The middle grade market has been a bit discouraging lately. Perhaps you read about The Middle Grade Slump in a recent Mixed-Up Files post. Well, we’re back to let you know about two gaps in the middle grade market that present an opportunity for authors.
According to agent Kelly Dyksterhouse of the Tobias Agency, “Right now there is a need for middle grade novels that bridge the gaps between age categories.” Dysterhouse identifies two areas where books are needed to help kids transition from one category to the next.
Early Middle Grade
According to Dyksterhouse, there is a need for “younger middle grade novels for readers who are ready to move on from chapter books but who might find the 40k+ word count that has become so common in middle grade intimidating.”
Does this sound familiar? It’s reminiscent of an opinion piece that appeared in Publisher’s Weekly about a year ago. Melissa Taylor, founder of the Imagination Soup blog, wrote an article titled “It’s Not Me, It’s You: The Argument for Shorter Middle Grade Books.”
According to Taylor, “When looking at a book with a lot of pages, children might be intimidated, they might prefer quicker stories, they might be struggling readers, and/or they might have attention issues, among other factors.”
Early middle grade literature might be just what these reluctant readers need. Tara Lazar recently featured PJ Gardner’s post Early Middle Grade Needs You, Says PJ Gardner on her blog. Gardner says that “Early Middle Grade is where we start to lose young readers, and I think that’s directly tied to the limited number of books aimed at them.”
Gardner encourages authors to think creatively about how they can target this early middle grade audience. She says these books should include straightforward stories told in 5,000-10,000 words. For Gardner, there are just two major keys – “create believable characters and craft dynamic plots.”
Think of popular series like Judy Moody, Dog Man, and Geronimo Stilton. These shorter, more concrete books can form a bridge between chapter books and traditional middle grade novels.
Upper Middle Grade
So, what’s the second gap in today’s middle grade market? Dyksterhouse says we need “upper middle grade novels for readers who are ready to engage with deeper themes, tougher subject matters and more complex stories but are not yet ready for the intensity of YA that has increasingly focused on characters aged 17-18+ and experiences they encounter.”
This may sound familiar. School Library Journal’s Teen Literary Toolbox recently highlighted the same need in a guest post by author and middle school language arts teacher Laurie Morrison. Morrison’s piece is titled “Why We Need More ‘Developmentally Relevant’ Upper MG Romance.”
Let’s pause for a moment and break down the term “developmentally relevant.” Morrison says she discovered this term when library media specialist Steve Tetreault posted it on social media. She immediately embraced it as an alternative to the term “age appropriate,” which can invoke a connotation of judgment.
For Morrison, the words “age appropriate” do not “honor the fact that two kids who are the same age will have completely different life experiences, perspectives, and comfort levels with different kinds of content, and it raises the question of who, exactly, gets to decide what’s appropriate.” So, what kinds of “developmentally relevant” books are we talking about?
Upper middle grade books target readers ages 10-14 whose interests have grown beyond the literature written for 8-to-12-year-olds but who aren’t quite ready for the culture and content of YA. Morrison says that kids in this range are hungry for books that are relevant to them.
Leslie Zampetti, literary agent and owner of Open Book Literary agrees. She reflects on her years as a librarian, when she met younger readers who sought genres similar to what their older siblings were reading. However, they wanted stories that were relevant to their experiences and situations.
“Conventional wisdom is that young readers prefer to ‘read up,’ focusing on older characters,” Zampetti acknowledges. “But my experience was that it’s more nuanced: often, confident and mature readers want to read up, and publishing tends to focus on those readers. Less confident or sophisticated readers want to read books with characters their own age, facing events and emotions new to them and similar to what they’re experiencing.”
Morrison echoes Zampetti. In her classroom, Morrison encounters a number of kids in the 11-14 age range who are eager to read romance novels. While most are not ready for YA literature, they crave romance tropes that are relevant to (and dare I say appropriate for?) their age and experience.
Morrison lists books like Nashae Jones’s Courtesy of Cupid, and Wendy Wan-Long Shang’s Bubble Trouble, as well as her own Keeping Pace, as examples of books that fit this much-needed niche.
Authors may be wondering if the publishing industry is as hungry for these upper-middle grade books as the young readers seem to be. According to Zampetti, yes. She affirms that “editors and agents are definitely looking for ‘developmentally relevant’ books, whether classified as upper middle grade or ‘middle school’ or young YA.”
Good News for Authors
If you’re a middle grade author who’s feeling a bit discouraged these days, take heart. You may want to start brainstorming some ideas for straightforward stories that would fit into the early middle grade category. Or perhaps you want to ponder ways some popular tropes can become relevant to upper middle grade readers.
The good news is that opportunity exists. There are gaps to be filled at both ends of the middle grade spectrum. By addressing the need for books that bridge the transitions into and out of middle grade, we just might be able to engage young readers and reverse the slump.
Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!
Lori: My first nonfiction editor, Ann Rider, now retired, taught me that quotes from historical figures “bring the text to life.” They were sprinkled throughout our books together: 
Lori: I currently live in a desert not far from the Mojave—the Sonoran desert in Arizona. Much as Joshua trees represent the Mojave, the Sonoran desert is known for its towering saguaro cacti. Saguaros can grow to 50 feet tall and live more than 150 years. They are a slow growing cacti, with only a few inches of growth during their first ten years. It can take more than 60 years for a saguaro to grow its first arm. While many people here in Tucson would love to have one of these stately, iconic cacti in their front yard, it is illegal to poach them from the desert floor. Luckily, state-wide laws protect saguaro from theft, vandalism, and unnecessary destruction. If a saguaro interferes with new construction projects, permits are required to move and replant the specimen. Because of such laws, saguaros are highly safeguarded and not currently listed as threatened or endangered, although they may soon face other challenges due to climate change.
In addition to picture books, LORI ALEXANDER writes chapter books about the fascinating history of science and medicine. She won a Sibert Honor Award for All in a Drop: How Antony van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible World, and A Sporting Chance: How Ludwig Guttmann Created the Paralympic Games was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book. Her recent release, What’s a Germ, Joseph Lister?: The Medical Mystery That Forever Changed the Way We Heal, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Lori resides in Tucson, Arizona, with her scientist husband and two book-loving teens. 