This article draws on my experiences of teaching "Stone Cold" to respond to a blog post suggesting that the novel holds little educational value. I argue that the novel's narrative style helps to foster criticality while its subject matter can help students see the relevance of literature to the world around them. Relating this to broader debates about the reading curriculum, I explore the clash of ideological viewpoints about its purpose. I conclude that Young Adult fiction has an important role to play in maintaining a sense that culture is a contemporary phenomenon which is actively experienced, not simply a historical one which is passively explored.