Posts Tagged upper middle-grade

Author Interview: Julia DeVillers of Meet Me at Wonderland

A girl with a summer job at her family’s amusement park crushes on a coworker who’d rather be working anywhere else in this fun and flirty middle grade rom-com. Meet Me at Wonderland (Aladdin). For grades 5+

MUF: Welcome to MUF, Julia DeVillers! Thanks for dropping by to talk about your new middle-grade novel, Meet Me at Wonderland. Tell us what inspired you to write this story.

Cover of MEET ME AT WONDERLAND by Julia DeVillers

Julia DeVillers: Hi MUF! So the inspiration for my story came about when my fabulous editor, Alyson, and I were talking about embarrassing moments when I told her about the time at my high school job that I, dressed as Chuck E. Cheese (the New Jersey sewer rat),walked into the break room and saw a cute guy filling out a job application. I panicked, tried to sneak out, and bumped into my manager, who made me unmask. That mishap inspired Meet Me at Wonderland. While I swapped Chuck E. for a moose mascot, my real-life disaster became the book’s “moose-cute.” I LOVED writing this book so much, with its blend of rom and com.

MUF: Your protagonists are on the upper end of middle-grade characters. Can you talk about what made you choose to write MG instead of YA? What sorts of choices did you make to write a romance for the middle-grade readers?

JD: I’ve been writing middle grade for most of my career, only my nonfiction books are YA. Middle grades can range widely. What I’ve chosen to do for my upper middle grade romcom is focus on crushes–the ups and downs, the awkward, the excitement, the despair– and the (spoiler alert!) “ends with a kiss.’ In Meet Me at Wonderland, Coco and Henry are workplace rivals who start their relationship with banter with each other in a fun, funny way. Don’t get me wrong, the emotional stakes are still real. I think it makes the genre accessible to my readers who want to explore what it feels like to have a crush without diving into the more intense, complicated relationships you might find in older books.

MUF: There’s been plenty of talk about how it can be tricky for kids to find books when they’re not quite ready for YA but are aging out of younger middle grade. What age reader were you writing for when you wrote MMAW?

JD: Exactly, Meet Me at Wonderland fits right in between lower middle grade and YA space, as it’s for 10 and up. (And by up, I have to say I’m hearing from adult arc readers they’re loving the nostalgia read–first crushes! First jobs! – themselves!)

MUF: You have written quite a bit in the middle grade space. What is it about this age group that you’re drawn to?

JD: Personally, I started my middle grade years loving school, my friends, and life was good. Then friend drama and more serious issues hit, and I felt unrooted, emotional, and alone. I don’t want kids to have those feelings, so I write about them in the hopes that my books can help middle graders feel less alone. Plus that time is such an intense time of growth and discovery. Middle grade readers are developing a sense of independence but are still figuring out how to navigate relationships, whether it’s with friends, family, or those early romantic interests. I love capturing that excitement and awkwardness in my writing because it feels so relatable and real. Plus, there’s a wonderful balance of humor and heart in middle grade.

MUF: What was it like to write for the American Girl brand? How does that process work and is it quite different than other books you’ve worked on?

JD: It was SO FUN. I wrote the books for the 90s dolls with my twin sister, Jennifer Roy. I wrote as one twin character (Isabel) and she wrote as the other (Nicki). Along with books, we now have our “own” dolls. The process was different because AG chose the era, the names, and some of the backstory, which is to be expected since they’re developing iconic characters to fit their historical line. They were the experts and Jennifer and I brought their vision to life and put our own touches on it. That’s so special, knowing we contributed to this beloved line. Writing about the 90s was a vibe, and brought back so many memories we wanted to recreate for young readers.

MUF: Read any fun new or new-ish MG lately? 

Author Julia DeVillers

JD: This year so far: Isle of Ever by Jen Calonita, As You Wish by Nashae Jones, The Misfits series by Lisa Yee and Dan Santat, Secrets of Lovelace Academy by Marie Benedict and Courtney Sheinmel, The Liars Society by Alyson Gerber, On Thin Ice by Jessica Kim, J vs. K by Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft, the Penny series by Sara Shephard, Bree Boyd is a Legend by Leah Johnson. My favorite of last year was Not Nothing by Gayle Forman.

MUF: Have we forgotten to ask you something important?

JD: This is my first book since getting through cancer! The reason Chuck E Cheese was on my mind at always because when I was sick I was very nostalgic and remembering happy times (not that being in a rat costume is a happy time, ha!) So…it feels very special to be celebrating with you!

Find Julia at @juliadevillers on Instagram and TikTok and at juliadevillers.com. (Where you may find pictures of her dressed as Morty the Moose.)

 

Will ‘Young Teen Lit’ Catch On?

You’re not alone if you feel like there’s a gap in the middle-grade market. There are plenty of books for the younger and middle end of middle-grade readers, but where middle grade ends and YA begins? There’s a big ol’ hole, says middle school librarians Christina Chatel and Marcia Kochel in a guest article for School Library Journal.

They write:

We do not believe that 12- to 15- year old readers just need a few more books aimed at their interests and developmental level. We submit that young teens need their own publishing category and we propose to call this category Young Teen Lit.

What does young teen lit look like graphic

When you’ve aged out of books aimed at 4th-6th grade but you’re not quite ready for YA, you need more! In another guest essay, Kochel says:

I’m a middle school librarian and I just got the latest issue of Booklist in the mail. I’m looking for books for my middle school readers. I search through all of the reviews for youth and find almost no titles for seventh and eighth graders–not in Middle Readers or Older Readers or Youth Nonfiction or Graphic Novels. Almost every book for Older Readers is recommended for grades 9-12, and every single book for Middle Readers has a lower age range of grade 3, 4, or 5. Surely publishers don’t think that middle schoolers have the same interests and intellectual capacity as 8-10 year olds? Are there really no books being published for middle school students? Can this be true?

Making more room for upper middle grade, young teen lit, or whatever else publishers, educators, librarians, writers, and the readers themselves call it is something we’d love to see here, too. If you’ve got books that are perfect for 7th, 8th, and 9th graders, share them below.

 

Tweens and Middle-Grade Books

Do you have a tween reader at home or in your classroom or library? Marketing-types define a tween as a kid between the ages of 10 and 14. But I think a tween reader is any kid that’s in-between the little kid stage and the hormonal teen stage—a reader as young as nine or as old as fifteen. The maturity level matters more than the number. It could be a thirteen-year-old girl who secretly plays with Barbies. Or a ten-year-old boy who says he’s too old for his stuffed animals, yet they find their way into his bed each night. That kid who claims to want their mother as a classroom volunteer, and when their mother makes a special effort to be there, that tween child refuses to make eye contact or answer a simple hello! Hmph. Not that I have any personal experience with that last type of tween.

So, we’re talking upper middle-grade. For tween girls, two publishers have a line targeted just for them—the Candy Apple line of Scholastic and the Aladdin Mix line of Simon and Schuster.

Here are some more great books for that in-beTWEEN reader:

THREE TIMES LUCKY by Sheila Turnage

 

Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone’s business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she’s been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her “upstream mother,” she’s found a home with the Colonel–a café owner with a forgotten past of his own–and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.

 

ONE FOR THE MURPHYS by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

 

Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she’s blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong–until her mother wants her back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. She’s not really a Murphy, but the gifts they’ve given her have opened up a new future.

 

CLOSE TO FAMOUS by Joan Bauer

 

Foster McFee dreams of having her own cooking show like her idol, celebrity chef Sonny Kroll. Macon Dillard’s goal is to be a documentary filmmaker. Foster’s mother Rayka longs to be a headliner instead of a back-up singer. And Miss Charleena plans a triumphant return to Hollywood. Everyone has a dream, but nobody is even close to famous in the little town of Culpepper. Until some unexpected events shake the town and its inhabitants-and put their big ambitions to the test.

 

 

SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS by Ellen Booraem

 

Mellie has been trying, unsuccessfully, to live down the day she told her kindergarten class she had a fairy living in her bedroom. Years later, she is still teased. So when her parents inherit her grandfather’s inn and their family moves to a new town, Mellie believes she’ll leave all that fairy nonsense behind – only to discover that her family members have been fairy guardians for generations and the inn is overrun with small persons with wings (they hate to be called fairies). Before she knows it, the family and fairies are all facing an evil temptress in disguise who wants the fairy magic all for her own. Can Mellie set things right and save the day?

 

THE UNWANTEDS by Lisa McMann

Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths. Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret–behind the mirage of the “death farm” there is instead a place called Artime. In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it’s a wondrous transformation. But it’s a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron’s bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

 

THE FARWALKER’S QUEST by Joni Sensei

 

Ariel has always been curious, but when she and her best friend Zeke stumble upon a mysterious old telling dart she feels an unexplained pull toward the dart, and to figuring out what it means. Magically flying great distances and only revealing their messages to the intended recipient, telling darts haven’t been used for years, and no one knows how they work. So when two strangers show up looking for the dart, Ariel and Zeke realize that their discovery is not only interesting, but very dangerous. The telling dart, and the strangers, leads them to a journey more perilous and encompassing than either can imagine, and in the process both Zeke and Ariel find their true calling.

 

 

INVISIBLE LINES by Mary Amato

Trevor is just plain funny, and he’s lucky he is. Because this year he needs a sense of humor. Moving to a new home is hard enough—the sign reads hedley gardens, but everyone calls these projects deadly gardens. And the move to a fancy new school is even harder—all the kids from Deadly Gardens seem to be in the same classes and keep to themselves, but somehow Trevor’s ended up in an advanced science class with kids who seem to have everything, and know everything, including how to please their strange new teacher. Someone else might just give up, but Trevor has plans. This is going to be his year.  And he is going to use whatever he has, do whatever it takes, to make it at this new school. He may not have what these other kids have, but Trevor knows he’s got some stuff to show. No one is better at juggling in soccer, and he knows he can draw—he calls himself the Graffiti Guy. But Xander, a star in the classroom and on the soccer field, has other plans for Trevor. He doesn’t like anyone trespassing on his turf and begins to sabotage Trevor at every opportunity. Who is going to believe Trevor over the school star? Is there any way that Trevor can achieve his goals against a guy who is as good at bullying as he is at everything else he does?

All descriptions are from IndieBound. Thanks to Genevieve leBotton, book guru at Indie children’s book store, Little Joe’s Books, for her suggestions for this list.

What do you offer your eager tween reader?

 

Karen B. Schwartz accidentally wrote a book for tweens (twice!). Her own tween boy swears he’ll never read his mother’s girly stories of crushes and first kisses. Mwah, sweetie!