Publishers Weekly recently published an issue that focused on the “Middle Grade” market for books. This category is defined as books for 8 to 12 year olds who are reading independently. This sparked a fascinating discussion on Twitter about how different 8 to 12 year olds are, and also about the kids in the 10 to 14 year old range who sometimes are forgotten in the publishing world because they are ready for more mature reading experiences, but not necessarily ready or interested in some of the material found in Young Adult books.
After reading the article and participating in some of the Twitter talk, I looked at my middle grade reading very differently. I love this category in general. Middle Grade books are what kicked off my love of children’s literature. But the professionals – teachers, librarians, authors – on Twitter are right. It’s a diverse category trying to be all things to all readers who are at a pivotal time in their development as readers. I’m not sure there is any other reading category that has to cover the same sort of spread as Middle Grade.
When I was teaching, the books my third graders wanted (8-9 years old) and the ones my sixth graders wanted (11-12 years old) were vastly different. Here are some examples:
Middle Grade Books for the Average Third Grader
These books tend to be illustrated, shorter, and focused on kids close in age to the reader – around 10 years old. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule (stronger readers, genre preferences, etc.), but in general these books would have appealed to my third graders.
Middle Grade Books for the Average Sixth Grader
These books tend to be longer and focused on kids close in age to the reader – more in the 12 or 13 year old range. They tackle more mature topics – race relations, death and dying, mental illness, etc., but at a level appropriate for the reader. The stories – and the emotional issues – are often more nuanced and intricate. These books will often work for 7th and 8th graders, too – the 10 to 14 age group. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule (struggling readers, genre preferences, etc. – and some kids in this age group will push toward teen/YA books like Maze Runner and Hunger Games), but in general these books would have appealed to my sixth graders.
Middle Grade Books that Span the Age Range
Then there are the books that work for the whole range – Dork Diaries/Wimpy Kid, animal stories, graphic novels, super hero stories, mysteries and fantasy stories that are mostly action-focused. I had kids at both ends of the Middle Grade age range that would dig into books like these. If they could handle the length of the book and the vocabulary, they could handle anything the story might have dished out, no matter what the age. (Wings of Fire might push the envelope a little on the younger end because of the violence.)
I would love to see publishers push a different sort of division for Middle Grade that reflects the different needs and interests of the kids in this age range. Some of the authors on Twitter said their publishers were marketing their books to the older 10-14 group, which seems like a wise sub-category to me. There are things you can explore with middle schoolers that you wouldn’t want to tackle with younger kids, but you can keep some of the more mature features of Young Adult books out of those stories, knowing that the kids who are ready for that material will seek it out on their own.
