Students are to post reactions (minimum 350 words) to the assigned reading linked below. Students are encouraged (but not required) to additionally respond to other student reactions.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Middle Grade: A Conversation w. Editor Molly O'Neill: "As
you know, I have a marketing background, which means that whether or
not I intend it, one of the first things my brain starts thinking about
for a book is its readership: who is a book FOR? What kind of reader is
it going to reach, and how? Maybe instead of asking “What is middle
grade?” it’s easier to think about “Who is the middle grade reader, and
what is he/she looking for in a book?” I think that a middle grade
reader is often (and note, I’m speaking BROADLY, here) reading for one
of two reasons: to understand, or to escape. Middle grade readers who
read to understand look for stories that help them piece together the
truths that seem to be opening up all around them, about the world and
their place in it, and the connections between themselves and their
family, their community, their friends, etc. Or they’re reading to
understand about a different time/ place and what it was/would be like
to be a kid then. Or they’re reading to just understand how stuff works,
period—from the everyday mundane stuff to big concepts like justice and
honesty and friendship and happiness and love. Click heading to read the rest of the interview.
An SFWA Introduction to Middle Grade & Young Adult: "For writers who are interested in writing middle grade or young adult fantasy or science fiction, the first step is puzzling out what exactly those categories mean. Science fiction and fantasy, after all, has a long tradition of featuring young protagonists — including such classics as Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings, and Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey — even if those novels weren’t originally published as middle grade or young adult books." Click heading to read the rest of the article.
"Middle Grade and YA: Where to Draw the Line?" by Judith Rosen: "Since Harry Potter first hit these shores in 1998, there’s been confusion over where best to shelve it: put it where most kids look for it, in middle grade (ages 8–12), or where the later, darker novels belong, in young adult (ages 12–up)? But J.K. Rowling’s books aren’t the only ones that fall into a gray area, especially as more kids aspire to “read up” because of popular films like Divergent and The Hunger Games. At the same time, adults have begun reading down, not just YA but also reaching for middle-grade books like Wonder and Out of My Mind, because they don’t want to miss out, either." Click heading to read the rest of the article.
14 comments:
The provided resources helped clarify the distinction between middle-grade and young-adult books. From what I've gathered, middle-grade novels are often aimed at readers aged 8-12, with a focus on situations relevant to people in that age group. This genre also incorporates more on external settings, while YA places more importance on introspection. Young adult books are generally targeted towards 12-18 year olds, and feature teenage protagonists who experience growth and must make dramatic choices and actions to develop the plot.
Positioning personal works within one of these genres can be challenging, as there is a temptation to alter the writing style in the interest of appealing to a typical age demographic. However, as has been clarified through the readings, this is not best practice. Editing should be the primary stage in which writing is tailored to a particular audience, but that does not remove the urge to include cliches or simplified writing during the initial drafting stage.
Additionally, the readings were very insightful because they included insights from existing members within the publishing industry. Specifically, SFWA's "An Introduction to Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, Part 1: Definitions" included several quotes from literary agents and editors. Hearing the opinion of relevant figures helps clarify these genre distinctions. These insights, including those provided in "Everything you ever wanted to know about middle grade... and were willing to ask," also helped remove some of the pressure from the author to adhere to the specific principles of each genre. Marketing is another essential component to consider when distinguishing between genres. Book covers have the power to convey a significant amount of information to viewers and readers. For example, there is a clear distinction between the cover design of a middle-grade book, such as Harry Potter, and a young adult book, like The Hunger Games. From the selected colors to the inclusion of illustrations, the marketing decisions a publishers make helps further push a novel to one audience or genre.
Overall, after completing these readings, I realized the importance of accepting that some stories may be better suited to another genre than the one that an author originally intended. Instead of altering a story beyond recognition to appeal to a younger audience, it may be better to accept that older readers would resonate more with the characters and plot line.
Personally, I don't think I ever bothered to distinguish YA from Middle Grade. Even after reading these articles, I don't think I'm fully able to grasp the difference between them. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people love nothing more than to organize things into neat little categories, so I'll do my best to adapt. From what I can gather, Middle Grade is basically what someone would read if they wanted to escape from whatever reality they were in and focuses on things like world building and how the characters interact with the fictional world that they live in. YA, meanwhile, tends to focus on the characters themselves and how they grow and adjust to the world that they find themselves in. That's not to say that these two things are mutually exclusive, but they seem to focus on one more than the other. Both seem to have the protagonists be around the age of their intended audience, with Middle Grade being 8 to 12 and YA being 12 to 18. Middle Grade tends to be shorter and YA tends to be, well, longer. According to the SFWA reading, YA can be broken down into further categories, one for the younger half and one for the older half. The latter of these two can be gory, have stronger language, or more graphic depictions of sex. From my own personal experience, these do not get distinguishing labels in the libraries where I've visited and will just be marked as YA alongside a neat little sticker on the spine with with a picture and caption that let you know what genre they are, assuming that they get one at all.
I think Molly O'Neill says in the interview really removes the limits the writer thinks they have when writing for middle-grade. Trends of today and basic concepts such as catering to readers who read "to understand, or to escape" are more important than narrowing oneself down to a specific age range, because middle-grade really can be about anything, even mature themes and in fact should be encouraged.
I think really the only requirement - from a publishing perspective at least - a category like YA or middle-grade must have is 1) a main character in their age range, and 2) careful editing such that the reader doesn't feel as if they're being babied through the story. Again, these are the necessary parts to categorize it as a group within the publishing sphere. To make it a GOOD story, though, one needs wonder, and good dialogue, and a balance between worldbuilding and plot progression, and pacing - literally all the things ALL books need to be considered a good book.
In the last reading, I think more signage to distinguish sections within sections (ie. genre categories within YA) is beneficial for kids to gravitate to what they know they like to read. At the same time, it could take away the spontaneity of picking a book you think you wouldn't like and then unexpectedly having it be your most life-changing book. Also, restricting certain sections of the library to only those of the "correct" age range is ridiculous. I was still sneaking into the YA section of my hometown library cuz I knew a lot of the books on the shelves were nonfiction and I didn't want to read that; I wanted to escape in a book, and I knew statistically I'd be able to find a book in the closed-off YA section. That almost feels like a form of censorship imo but that's a whole different discussion.
From reading these articles, I have gathered some interesting, yet not very helpful information regarding the distinction between Middle Grade and Young Adult literature. According to the articles, the distinction lies heavily in the subject matter and the depth of character showcased throughout the story itself. However, while this may be the case, I feel as though these distinctions aren’t large enough to warrant a division into two separate ratings. For instance, Young Adult seems to allow for more explicit content, in-depth character analysis, and slightly older characters than Middle Grade. Though when writing for both Young Adult and Middle Grade, I feel as though it should be heavily considered that even if the intended audience is meant to reach upwards of 16-18 or so, the majority of readers that age will have already moved onto full-adult books, rather than limiting themselves to YA or MG. This isn’t to say that people at this age don’t read YA or even MG books at all, but they likely wouldn’t seek to constantly limit themselves by sticking with a rating that only permits less explicit writing. By this logic, the majority of the audience reading both YA and MG books is between the ages of 8 and 15, which would make sense. However, when now looking at this age group and the differentiations possible between what is acceptable in writing for the high-end vs the low, nothing is really explicit enough to warrant the separation once again from my perspective. Unless parents are extremely strict on what they allow their children to read for very specific subjects, I don’t see the necessity for this whatsoever. However, while I question its necessity, I also understand it has somewhat of an importance for those who do, in fact, choose to have specific fixations towards certain subject matters and levels of character depth in the stories they read. There is no real problem with it, and the separation does offer these people readings that are much more tailored to their specific tastes. So, while I don’t personally see the distinction between the two as very needed, I can completely understand why somebody would. Furthermore, the articles support this by sharing what exactly the differences between the two might be that people may search for.
The information provided to help with understanding the differences between YA and MG. The circumstances are tricky for certain as times have changed with what is considered tolerable in media back then versus today. We could debate all day with the evolution (or in some cases devolution) of what we're allowed to demonstrate with storytelling and the carefulness we must have with how we portray specific themes, but with the roadmap of what can be done at the end of the day, we have ourselves a list of what we're able to work with for the target audience of interest, which any author would find important when writing a story in this day and age.
Sarah Ranaldi (Pirate)
After reading these pieces about middle grade and young adult literature, I was struck by how much of the discussion focuses on the readers themselves. The articles do not only define these categories by age. They define them by emotional needs, interests, and the specific kind of growth readers go through at different stages. It helped me understand that writing for younger audiences is not about simplifying a story. It is about understanding the mindset and experience of the reader. The interview with editor Molly O’Neill stood out to me the most. She explains that middle grade readers usually want to either understand the world or escape from it. This made a lot of sense to me. Middle grade readers are old enough to start noticing real questions about family, friendship, fairness, and identity, but they are still young enough to enjoy the freedom of imaginative adventures. O’Neill’s description made me realize why so many middle grade books mix real life problems with mystery or fantasy. Readers want emotional truth, but they also want a chance to step outside their own lives for a moment. Brooklyn Arden’s definition of young adult fiction added another layer. She points out that YA stories usually have a teenager at the center who is beginning to confront adult choices. YA books often deal with identity, independence, personal responsibility, and relationships. Middle grade books may touch some of the same themes, but YA explores them with more intensity and complexity. I liked how Arden makes it clear that a young character does not automatically make a book YA. What matters is the viewpoint and the type of experiences the story focuses on. The SFWA article supported this by showing how fantasy and science fiction for younger readers has changed over time. Stories with young heroes have existed for decades, but the way publishers categorize them affects how the stories are shaped. It was interesting to learn that a book can feel middle grade in tone even if the plot is large and adventurous, because the emotional arc is still centered in the middle grade stage of life. The final article about the line between middle grade and YA showed how blurry this boundary can be. The example of Harry Potter makes this really clear. The early books feel like middle grade stories because they focus on school, friendship, and magical discovery. The later books feel more like YA because they explore trauma, loss, rebellion, and larger themes about power. Readers often want to read up, and adults often want to read down, which makes these categories overlap even more. Overall, these readings helped me understand that the difference between middle grade and YA is less about age and more about emotional depth, perspective, and the type of questions the story is trying to explore.
Learning about Middle Grade and Young Adult books helped me understand how writers think about their readers. Middle Grade is usually for kids around 8 to 12, and Young Adult is for teens around 12 to 18. The age affects the story, the words, and the characters.
I like how different kinds of books work for different readers. Graphic novels like Smile are often Middle Grade. The pictures help show what’s happening, which makes it easier for younger readers to follow. The stories are about normal problems, like school, family, and friends. They are simple, funny, and easy to relate to.
Books like Harry Potter are longer and more complicated. They use words instead of pictures, and readers have to imagine the magic and adventures themselves. Middle Grade or Young Adult books like these also deal with bigger problems and emotions. Young Adult books especially spend more time on feelings, relationships, and growing up, so teens can connect with the characters.
I like that both graphic novels and long novels can be exciting and meaningful. Both can make readers care about the characters, feel emotions, and even think about real life issues. Whether it’s through pictures in a graphic novel or adventures in a big book, the goal is the same, to entertain, connect with readers, and make them feel something.
Boss (Maja)
Reading the interview with Molly O’Neill was so interesting because I realized how different middle grade books really are from what I thought them to be–the focus on perspective rather than content was pretty insightful. I think focusing on a relatable character to middle grade readers is really important; when I write my own work I don’t tend to think about the reader outside of myself, so this interview opened my eyes to think about that more often. In YA novels as well, the characters are so relevant and make or break a story, and it’s important to try and connect with the readers through them. Teenagers are hard to please, so writers really have to put thought into their writing and storybuilding to keep them engaged and wanting more. A character perspective is also highlighted in Brooklyn Arden’s article, even though it focuses on YA novels, not middle grade.
Fantasy and sci-fi novels are typically the most loved genres in both MG and YA fiction, which, honestly, just makes me realize that I probably wouldn’t thrive as an MG/YA author. Kids and teens are picky–I know I was picky with the books I read when I was younger–and I admire the authors that are able to adhere to their standards and exceed their expectations. I think content is just as important as perspective and characterization, and a lot of fantasy/sci-fi books hit the mark with creating something interesting and fun to read as a middle grade or young adult reader.
Judith Rosen’s article asks the question, “Would it be better to put all preteen and YA books together?”, and in my opinion: why not? I feel like a lot of young adults still read books from their preteens or younger levels due to nostalgia, and I don’t think there’s a problem with preteens going for higher level novels if they feel like they’re competent enough to read them. There can be some sort of separation due to genres, but I think MG and YA books tend to go hand in hand with their growing and maturing audiences, so I don’t see a huge problem with conjoining them.
Reading these articles definitely helped me get a better idea for the distinction between middle grade and young adult stories. The main factors for distinguishing them from each other mainly revolve around the age of the main character and the content of the stories (which typically avoids mature topics and themes or has a small amount of them). Kids want to read about characters who are the same or a similar age as them and are less interested in reading about those who are younger or much older than them. While reading these articles it has become apparent to me that knowing the difference between MG & YA is helpful when it comes to marketing and writing for a specific target audience. The interview with Molly O’Niell brings up a good point about writing for target audiences. Having a specific target audience in mind is important when it comes to the marketing and publishing and editing parts, but during the creative part of actually writing, it can get in the way of the story you want to tell if you let it consume the process.
The interview with Molly O’Niell brings up another good point about the content of these stories and the things that should be at stake in them. Kids read to escape from boredom and experience a world that isn’t their own, they don’t want to read about the boring and mundane aspects of life like attending school or doing chores around the house that they already experience themselves. They want to go on a thrilling and exciting adventure with the main characters, so the stakes and drama in these stories should be higher to meet the expectations of the audience. The SFWA article was very insightful about how people in the industry view MG & YA. One particular point that stood out to me was from Amanda Rutter. She says that some MG stories are focused on external story events rather than internal character arcs. This makes it so that the reader is more entertained by the adventure that the characters are going on than the internal conflicts which they might get bored by or not understand at their age.
For this assignment, I read Judith Rosen’s article on the line separating middle grade and young adult fiction. Part of the article explains how these two levels have been intertwined in the past, but can longer remain interchangeable as reading has drastically changed in the last few decades. As the article suggests, age-based distinctions have muddied, as children aspire to read “up,” adults are reading “down,” and franchises like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Divergent have blurred the boundaries between these two levels.
What the article most strongly suggests is that the difference between middle grade and YA is not reading ability, but instead the content and marketing. Meghan Dietsche Goel’s approach at BookPeople emphasizes matching books to individual readers rather than to their age. Her examples show how some YA novels appeal to younger audiences, while some middle-grade books appeal strongly to teens. As reading culture evolves, this boundary is blurring, and kids no longer read only according to age, but their interests. So, authors have to take that into account when marketing.
At the same time, the concerns raised by Michele Barry and Nicole Yasinsky demonstrate why abandoning these distinctions entirely, even if they’re not clear, could be problematic. Parents frequently rely on age-based categorization as a guide for what their children can and cannot read, particularly regarding topics such as sex, drugs, and violence. For “gifted” younger readers, being able to read upper-level language does not necessarily mean being ready for mature themes, like the ones listed previously. Modern YA and middle grade labels should be taken with a grain of salt, and not heavily relied on.
The article goes on the suggest that hybrid shelving— putting these two levels together— sees to be the best solution. As Caitlin L. Baker argues, separate sections will likely always be necessary, even as exceptions and overlaps grow between the levels.
Ultimately, the main point of the article is that categories should exist, but remain flexible, as it’s getting harder to separate the two levels based on audience interests. Readers should choose what they read based on where they are at, personally, not solely based on their age.
Radiant
After reading a couple of the articles, I have a better understanding of the young adult and middle grade stories. I had also wanted to sit down and think about the whole MG vs YA in a broader lens of adaptation. Especially when YA or MG books are adapted into other media pieces, it’s interesting to see how different the adaptation becomes during the process of media transformation. For example, the original Percy Jackson Movies seem to aim for a YA identity but ultimately turned out to be more of an MG story, even though the first couple of books are intended for middle graders. But the first season of the new Percy Jackson show does follow the middle grade tone in storytelling, but who knows what will happen in the second season. The Harry Potter series did start as a middle grade story but slowly evolved into more of a young adult story and we see that shift in tone in the movies as well. As the characters get older, the more serious it becomes. In addition, it’s interesting when other pieces of media that started as a movie or show get adapted into books for kids, as you see the approach that authors take when writing stories. Star Wars has stories that range for all ages but overall, the MG and YA difference was interesting to see.
These articles helped enlighten me to the differences between the Middle Grade and Young Adult categories. It makes sense that MG books have characters that are reacting to their world and almost discovering it for the first time, as the primary readers for this group are children who are just beginning to see the world. I appreciated the detail that these stories wouldn’t get into the characters' internal motivations, as YA does, for the main challenge with middle schoolers is that they are just beginning to see how the outside world works, and their role in it. The advice that you should not write “down” for your readers really stood out to me, as I find that popular phrases and terms tend to hook younger readers now. But I understand that oversimplifying the plot because you think your audience can’t handle it probably takes away the moments your readers would love the most. I also appreciated the advice of reading recently published books to see how the market/audience has shifted. With more and more children using technology, I wouldn’t be surprised if the material in some MG and YA books has become more mature or if the quality has diminished because children aren’t reading a lot anymore. Taking these things into consideration can be very helpful when writing a story for this intended audience, but I think the most important thing to capture is this process of becoming. Both genres play with this in different ways; YA seeks to investigate the more internal forms of becoming, while MG focuses on the external process. Middle Grade is less complex and more situational, with simpler sentences and broader themes. Young Adult includes subplots and more introspective characters, destined to leave some mark on the world once the story is finished. One thing that surprised me was the percentage of adult readers who also engage with YA (20-40%). I found this interesting as an author must really have to decide how to satisfy both adult and youth audiences without getting too mature or too childish. Ultimately, though, I think it’s important to remain faithful to your original audience and flesh out the details that would benefit them before moving to appeal to the crossover audience.
Natalie (aka Miles)
Each of the articles listed in the blog post above discuss the similarities, differences and general connections between the Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade (MG) reading genres. The authors particularly delve into the designation of where books belong, how to navigate those that straddle a gray area as well as how the protagonists of these novels are traditionally younger individuals but they are often carrying out adventures with themes that can appeal to (and are sometimes more deeply understood by) adult reading audiences. An article I took particular interest in was "Definition of YA" by Brooklyn Arden where she discusses her working theory of how she approaches such designation for young adult novels as an editor and proponent of the publishing world. She explains that as a reader she loves books for their individual strengths regardless of where they are shelved; yet, when she is working as an editor she knows that she must evaluate manuscripts differently. Arden explains the nuances of her process, breaking it down into five baseline requirements. She elaborates that she must navigate her opinions as a reader separately from the judgments she makes as a professional and takes special care to define her parameters of what makes a novel YA versus MG. In doing so, she provides a clearer designation, or at least writes on her approach to it, in her article when she dictates how story (the plot itself), character development, overall growth, immediacy, action and a protagonist's motivations all help to define what kinds of books belong to the young adult genre and which ones to the middle grade as they have many similar blueprints. Specifically, this can be seen through the books listed as examples in the article, "Middle Grade and YA: Where to Draw the Line?" by Judith Rosen as each of them mimic the arc of the "Hero's Journey" in one way or another. Furthermore, I really appreciated the approach Rosen's article took on evaluating this idea of what kinds of literary themes belong to which demographics not just through the sense of publishing but a step further into the physical arrangement of bookstores. Rosen explains that the careful consideration process behind this is so important as it can dictate a young reader's choices of what books and genres they engage with.
I think that the difference in middle-grade and YA fiction wasn’t initially as identifiable for me. I assumed that the two were at least somewhat similar and just had different identifiers. In my mind, I had it split as middle-grade being more suitable for kids in middle school, or at least between the ages of 9-13, while young adult fiction was more for kids in high school or college, or from 14-18. It’s just that the two demographics can often read the works of each other. However, as I read through the articles, the one by Judith Rosen caught my eye in how one bookstore divided up the books into these two categories and influenced parents or relatives into what books are appropriate, often putting aside younger, interested readers who wish to read topics that are above their level. I disagreed with this approach, as I believe it’s more up to the reader themselves to decide if the topic would be too much for them. It’s one thing if the book broaches upon topics that could decidedly be too mature or inappropriate for a child that young to be reading, but it’s another if they were interested in the first place, even if they have no idea what the book and the topics in it are about, and could help them at least delve into the topic and be introduced to it. I do believe there are certain topics that might be too much, but I would consider that from adult-oriented books. In my opinion, simply withholding books from the YA section because the topics might be too extreme is a bit too much, and it restricts kids from advancing beyond their interests and reading level. The approach from the bookstore that did away with signage altogether is one that I think helps bridge the gap between middle-grade and YA better, with being able to pick the books that interest the individual, and not being restricted to the content. With this approach in mind, I don’t necessarily think that splitting middle-grade and YA from each other is exactly the best idea, especially when so many books blur the line between the two, and those identifiers could turn away interested readers simply because they’re deemed too young or immature to grasp those topics. However, the identifiers do provide a nice and easy way to understand what demographic the books appeal to, so I think it's a blurry line and isn't necessarily clear.
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