Comments on: Middle Grade Saved My Life

By: Elizabeth Knight

Elizabeth Knight — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:30:07 +0000

Yes, it’s about time someone said it. Are we forcing our children to grow up even in their cultural life? Children of eight years longing to read “Hunger Games”? The problem is incipient in middle grade children, however. They stand like Janus, looking back and forward at the same time. Their perception of adult issues is more acute than we often realise. Perhaps the really good middle grade writer is adept at translating those issues into their world, a kind of pre-teen think tank. We can’t stop middle grade children exploring anything out there, however. Perhaps they have their own filter system. Meanwhile, we must write on for this wonderful age group. An interesting post!

By: MM

MM — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:55:28 +0000

I’ve had acquaintances urge me to add swearing, sexual language, and the temptations of alcohol and drugs to a story I’m writing (which they haven’t read) because “it’ll broaden the audience.” When I point out that my protagonist is 11 and 3/4ths (as she herself would firmly point out) and that it’s not the kind of story that has a child that age dealing with those “audience broadening” topics, the acquaintances say that I must then add poop, vomiting and fart jokes. Sometimes I tip toward despair, but articles like yours bring me back to myself and the need to tell my story the way it’s meant to be for my particular 11 and 3/4ths character. Thank you for posting this.

By: Dianna Winget

Dianna Winget — Sat, 04 May 2013 02:46:53 +0000

I couldn’t agree more! I am immensely proud to call myself a writer of middle grade novels, and to share with children in that most special time of life between childhood and adulthood.

By: Katherine Emmons

Katherine Emmons — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:40:37 +0000

Thanks for this. So important, and provides motivation to hold true!

By: Joan Kane Nichols

Joan Kane Nichols — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:35:09 +0000

Thanks for this. I’ve written a novel that I know is upper middle grade, suited, I’d say, for ages 10 and up. My protagonist ages from 13-14 in the course of the story. An agent was interested. You’ll have to make it longer, she said, so we can sell it as a YA.

It’s not a YA. Despite what the how-to-write-for-young-people books and blogs say, it’s not the protagonist’s age that define a novel’s category, but its plot, themes, and emotional/psychological concerns. I’ve looked at books in both middle-grade and YA categories in libraries and bookstores. Some books designated YA have protagonists as young as 12. Some middle-grades have protagonists who are 15.

As to why children gravitate to YAs, I suspect it’s a combination of marketing and TV. The lure of pseudo-sophistication is hard for a ten to twelve-year-old to resist. Which is a shame. As you say, middle-grade novels are a richer source of inspiration and consolation for the issues children their age must contend with..

By the way, I recently read the Penderwycks and loved it!

By: Robbyn Riviere

Robbyn Riviere — Thu, 02 May 2013 21:01:54 +0000

Thanks for this article. I have a middle school library. I have the difficult job of spanning the levels from middle grade fiction to YA. I was just feeling bad about the tenth student to ask me for 13 Reasons Why and having to explain that it was a high school book, when I saw your article. Thanks so much for reaffirming the value of children’s literature for children and really, for every reader. Why is it that the tragedies, violence, and sex of the YA world just seems so much more appealing for my sixth graders, not even to say my eighth graders? It is difficult to have a balanced collection that meets the needs of my readers from 6th through 8th grades. However, your words have reassured me that balance is important and the needs of the reader still immersed in the world of Ramona and the Penderwicks is just as valid as the needs of the reader looking for Pretty Little LIars.

By: Donna Gephart

Donna Gephart — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:14:37 +0000

As an author of middle grade fiction, this essay inspired me. Growing up in Philadelphia, the middle grade books on the shelves of the Northeast Regional Library were my salvation. They are the reason I decided to become a writer when I was the ripe old age of ten. Of course, I didn’t sell my first novel for children until I was forty. Thanks for this essay, Jeanne Birdsall!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:06:53 +0000

Anne of Green Gables was written for adults, though, and I would hold that the latter eight Betsy-Tacy books were YA–written as YA, originally read as YA. In particular, Emily of Deep Valley, Carney’s House Party, Betsy and the Great World, and Betsy’s Wedding have little to offer the child reader. Thanks for the interesting piece, and for sharing a little about your life. I liked your latest book best so far, and look forward to your next offering.