​STEERING TOWARD NORMAL by Rebecca Petruck

​THE PARENT PROBLEM by Anna Wilson

​THE STRANGE AND DEADLY PORTRAITS OF BRYONY GRAY by E. Latimer

​THE INSIDE BATTLE by Melanie Sumrow

​THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL SERIES by Shannon Hale

​LIZZIE FLYING SOLO by Nanci Turner Steveson

​SCHOOLED by Gordon Korman
(See other books by this author)

Here are links to two fascinating pieces analysing the problems of categorizing Middle Grade books and how children might struggle to find the right books for them. 

HOW CAN CHILDREN FIND BOOKS THEY REALLY LOVE? 
Click here to read a super insightful article on the Notes from the Slushpile blog. 

MIDDLE GRADE VS YOUNG ADULT 
Click here to read an interesting look at the subcategories within MG and YA fiction. 
​

Ah, middle grade. The moment in life where the world becomes more…more than home and school, more than the simple emotions of happy or sad, more than doing what they’re told, but to figure out what they want and how the world works for them.

After years of listening to stories, of laughing and sighing over great tales, those ages 8-12, maybe 13, come to the decision to read…or not to read…on their own. And the parents, guardians, and librarians try to figure out how to keep the fire of books alive. The authors try to write words to draw them back to the library shelves.
Only we can’t control what those fabulous middle graders choose.

We want to…a little bit maybe, but let’s be honest, that’s a fight we might not want to start. Forcing kids to read never ends well. Reading should be fun. We want it to be fun…please, be fun!

So as ‘adults’…those who know best or at least try to…what do we do? Well…
​
It’s about giving the readers the books they want.

What do they want?

EVERYTHING. Humor. Adventure. Fantasy. Mystery. Horror. Contemporary. Science fiction. They want characters they know and ones they don’t. They want escape into other worlds and to explore the one they are coming to know. They want to fight monsters and make friends. They want to see the world through another’s eyes and expand their ideas. The minds of children are the most spectacular places, where anything and everything is possible. Every middle grade author has the book they want to write, we just have to be careful it’s not the book we want them to read, but the book they want. No preaching. Just life. Just fun. And a bit of creepy here and there. When we get to the library or bookstore, let the kids choose. Encourage them to choose. Make suggestions, but, in the end, stay out of the way.
It’s about giving those who might read possibilities. In other words…write all the books, make all the books available. Being shoved in a corner, walled in, isn’t going to grow anyone’s mind or heart. The more choices, the better.

It’s about instilling a love of stories. Read to kids. Allow them to participate in choosing books and in showing all the crazy emotions that accompany the tales. Allow them to see how much you love the words. Show them the magic. Even if they never read another book, they will have touched the power of imagination, they will respect others who read, they will never forget the fun of books. Sometimes that’s all we can do.

It’s about showing them what’s out there. At one point, every person comes home from school with a book in their bag that they HAVE to read, but don’t WANT to read. Is this bad? Does this discourage them from reading when we are forcing old stories down their throats? If they have free reign over what they read for fun…probably not. Think back to all the assigned reading. There are probably a few books in the list that you liked, maybe loved, a book you would never have picked up if it hadn’t been a part of a class. Is it so bad to expose them to different writing? Possibly, they will hate it, we all have those from school days, but our minds didn’t suffer only expanded. However, the world of books is grand and growing, so all the old classics, the go-to reading list, can certainly be mixed with more recent works.

My son is 17, my daughter 16. Our past is full of hours of reading from picture books to chapter books to hefty middle grade tomes. I read to them all the time. How did this translate? My daughter loves to read, has shelves full of books and loves to tell me how I should read all her favorites (I’m working on it). We share the love, and I am very happy. My son is not a reader. He will read, but it’s not one of his passions. Do I try to change that? Nope. Why? He has books on his shelves, books he loved years ago. He keeps them because he remembers the magic. So I did my job.

Middle graders want to step out into the world without a parent stuck to their side. They want to flex their wings, wings they have just discovered. Not quite ready to fly away, but not wanting to stay in the yard. If we show them the magic, they will take it with them into the world. Mission complete.


Today's guest blogger is Kathy Palm, a mom, cat-herder, book-reader, and YA and MG writer.

Follow her blog here and on Twitter here!  
 

There is a blurred line between YA and middle grade books of late. YA has stepped into darker, more adult themes in order to keep the adult market reading YA. According to a 2015 Neilson poll, 80% of YA books purchased by adults are for themselves. Fifteen years ago, young adult books were marketed for ages twelve through eighteen, but adult readers reading YA are causing publishers to market up. Young adult characters can be in college and in their early twenties now.

Middle grade readers either have to read chapter books for eight to ten year olds or step into YA books, and this worries some parents and educators. Readers generally like to read about characters a few years older than they are. The dilemma for middle grade books becomes: if readers read a few years older than they are, do middle grade books include fourteen-year old characters and their problems? Or does middle grade stay “safe” and keep writing books for eight-year olds? The answer is both.

The fact is that eight-year olds don’t purchase their own books. Their parents or other adults buy them. While the child may ask for a title, the decision is the adult’s. Typically, parents want to keep their young children protected, but some tend to “mollycuddle” them. Age ten and younger children often play violent video games either at home WITH parents or away at friends’ homes. If a child has access to the Internet through a tablet or phone, chances are they've seen some form of pornography, intended or not. R movies often have parents in the audience with their TODDLERS and babies. While many parents think age eight or ten is too young to have “the conversation” about sex, drugs, dating, drinking, date rape or sexual orientation, clearly children have these conversations with classmates and friends.

In my interview with Greg Howard, middle grade author of The Whispers, I asked what topics he’d like to see in middle grade books. He answered: “I love that we are seeing more difficult topics tackled in middle grade because kids that age are dealing with these issues every day. I would love to see more middle grade books tackle the problem of racism and xenophobia. Kids are taught this thinking from a very young age, so it’s never too early in childhood development to address, in my opinion.”

Author Jarrett Lerner (Revenge of the Enginerds) was asked what he hopes his books do and responded, “I hope they bring joy. And help turn kids into lifelong readers. And show them that books can be launchpads for their own creativity and inquiry. And that their wildest, wonkiest ideas have value, and may even be their awesomest.”

Middle grade books must let readers see themselves and their struggles in a book. There is no better way to build empathy and self-reliance than through a favorite book. In a recent middle grade book chat (#mgbookchat), one teacher said she was glad to see more middle grade books that were about mental illness or with a main character with mental illness. The consensus among those teachers and writers in attendance seemed to be that mental illness is fine in middle grade books as were #LGBT characters if the book was not focused on that as its main focus. According to writer Rajani LaRocca (author of Midsummer’s Mayhem due out in June): “...any topic that MG readers have to deal with in their lives is appropriate. The key, though, is to write with the right sensitivity understanding that kids as young as eight (or younger) may be reading these books.”

Today’s middle-grade aged kids are bombarded with adult ideas through television and the Internet. Keeping these ideas out of books is not the answer. If a book can save a child, it deserves to be on the shelf. Teachers and librarians do not have to push books on readers, but a strong collection of age-appropriate books that feature characters who face normal situations helps a child see himself/herself in the world. Greg Howard said he would tell eight-year old Greg: “You are not alone. You matter.”

A good librarian and library program can find the right middle grade books for every reader. A good bookseller stocks every option for every reader, including middle grade books that deal with real life topics.


 
Today's guest blogger is Thompson McLeod, YA librarian, reviewer for SLJ, VOYA, Cybils Fiction judge

​@MostlyMcLeod

Reviews at http://booksbypamelathompson.blogspot.com/
​

MG chat      #mgbookchat

Jarrett Lerner @Jarrett_Lerner    jarrettlerner.com
Rajani LaRocca @rajanilarocca    rajanilarocca.com
Greg Howard @greghowardbooks   greghowardbooks.com
 
 
 

 
WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT FICTION BOOKS FOR CHILDREN in secondary school, you tend to run into two categories: middle grade (MG) and young adult (YA). MG books often sit firmly in the 9-12 age group, but in many cases children at the higher end of this age group will feel that these books are too juvenile for them. And then YA spans 13-18, but recently it seems to skew older – often with content that might be considered too old for those in the 11-14 age group.  
 
So where is the balance between MG and YA, and why does it matter?
 
I’m sure parents can attest that 11-14 is one of the hardest age groups. These “tweens” are very much wanting more independence, wanting to be treated like adults, but they’re still young, and their parents will want to protect them from some content. As you can see in regard to MG and YA books, there isn’t as much catering for this age group. Kids this age tend to want to read about someone their own age, or (even better) slightly older, but the content should still be “age appropriate”.
 
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what age appropriate content is for tweens, as every child is different, as is the view of their parents/guardians. And while authors and publishers can argue not allowing certain books into a school library is censorship, you can equally understand that a school librarian knows their community and also doesn’t want to face the hundredth parent whose child has brought home a book that they deem inappropriate because of a four-letter word.
 
I would prefer to be of the view that you can’t box content into a certain age group when every child has a different maturity level, but that only works when you’re looking at one child. The moment you have to write, publish or buy a book for every child, you have to start making some broad generalizations and considerations. So as an author, there are things you should take into consideration with language, violence, sex and drugs in books. Generally, the tamer the better. That doesn’t mean you should shy away from difficult issues – it all depends on how they are handled.
 
For example, if you compare Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give with Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Ghost Boys, you’ll quickly work out that both focus on addressing racism, particularly challenging white police racism against young black men. But when you look at the specific content and language, it’s clear that Thomas’s book is firmly YA, whereas Parker Rhodes’s is comfortably in the MG category. Both books have difficult content, with violence, death, prejudice and racism, but are packaged up in very different ways making one more appropriate (broadly speaking) for a younger audience.
 
It’s Also Not Just About Pleasing Parents and Guardians
 
You may have heard of some booksellers who go directly into schools and put on fairs. This is where students are able to buy a book, often at a discounted price. It’s a real opportunity for authors to have their books put directly in front of kids, but these fairs can be really selective with the books they are willing to sell. Like all retailers, they want to make sure they have books that will be popular – but there’s an additional element on top of this, which comes down to suitability. Does the book have a few curse words in it? Is there a lot of descriptive violence? Is there reference to sexual abuse? No matter how good the book is, these things can mean the fair won’t choose the book because they know they, and the schools, can face parental backlash. And if that happens, they might not be invited back to the school again, thus losing customers. So in short, the more conscious you are with your content, the more opportunities you’ll have in reaching retailers and readers.
 
The fact of the matter is, when you’re presenting a book as a children’s book, most adults are going to assume it is clean, won’t scare the child, won’t upset them, and that it will be free from expletives and other strong language. If it is YA, you can push the boundaries more as parents tend to be a little more hands-off in their child’s reading choice.
 
So how do you cover a controversial topic in a book if you can’t use language or violence? It’s a real art, but there are a lot of books that do this really well. The important thing is writing from the perspective of a child that age – retaining the innocence.
 
Here are a few of my favourite “clean teen” books that have been particularly popular with 11 & 12-year-olds, some of which deal with really challenging and upsetting subjects in a way that makes them still appropriate for this age group:
      Geek Girl by Holly Smale
Booked by Kwame Alexander
13 Hours by Narinder Dhami
Murder in Midwinter by Fleur Hitchcock
Haunt: Dead Scared by Curtis Jobling
Boy 87 by Ele Fountain
Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar
A Good Day for Climbing Trees by Jaco Jacobs (translated by Kobus Geldenhuys) 

Being language and content appropriate:
 
·       An Ofcom study in the UK assessed public feelings towards appropriate language for children in TV shows and on the radio. It makes for an interesting read, and they ultimately created a ranking of what was considered the mildest to harshest swear words (on page 44). https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/91624/OfcomOffensiveLanguage.pdf The takeaway from this is that often context is key. For instance, some people feel usage of the words “damn” or “hell” are ok in some settings, but not in others.
·       Check out reviews of books you’re familiar with on Common Sense Media. The organization recommends an age group based on appropriateness ratings, and then parents/guardians are able to provide what their views are on this. You’ll see some wild differences, which can be really interesting if they are specific in why they have a problem with the book (also includes film, tv and games). https://www.commonsensemedia.org
 
 
 
 
Guest Blogger Bio:

Lisa Davis is a freelance children’s book consultant and editor. She has worked across several departments for some of the UK’s top publishers before running the book selection and purchasing for the BookTrust, the UK’s largest reading charity for children, which saw her purchasing over 3.5 million books annually that were given directly to children across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
​
www.lisadavisbooks.com
Twitter @LisaLibros
Email lisa@lisadavisbooks.com
​

It's not everyday even a large Waterstones store brings attention to this hole in reading material for the upper middle grade reader. You have to check out these links. So many voices joining in the discussion. Just click on the links for different important opinions... 

SALES OF YA FELL

THERE ISN'T MUCH FOR THE 11+

THERE IS A GAP BETWEEN MG AND YA​​

#ukteenchat

Emma Finlayson-Palmer runs a great chat on Twitter with the hashtag #ukteenchat, and on January 22nd, a discussion took place asking others to classify the target audience, some recommended books within this category, and exactly what can and cannot go content-wise. Here's a link to the first question, but scroll through and see what you think. 

Should More Agencies Ask Specifically for Teen Fiction?

Skylark Lit are a UK literary agency specialising in children's fiction, and they have given 12-14-year-olds their own category entirely. If only more agencies did the same, and in turn publishers and booksellers jumped on this train and categorised these kids separately. But can it work? Will it work? Here's what they have to say... 

Teen Voices Are Being Overlooked! 

And here's a really powerfully written opinion piece by a teen on how many YA books actually isolate teens. It's a fascinating take and, in our opinion, a very important read for all the adult gatekeepers. Check it out here.