We Need Diverse Middle Grade

Welcome to the home page for our series We Need Diverse Middle Grade (WNDMG), where we archive all our WNDMG posts.

Our mission: We celebrate and promote diversity in middle-grade books, and we examine the issues preventing better equity and inclusion on the middle-grade bookshelf. We intend to amplify and honor all diverse voices.

We Need Diverse Middle Grade posts once a month, drawing on work from our own team of contributors as well as from guest authors, editors, agents, teachers, librarians, and booksellers. You can count on our presence here on Mixed-Up Files to shine a light on the stories, work, and truth of all those who are still underrepresented in this field. You’ll be able to recognize our monthly posts by seeing our WNDMG logo: the diverse world we envision. Our artwork is by contributor Aixa Perez-Prado.

Guest Posts for We Need Diverse Middle Grade

If you’re interested in being considered for a guest post slot on WNDMG, please feel free to email: mufcommunications@gmail.com. Please Note: We do not pay for guest blog posts.

Latest from the Blog

  • We Need Diverse MG
    WNDMG Wednesday – Celebrating – and Fighting for – Queer Joy
    March 8, 2023 by
    WNDMG Wednesday is excited to host authors Nicole Melleby and A. J. Sass this week as they write about celebrating and fighting for queer joy. Welcome to WNDMG! Celebrating–and Fighting for–Queer Joy Guest Post by Nicole Melleby and A. J. Sass When it came time for us to write this essay, it would have been all too easy for us to sit here and talk about book bans, and challenges, and how queer authors, like ourselves, are often thrust into the spotlight as a result of them. This is an important topic, without question. Because kids deserve to see themselves and their identities represented in books without bigoted pushback–because we deserved to see ourselves in books when we were kids, too, but we rarely did and we want to do our part in giving young readers this representation now, despite the repeated attempts to censor it. And we also acknowledge that these acts of censorship are hard on queer authors...
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  • We Need Diverse MG Logo hands holding reading globe with stars and spirals floating around
    WNDMG Wednesday – Debut Author Noa Nimrodi
    February 8, 2023 by
      WNDMG Wednesday – Debut Author Interview Hello everyone, and happy WNDMG Wednesday to you. I’m so excited to be able to introduce you to debut author Noa Nimrodi today. Noa’s new book is NOT SO SHY (Kar-Ben/Lerner) and it launches on April 4, 2023. NOT SO SHY was a great read – I truly loved her well-realized characters and her gentle exploration of tough topics. Full disclosure–Noa and I are in the same debut author cohort, and we also share a launch date for our books AND an editor, the fabulous Amy Fitzgerald! About Not So Shy Twelve-year-old Shai...
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  • We Need Diverse MG Logo hands holding reading globe with stars and spirals floating around
    WNDMG Wednesday – Debut Author Tamika Burgess
    January 11, 2023 by
    A New Year of We Need Diverse MG Happy 2023, everyone! Welcome back to a new year of We Need Diverse MG, (WNDMG) where we get the chance to amplify the voices of marginalized creators and center publishing issues in the voice of underrepresented communities. A New Year of Authors Our first post of the year features a debut author, Tamika Burgess, who is part of my own debut cohort: MG in 23. Tamika holds the distinction of being the first of our group to publish in 2023 – Congratulations, Tamika! I got a chance to interview her about her...
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  • We Need Diverse MG
    WNDMG Wednesday – Holiday Gifts for MG Readers
    December 14, 2022 by
      Holiday Gifts for MG Readers Welcome to WNDMG Wednesday – the holiday edition! Looking for holiday gifts for your MG readers? How about a video game or virtual reality goggles? Ha. Not April Fools yet, sorry, I got confused. But seriously folks, how about books … and not just books, but a subscription book box? I’ve got the perfect idea: the Atlas Book Club, founded by Bunmi Emenanjo. The Atlas Book Club was created specifically with diversity in mind: to provide a way for kids to read in a way that builds global awareness, cultural consciousness, empathy, and understanding. Lucky...
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