his blog earlier today.

[…] As a writer of YA, I am constantly paying homage to, and occasionally ripping off, Mr. Hughes, and my guess is most writers of my generation, and those younger, have his work — and the archetypal characters he favored — constantly in their unconscious as they work. It would be impossible not to.

Check out Steve’s blog, watch a John Hughes movie, and then run down a hallway singing “I want to be an Air Force Ranger.” It’ll be fun, I promise.