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Middle School Readers Want to Be Seen

By on July 23, 2025   /   Articles, Writing  

Knowing the current reality of middle school students’ lives is essential for creating engaging middle grade fiction. Accurately reflecting their language, humor, worries, and hopes promotes emotional connection and empathy. This is especially true for contemporary fiction but is similarly valuable for other sub-genres such as fantasy and science fiction—even historical fiction benefits from connecting with readers’ lives today.

Furthermore, knowledge of current trends, apps, slang, and cultural references prevents writing from feeling outdated. It ensures characters align with middle schoolers’ approach to friendships, family relationships, and the world.

Ultimately, writing authentic characters builds credibility and relevance. It strengthens plotlines and themes while giving young readers characters they can believe in and relate to, increasing a book’s impact and success.

Thus, those who write books for middle school readers benefit from periodically updating themselves on what’s happening with this age group. Although they’re not a monolithic group, and some elements of their lives are unique, many of their experiences are similar across schools and regions.

Middle School Safety Goggles advised by Jessica Speer book coverThe 2022 book Middle School—Safety Goggles Advised, by Jessica Speer, illustrated by Lesley Imgart, captures the middle school experience through thorough research and student interviews. All parents, teachers, and kids can find something in it to help them understand and cope with this challenging time. You will find hard facts, fun explanations, youthful commentary, quizzes, cautions, insights, discussion questions, activities, and more.

The 2017 book The Manual to Middle School: The “Do this, Not that” Survival Guide forThe Manual to Middle School by Jonathan Catherman Guys, by Jonathan Catherman and sons Reed and Cole, gives direct advice on how to survive middle school from a boy’s perspective. It seeks to speak to boys at their level. You’ll find real-life hacks, humorous illustrations, and survival stories. Written in the second person and accompanied by graphic novel-type illustrations, it’s frank and funny while at the same time being factually grounded.

What follows incorporates some of the observations in these books and additional considerations based upon my input and that of other writers, parents, and teachers.

FROM REAL PEOPLE TO CHARACTERS

Middle School Milieu

Schoolwork, Tests, and Grades. The difference between elementary school and middle school is huge. There are classroom changes, new people, more intense workloads, and increased testing, all of which lead to stress. In addition, there is the joy and pressure of after-school activities such as sports, music, plays, clubs, and so on. Parents, who are conscious of the coming pressures of high school, urge the development of good study skills, adding to the tension. All of this can be complicated by family problems such as divorce and/or a sick parent or sibling. And of course, there are hormones.

Physiology. Middle schoolers are at the age of puberty. This means they are awash in hormones, faced with changes to their bodies, menstrual periods, facial and body hair, and pimples. Puberty also brings moodiness, hypersensitivities, hurt feelings, tears, feelings of alienation, rejection, insecurity, jealousy, and righteousness. The effects, both physical and brain-related, can vary wildly among kids and throughout the middle school experience. Typically, there is a transition into some degree of maturity, albeit with some flashbacks into childish behavior.

Instant Judgments and Gossip. Middle schoolers are prone to making quick judgments about others. This can be a good judgment: “She looks nice.”  But it is often negative and fuels, or is fueled by, gossip: “He’s a weirdo.” Students report that these hostile or harsh judgments can be the result of insecurity, comparing themselves to others, trying to be cool or fit in, jealousy, and insensitivity to differences. If you are the recipient of it, it hurts, it’s hard to tune out, and it takes courage to ignore it and seek out positive people. Middle schoolers are brave, but they can also be frightened.

Fraught Friendships. Problems in friendships may be the greatest challenge of middle school. They cause more tears, panic, and depression than anything else. Friendship problems typically derive from change: changing interests, changing personalities, changing moods. Students report that friendships are all over the place. One day you’re friends, and the next day you’re not. Sometimes you have no idea why. It can leave you alone at the dreaded lunch table. It’s awful, but many feel it’s okay if you dump or get dumped by a bad friend.  It takes a lot of self-possession and courage to get out of a hurtful friendship. The use of “BFF” may be waning in today’s culture.

Cliques, Groups, and Peer Pressure. Cliques and groups exhibit some of the same characteristics as changing friendships. Kids can be in or out in the blink of an eye. To stay in a group, a middle schooler must conform to the group’s rules. This can include what to wear, what jargon to use, who to acknowledge, who to dis, what table to sit at in the lunchroom, and so on. Adherence to the rules of the group is policed through peer pressure. If a group member doesn’t abide by the rules, they can be shunned by the group. Still, there is nothing wrong with being in a group. Groups form naturally among friends with shared interests and can be a social space where you don’t have to be judged. They can be open to new members but are rarely free of all peer pressure. Lots of intergroup gossip, hurt feelings, and attempted mediation among friends go on, but it typically resolves itself without a member being pushed out of the group.

Popularity or Lack Thereof. An outgrowth of cliques and groups, popularity still plagues middle schoolers. However, popularity isn’t what it once was or how it is portrayed in movies. There are still groups that consider themselves at the top of the appearance, sports, and academic ladder, and they dress a certain way, act a certain way, talk a certain way, and ignore others. They often have money and the newest technology, and they project “high status.” Some experts say the sway of popularity is greater in middle school than in elementary school or high school due to the strong emotional need to connect at that age. However, these days, the average student cares less about popular kids than in the past. There is more room for individuality and specialized groupings. Popularity can be more influential in a smaller school than in a larger school since in a larger school there is more room for personal image.

Crushes and Crashes. Crushing is not universal. Not every middle schooler has a crush, while others have one after another. Some are preoccupied with rushes and who’s “going with” whom. Others couldn’t care less. Today, there is a range of what it means to “go together” or “get together.” It can be merely saying you’re together, walking around the school together, texting, exchanging phone calls, holding hands, and maybe kissing. Sometimes they do it to be cool or to conform to the expectations of their group of friends. Mostly, middle schoolers like to do things in a group. Still, a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health reports that one in eight middle schoolers have had an encounter with oral sex, intercourse, and/or sexting (texting nude photos). This is a discomforting number, but the survey is nonetheless credible and needs to be considered. Unrequited crushes can be embarrassing if exposed by an insincere friend. The crush and immaturity can cause chaos in the preteen mind. And crushes, realized or rejected, can hurt the heart.

Phones and Social Media. Phone usage among middle schoolers is an epic pr blem. Not all kids have a phone, but they are becoming increasingly more ubiquitous. There are good reasons to have one: safety, education, communication, keeping in contact, emergencies, and school research. But there are huge downsides and many unknown risks: executive function and attention deficit, cognitive delays, impulsive reactions, and decreased ability to self-regulate. It’s a fact that families can be in a room together for hours, and a middle schooler will have their attention on the phone the entire time, missing the human interaction. When phones are restricted, kids will lie and sneak around to use them anyway. There is an undeniably addictive aspect to cell phones for kids and adults.

Social media, email, and other communications platforms are equally addictive and potentially harmful for middle school students. They steal healthy social and emotional growth time from life, leading to many of the same adverse outcomes as phones. Even more, they provide the opportunity for miscommunication, hurt feelings, and a record that never goes away. Beyond that, they can be the vehicle for contact from undesirable sources. Despite this, many kids use them (with and without adult approval), and it’s hard to ignore their existence.

Conflict and Bullying. Conflict in middle school can smolder over time or erupt in a flash. Sometimes it is attributed to the group mentality and an us-versus-them sense of division. Sometimes it’s one or two individuals with tendencies toward unkindness and cruelty. This can be psychologically damaging and physically dangerous. Sometimes, bullying behavior can be attributed to the fact that the bully is being treated that way at home, they have low self-esteem, or they don’t know how to behave appropriately. Reasons aside, the real problem in the school setting is whether the behavior is identified and addressed. The average middle school student who is bullied will attempt to ignore the conflict and may feel shamed by it. Peer support is important, and this is one circumstance where friendships and groups can play a positive role.

“Parents Don’t Understand!” As far as many middle schoolers are concerned, parents and other adults don’t know much about their world and their stresses. They think adults always approach an issue from their “old person’s” perspective. Sometimes, however, the same twelve-year-old critic regresses to younger childhood behavior and needs the comfort and understanding of Mommy, Daddy, or another significant adult. This swing in the need for an adult’s opinion or comfort can occur in seconds. Don’t blame the kids. This is attributed to hormones and the fact that at this age, kids are engaged in the awkward struggle for independence that will continue erratically for several years.

Diversity. Most middle schools are racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse—some widely, others not. A few may be all one race, religion, or gender. Mostly, the diversity in a middle school reflects the community. Younger kids can be more accepting and tolerant than adults, and middle school-age kids retain some of that natural ability. Parental influence is strong, however, and as eleven to thirteen-year-olds are beginning to develop their own unique identities, the dynamics of diversity play a role. They will mimic what is modeled for them, and feelings of discrimination will smolder. Their affiliations will be building blocks in their future.

Developing Identity. There are common themes in the life of a middle schooler. Students want to be accepted, have friends, be free of conflict, do well in their studies. Frankly, this is not unlike what adults want in their lives, but middle schoolers are struggling to achieve these goals in a sea of diverse kids with raging hormones and emotions. Not everyone experiences the abovementioned factors or matures on the same timeline. The slog through middle school to high school can hopefully bring self-respect, respect for others, trustworthy friendships, measured use of technology, accomplishment of things they enjoy, functional study skills, the ability to say no to things they don’t like, the ability to embrace things they do like, recognition of stress, and the ability to seek help. It’s a time of significant physical and emotional growth and maturity, so let’s cut middle schoolers slack. They’re eleven to thirteen years old. It’s a lot.

Anxiety. Anxiety may come about as a reaction to any of the above. It can affect physical health, emotional well-being, and social skills development. It appears in various forms and intensities and can cause students to feel isolated and stigmatized. For more discussion of anxiety identification and treatment, see: “Understanding Anxiety in Children and Teens: Anxiety is the body’s normal stress response. Learn how anxiety can be managed and treated when it becomes too much.”

Good Things. Ha! Yes, there are some. The recitation above might suggest that the entire stretch of middle school is nonstop misery. For a few, it may be, but most kids report having fun with friends, liking their teachers, loving their family, and enjoying sports and other interests. Most kids possess the skills and awareness necessary to transit this growth period, albeit with some emotional bumps and bruises.

RESOURCES

Catherman Jonathan. The Manual to Middle School: the “Do this, not that” Survival Guide for Guys. Revell. Grand Rapids. 2017. https://raisingthemready.com

Galanti, Donna. Grow Your Characters: 6 Tips to Enrich MG Characters http://www.literaryrambles.com/ 025/05/ row-your-char cters-6-tips-to-enric .html

Spear, Jessica. Illustrations by Leslie Imgart. Middle School: Safety Goggles Advised.  Familius. Reedley. 2022. http://(https://jessicaspeer.com/jessi a-speer-books/middle-school-safety-goggles-advised-2/)

Journal of Adolescent Health.  https://www.jahonline.org/ar icle/S1054-139X(05)00608-7/fulltext

“Understanding Anxiety in Kids and Teens.” https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/anxiety-kids-teens

© C.M. Surrisi

 

 

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STEM Tuesday– Plants– Interview with Rebecca Hirsch

By on July 22, 2025   /   Plants, STEM Tuesday  

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re learning with Rebecca E. Hirsch, a science writer, educator, and author of more than 90 books for young people. Her 2024 book A Deathly Compendium of Poisonous Plants: Wicked Weeds and Sinister Seeds is a delightful collection of science, folklore, true crime, quotes, and more, all about poisonous plants!

 

Andi Diehn: How did you get interested in poisonous plants? (Should we be worried?!)

Rebecca Hirsch: Great question! And there’s no need to worry, but now you’ve got me laughing! This book grew out of research I had done for a previous middle grade title, called When Plants Attack: Strange and Terrifying Plants. When I was researching that book and deciding what plants to feature in it,I came across a lot of poisonous plants. But poison wasn’t really the focus of that book, so I set most of those plants aside. Nevertheless, the seed had been planted. Several years later, I began to imagine writing a creepy, gothic book that looked at the science and history of poisonous plants.

 

AD: I love that you combine mythology, quotes, history, and science – why include all these elements?
RH: Poisonous plants have such fascinating back stories! People have long used these plants for medicine, as well as for darker acts like warfare and murder. As a science writer, I knew I wanted to share the science of these plants—facts about how and where they grow but also how they interact with and harm the human body.  But I made the decision to start each chapter with an intriguing historical quote and whatever dark and fascinating stories I could dig up. My goal was to entertain readers in addition to educating them. I wanted them to see how captivating and complex these plants are.
AD: Many poisonous plants are useful as well as deadly. Does this make botany even more interesting?

RH: Definitely! Most people think of plants as boring, kind of like green statuary. But plants are actively struggling to survive, like all living things. Plants have very effective ways of fighting back against anything or anyone that tries to eat them. In the botanical world, the most common self-defense tactic is poison. Plants are master chemists. They are very good at concocting nasty chemicals, and some of these chemicals can make animals and people very sick.

 

AD: The chemical explanation of how different poisons work is fascinating. Do you think poison loses some of its fear factor when we learn about why it does what it does?
RH: For me, learning about these poisons made them even more terrifying. It’s alarming to discover how the deadliest of nightshades—belladonna, for instance—can unleash havoc on our brains and bodies. Or how ricin from castor beans can act like a wrecking ball to our vital organs. Or the way cocaine or opium can hijack our brains and produce crippling addiction.
I do think the fear factor can be a good thing, because it can protect us. At least, that’s my hope. I repeatedly encourage readers to steer clear of nearly all of the plants in the book.

 

AD: In a way, this book redefined my definition of poison when I read about peppers. I eat peppers all the time and never thought of the hot ones as poisonous. How does this show that even things we encounter every day can be harmful in large quantities or if used wrong?

RH: Oh yes, chilies are definitely poisonous. These plants manufacture their poison—a chemical called capsaicin—as a way to prevent mammals, including humans, from eating their fruits (the peppers).

Here’s a personal anecdote about chilies: A number of years ago, my garden produced a bumper crop of jalapeños, and I decided to dice and freeze my harvest. One evening, I pulled out a sharp knife and a cutting board, and went to work on a pile of shiny green jalapeños. Foolishly, I did not wear rubber gloves. When I was finished, I had a heap of diced jalapeños—and poison all over my hands. My skin burned, especially under my fingernails. Then I rubbed my eye. Now my eye was stinging and watering. I soaked my hands in milk and yogurt—dairy products are a remedy—but it didn’t help. I ended up staying awake half the night, unable to sleep because of the pain.
By the way, jalapeños measure about 5,000 on the Scoville scale, a measure of chili hotness. One of the chilies mentioned in my book, a variety called Pepper X, has a Scoville rating of 2.7 million! Jalapeños are quite mild in comparison, but even they can be painful in large quantities!

 

AD:What is your research process like? How do you find all the great stories included in your book?

RH: I love the research process. I can get lost in it! My process is to start general and then get more specific. I usually begin with general internet searches, and I also track down books that are written for a general audience. I use the public library to find nonfiction books on my topic, and I use my library’s online research tools to track down magazine articles. When I’m reading a book, I’m flipping to the back pages constantly, studying the source notes and bibliography. I want to see what sources that author used in their own research, so I can follow up with any promising sources.

As I go deeper on my research, I start moving into more scholarly works. For A Deathly Compendium of Poisonous Plants, those works included toxicology textbooks, scientific research on the action of poisons in the body, and scholarly books about the history of poisonous and medicinal plants. Google Scholar is my go-to place for tracking down scientific papers. My state university’s library system is where I find scholarly books. As I’m reading those scholarly papers and books, I’m also studying their bibliographies, and then I continue tracking down more sources.

 

AD: I love the artwork and design of the book. Did you have input or was that entirely up to Eugenia Nobati?

RH: I’m so glad you like it! The design was a part of the book concept from the beginning. When I pitched the idea to editor Shaina Olmainson, who was formerly at Zest Books at Lerner Publishing, she immediately got on board with my vision for the book having a creepy gothic vibe. Lerner’s design team also got behind the idea in a big way.

The Lerner team brought on Eugenia Nobati to illustrate. She had previously illustrated picture books for Lerner, but Eugenia also had experience creating darker, creepier art. Eugenia dove enthusiastically into the project. Her illustrations look like they had come out of an ancient laboratory notebook, with coffee rings and dark stains marking the pages.

 

AD:Do you have a favorite poison? (Not to use, but to learn about!) What is it and why?

RH: Mandrake was a lot of fun to write about. I had to force myself to stop working on that chapter and move on because I was so enchanted by that plant. It has such a rich and twisted folklore. In ancient and medieval times, people thought mandrake root resembled a naked body. They associated the plant with sexual potency and imagined that it had all sorts of magical powers.

 

AD: Did you find yourself being more careful about what you ate while writing this book?

RH: Truthfully, I’ve long been careful about what I eat. When I was a kid, I played outside an awful lot, and my parents impressed upon me never to nibble anything unfamiliar outdoors. When I was a teenager, I developed terrible food allergies, so that made me even more cautious. Alas, the chapter on allergies was written with a lot of firsthand experience.
I tried to pass along a sense of caution to my readers. Just because a plant is pretty or its berries look inviting, that does not mean it is safe to eat.

Rebecca Hircsh is an award-winning author of more than 90 books for young readers. Her books have been honored with a Riverby Award for Excellence in Nature Writing, a Green Prize for Sustainable Literature, a Green Earth Book Honor, and spots on many state reading lists. She studied biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts and molecular & cellular biology at the University of Wisconsin. She’s a member of the National Association of Science Writers, SCBWI, and The Poet’s Garage, a collective of professional children’s poets. Rebecca lives in Pennsylvania, where she regularly visit schools, sharing my love of science and the craft of writing.

 

Andi Diehn has written over 20 children’s science books, plus a picture book on mental health called MAMA’S DAYS from Reycraft Books. She works as a children’s book editor and marketer at Nomad Press and visits schools and libraries around the country to talk about science, poetry, mental wellness, and anything else kids want to know! Andi also works as a bookseller at her local indie in Vermont – The Norwich Bookstore – and lives in rural New Hampshire with her husband, three sons, and too many pets.

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Interview with Jeanne Birdsall, award-winning author of The Library of Unruly Treasures!

By on July 21, 2025   /   Author Interviews  

Jeanne Birdsall’s THE PENDERWICKS is as highly acclaimed and beloved as a middle-grade series can be, earning the National Book Award and becoming New York Times bestsellers. With her newest novel, THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES, she creates a new world: one of tiny, winged creatures called Lahdukan and the adventures a girl named Gwen has with them in a library outside Boston. It’s a wild, fun, and heartwarming ride that is sure to delight Penderwicks fans and new readers alike.

Read below to discover the inspiration for this new book, thoughts on Lahdukan pronunciation and (incredible!) art, and the real Pumpkin the dog(s) in Jeanne’s life!

Book cover of THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES by Jeanne Birdsall

The opening of THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES grabs readers with a series of diary entries that tease some of the magic to come. When did you decide to open the book like that, and what are you hoping readers will glean from it?

I knew I’d have to open the book in 1860s Edinburgh, if only to justify the research trip I took to Scotland. That’s only kind of a joke. Truly, once I’d wandered the neighborhood where my diarist lived, she became too real to be shoved aside as mere backstory.

I thought it would be fun for the readers to know more than Gwen does at the beginning of the story, to have them impatient for her to meet the Lahdukan. When she finally does, the reader already knows the Lahdukan are real and thus can enjoy watching Gwen become convinced. From that point on, the reader knows only what Gwen knows. They can be puzzled together, and I hope they are. I like a bit of a mystery.

Gwen is a character readers immediately pull for—what was the process like of creating her? Was she fully formed from the start, or was it a longer process, and how did Matt Phelan’s interpretation of her (and the other characters!) come to be?

I knew Gwen right away. It took me a while, though, to work out what made her who she was—both despite of and because of her rotten parents and lonely childhood. And even longer to figure out how to explain her past without a lot of exposition. I wanted the reader to understand how difficult it had been for Gwen, but without piling on too many gruesome details.

Matt illustrated a picture book of mine, Flora’s Very Windy Day, so I knew that our instincts and visual aesthetics were in sync. He got Gwen right away. (And gave her freckles. I pretend this was in honor of my freckles, but it may have been a coincidence.) We had to go back and forth for a while with Pumpkin, but that was my fault. My original text made her sound like a mythic monster, a tiny griffin with impossibly mismatched parts. Matt’s Lahdukan are masterpieces. Their combination of goofiness and dignity is right there in every painting. And the Lahdukan in flight! There’s one spread of them aloft inside the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum that makes me catch my breath every time I see it.

The detailed worldbuilding of the Lahdukan is such a joy to uncover in the book. You mention Mary Norton’s delightful The Borrowers as an inspiration for these tiny, wondrous creatures, but did you have any other influences on this world?

The Borrowers are an obvious reference point. Not only were the books written during my childhood—we were allreading them—but Beth and Jo Krush, the illustrators, lived in my neighborhood, a mile down the road. But the Lahdukan were woven from dozens of myths and stories, enriched by my fascination with Scotland, particularly the Highlands. Some of this came because of my Scottish blood, but lately I’ve been re-reading T. H. White’s The Once and Future King. He goes deeply into the Scottish Gaels (Gawaine and his peculiar brothers) and their resentment of the English. This must have lodged in my brain years ago, to come out now.

Plus, I’ve always wanted to be able to fly, haven’t you? The closest I could get was bestowing eagle wings on my Lahdukan.

Pumpkin the dog is a force throughout the book, and you mention in the introduction that you can’t write without a canine companion. Was Pumpkin always such an integral character, or did her role change through the drafting process?

Pumpkin was always going to be important to the story, but not being satisfied with mere importance, she upped her own role until she was vital. Just like my real dogs.

[Editor’s note: to see pictures of Jeanne’s own dogs, visit her website!]

I appreciated the pronunciation guide at the end of the book and had so much fun with the Lahdukan names and background. Is that something you had thought through while writing and sounding out these splendid details?

No, but I should have! Because I don’t like reading my own writing out loud and I don’t listen to audiobooks, I didn’t think about it along the way, just merrily dreaming up names and words. It was only toward the end, when my own husband still couldn’t remember how to say Abarisruk or Zarakir, that I realized I’d need a pronunciation guide.

Although I don’t listen to audiobooks, I hope people will listen to this one. By an incredible stroke of luck—or maybe magic—we found the perfect narrator. Sorcha Groundsell grew up on the Isle of Lewis, one of the Outer Hebrides, west of Scotland and close to the Isle of Rùm, where the Lahdukan lived a thousand and more years ago. (See? Magic!) Her voice is gorgeous—light, quick, musical—exactly what the story calls for. Just wait until you hear her as the Lahdukan.

Do you have any other adventures in mind for Gwen, Pumpkin, and the Lahdukan, or are you returning to other book worlds (or elsewhere!) next?

I have dozens of other adventures in mind, going forward and backward in time. But speaking of time, alas, I don’t have enough of it. The Penderwicks took twenty years of my life, and almost certainly I don’t have twenty more to spend on another series. Where I’m headed next is still a bit fuzzy, but there will be pie and a dog, and I’ll have to learn some Italian.

Author photo of Jeanne Birdsall

Jeanne Birdsall is the National Book Award–winning author of the children’s book The Penderwicks and its sequel, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, both of which were also New York Times bestsellers. She grew up in the suburbs west of Philadelphia, where she attended wonderful public schools. Although Birdsall first decided to become a writer when she was 10 years old, it took her until she was 41 to get started. In the years in between, Birdsall had many strange jobs to support herself while working hard as a photographer. Birdsall’s photographs are included in the permanent collections of museums, including the Smithsonian and the Philadelphia Art Museum. She lives with her husband in Northampton, Massachusetts. Their house is old and comfortable, full of unruly animals, and surrounded by gardens.

THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES is available for pre-order until August 5th, 2025 and then wherever books are sold. Visit Penguin Random House for more information and to order!

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