For Writers

Agency: The Dilemma for the Middle Grade Sleuth

By on January 17, 2025   /   Articles, Writing   /   Leave a comment

By C. M. Surrisi on January 17, 2025

Picture of children looking at a map

The Dilemma

Many authors who love middle grade mysteries would like to write one. Hurrah! We always welcome new mysteries. However, it is not uncommon in this endeavor to dive in with a clever idea and then at about page fifty, give up. Why? Because it’s darn hard for a kid to solve a mystery.

Why is that? To solve a crime, a sleuth needs the ability to take action that affects the investigation and outcome, or in a word: agency. The youth-sleuth has some inherent handicaps in this regard. So when writing the middle grade mystery, how do you deal with these obstacles, and what can you do to make the most of them?

Fortunately, there is an established model which appeared in the earliest middle grade mysteries (e.g., Emil and the Detectives, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden) and endures in today’s kid-crime novels.

The model has three parts.

  • First, you should understand the kid-sleuth’s unique problems. For example:

    • They usually can’t drive.
    • They have curfews.
    • They have parents watching over them.
    • They have little or no money.
    • They do/don’t carry phones.
    • They lack life experience.
    • They can disagree and bicker among themselves (true of adults, also!).
    • They are told to stay out of the way.
    • They are discredited when they offer advice and evidence.
    • They are prone to misunderstand things they have no experience with and thus can misinterpret clues.

In other words, they’re kids.

  • Second, you need to create a story world where they can investigate successfully. For example:

    • A location they can navigate, e.g., a boarding school, a small town, a camp, etc.
    • A season that allows them access to the outdoors. This will vastly expand your opportunity for unique scenes.
    • A lack of constant, immediate oversight. In other words, a single parent, working parent(s), deceased parent(s), no parent(s), inattentive oversight by teachers, camp counselors, etc.
    • A knowledge of the law (however misguided) through TV, movies, parental jobs, the police station next door, etc.

  • Finally, turn their disadvantages into superpowers. For example, here are some ways to work around a few of the issues mentioned above:

There you have some pointers on creating a successful middle grade sleuth. If you can think of items you would add to these lists, please add them to the comments below. Happy writing!

(c)cmsurrisi

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Middle Grade Predictions for 2025

By on December 16, 2024   /   Articles, For Writers  

As we gear up to move into the new year, it’s always an interesting time to reflect back on the current state of middle grade, and see if there are clues to what might be in store for middle grade in the future. The last few years have definitely proved to be interesting ones for middle grade, with changes at major publishers and to the children’s section at Barnes and Noble, our last big book chain, bringing about a lot of upheaval and unknowns. 

 

Even so, let’s gaze into the crystal ball and see if there are any hints at what might be in store for middle grade in 2025.

 

  1. Graphic novels domination will expand. A couple years ago, graphic novels accounted for a full quarter of all middle grade sales, and that number seems to only be expanding. Graphic novels continue to dominate the children’s bestsellers lists and keep young readers’ attention. With the reading joy and all the benefits that can come from reading these books, we say long live graphic novels!

 

  1. More middle grade authors will move to…LinkedIn? Yeah, as weird as that sounds, with all the instability that has plagued platforms like X and Instagram and TikTok in the last few years, LinkedIn has emerged as a place of calm and interesting dialog. In one survey, LinkedIn came in second (after Instagram) as the place authors where authors plan to focus their platform efforts in coming days. This may even trickle into the middle grade community.

 

  1. Less doom, more laughter. According to an informal survey of librarians across the country, the kids are looking for funny. “Since the pandemic, it’s been a lot of doom and gloom for these kids. There’s so much heaviness they’re coping with. They just want to laugh.” Perhaps in every genre from contemporary to fantasy, we’ll see a higher proportion of jokes on the page. And who can be sad about that?

 

  1. Fewer authors on tour, but more bookstore events. Things are getting local. Gone are the days when sending an author to cities around the country was a viable marketing strategy. One author who recently did one of these tours reports on actual numbers (including a no-show). However, bookstores, especially indie stores, are becoming more creative and resourceful than ever when it comes to bringing the community together to promote reading and children’s literature. We certainly hope to see more of this trend in 2025!

 

  1. Veering shorter. Only recently, big doorstopper middle grade fantasy series (think Shannon Messenger) were big hits. But reports from booksellers and librarians around the country are that reading attention spans are getting shorter. Blame our digital world, blame the pandemic. According to one bookseller, “They may be less likely to read a 400-plus-page book, so I think it’s important for a bookstore to have a variety of titles for this age group in terms of both page length and format.” So we may likely see middle grade books veering younger and shorter, with more play in the form too. This could be a very intriguing trend!

 

What predictions do you have for the state of middle grade in 2025?

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Writing Prompts: How to Make Yours Shine

By on December 4, 2024   /   Articles, For Writers  
A writer's Notebook
Writing prompts, whether in a classroom or workshop setting, can be hit or miss–especially if the prompt is too general. If you ask students to choose an object in the classroom, for instance, half of them might focus on the ancient clock on the wall and how slowly the second hand moves from numeral to numeral. Or, if you ask students to write about a specific event in their lives, they might fall back on vague and/or generic descriptions that lack the tension required in strong writing. (The “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” and “I Remember…” prompts fall squarely into this category.)

Don’t get me wrong: Tried-and-true writing prompts are good in a pinch. But there are some excellent craft books available to help teachers, workshop leaders, parents and caregivers to infuse excitement and originality into their everyday prompts.

 

Help Is On the Way

Writing Workshop book

One of my favorite writing-craft gurus is Ralph Fletcher, an educator who’s been helping other educators since the early 2000s. His first craft book, co-authored with JoAnn Portalupi, Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide, is a great guide for teachers, students, and workshop leaders. In this book, Fletcher breaks up ideas into days and weeks to help with lesson plans. His most recent book (pictured above), A Writers Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You, helps writers to see their world and, perhaps most importantly, how to react to what they see. 

Advice from Ralph Fletcher

Ralph Fletcher


1. Make sure each writer has a writer’s notebook.
2. Provide adequate writing time of at least five minutes and up to 15 or 20 minutes, if everyone’s fully engaged. Ideas don’t just fly across space to land in a writer’s brain (well, at least not all the time).
3. Share a piece of your own writing before everyone starts writing. And write with them.
4. It’s okay to let workshoppers draw rather than write as all forms of creative expression are encouraged.
5. Help your group to find ideas by asking questions and sharing prompts.

Some great first workshop examples include:
–What do you know a lot about?
–Do you play sports, or enjoy an activity such as dance or chess?
–Who’s a special relative you spend lots of time with?
–Do you collect stuff?

Fletcher, a big believer in tying writing prompts to reading, provides some great ideas for read-alouds connected to writing:

—The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. Write about a time you had relatives come to your house. What were you celebrating?  

— Marianthe’s Story: Painted Words Spoken Memories by Aliki. What is a color-filled memory you have? 

 — If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christianson. Write about a found object and the things you might do with it.              

— My Map Book by Sara Fanelli.  Create a map of an object or place. Explain in writing how the object works or what makes this place special.                                  

When time is up, ask participants to share their work, even if they’re not finished, and encourage them to come back to these pieces later. You never know what a bit of time and distance can reveal.

And finally…

If all else fails, you could probably encourage writers to write about all the places chewing gum gets stuck. But I need to add one more thought on my favorite writing prompt from Ralph’s toolbox. Have students write or draw what makes a safe place. The result of this prompt is both surprising and revelatory… in equal measure. 

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