Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

We now see a lot of vampires, zombies, undead, sucking of souls, sudden deaths in middle grade fiction. Fantasy too has become more fantastic, and darker.
There are fewer 'normal'stories.
How do you, as a parent or teacher, or as a socially conscious adult,see this trend?

Well, I'm not a fan of paranormal written for any age. I do like more classic fantasy, which can certainly have grim and scary elements. But one thing that bothers me about bringing all this down to MG fiction. . . well two things. . . is how impressionable kids that age are--much more likely to buy into it. The second thing is especially about vampires because, frankly, vampires have a lot to do with sex, in some really unpleasant ways.

As a parent, I read pretty much everything before my kids read it. My 12 year old is becoming more of an independent reader, but especially with my 9 year old, I read it first. We are a big reading family, so we read together almost nightly. We also discuss books, movies, etc. I encourage my children to think about what they read and to look for the deeper messages. Being involved, teaching critical thinking, and being open to their interpretations, are the best things we can do.

Vampires are my least favorite subject matter either in YA,middle school or adult reading. But with that being said,some of the lives that I know my students lead make vampire novels seem laughable and tame. Personally I'd rather have them reading novels about how to deliver themselves from ugly and harmful adults. Again I mention Eleanor and Park,although the language was too graphic(not detailed) to let my middle school girls read, it was certainly less horrific than what was going on in their lives.One novel I
read as a kid (Jan and the Silver Sword) by Ian Whibley I believe detailed a 15 year old boys escape from a concentration camp in WW2. Dark gruesome,but true and the kid survived and made it to Sweden with his family. That's the type of novel that I would have my kids reading

C.S. Lewis wrote and interesting article about the value of fantasy and darkness in children's literature that is worth reading: http://library.taylor.edu/dotAsset/8b...

But I think there is a current trend toward darker and edgier fare because it sells, not because it is good or worthy literature. The dark is too dark and the light at the end is not bright enough. In my opinion, children's books should be helping kids navigate the world in a positive way, especially because (like Betsy mentioned) so many kids are raising themselves in a very difficult world without enough love and support.

Like Heidi, I'm reading the books my kids are reading. I'm not horribly strict about what they pick up, but I want to help them think critically about them.

I was much stricter when they were younger. But the moment they hit public school, you lose most control. You can try to fight it, but then you just get viewed as "controlling". Better to be an active participant and guide them to good decisions, than the constant villain refusing to let them do the things that they want. That is just setting yourself up for an ODD child! Fortunately, I must have done something right, because for the most part they make good decisions about what they choose to read. I have even had my youngest say "I'm not really ready for this" on a couple of books and I respected his decision.

Like any thrill inducing drug, the dosage has to get progressively stronger so the books are getting darker and scarier.
Some children may laugh it off but there are quite a few who get scared and even get bad dreams.

Heidi wrote: "I was much stricter when they were younger. But the moment they hit public school, you lose most control. You can try to fight it, but then you just get viewed as "controlling". Better to be an act..."

Instilling a sense of self-monitoring is the best thing you can do for your kids. I'm glad they have that sense. Getting them to talk about how they feel affected by books they read is a good way to continue to develop this trait.

I wondered if the trend toward "vampires, zombies, undead, sucking of souls, sudden deaths in middle grade fiction" is a way to capture more boy readers (not to say that they are the only ones who like to read these kinda books mind you). These are a few that come to mind Or perhaps it is like Gita says that they have to get darker and scarier. I tend to allow some self-monitoring of book choices but I also read and discuss the books that my child reads too. Makes for some great conversations.

Betsy wrote: it certainly less horrific than what was going on in their lives...."

Very sad.

I tend to judge a MG book by the way it is written, or attitude rather than the content. A book with vampires might be quite humorous and not at all dark, if it doesn't take itself too seriously. I think MG books should lean towards an less realistic/cartoony style if they are to take on such dark matter as monsters, ghosts, zombies, etc. At least, primarily, for the younger end of MG. YA readers, can handle more real and dark paranormal elements, but for MG readers something can be both thrilling, and a little scary, without truly diving headfirst into the creepiest and most sinister of realms.

Good point, Evelyn.

I personally enjoy Paranormal so its hard to restrict my daughter from reading it. I think if its done right then it is still a light story that is OK for MG.

My daughter reads Sienna Mercervampire series and they aren't dark. I think they are rather cute.

I've heard a lot of criticism about the Monster High books but beyond the fashion talk they really promote being who you are and celebrating differences.

Heck, even Daniel Pinkwater wrote about vampires. No, wait, they were Wempires.

As a writer of realistic MG fiction, I find this a very interesting topic. My latest theory for the ascendency of fantasy over realism, is that in fantasy novels, the child characters are actually allowed a lot of freedom, and adult readers (parents, teachers, librarians) will accept this because 'real world' rules do not apply. In realistic novels, children are expected to follow the rules of the real world, which in today's world mean nearly constant supervision by a parent/teacher/ or other guardian. This leaves little scope for adventure. I've written a blog post on this topic at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

Kate, somewhere in here we have a discussion about this dilemma, titled something like "The Dead Parents Society" after one of the common traditional ways of leaving kids to run their own lives.

The other thing fantasy can do is, like Brian Jacques, use animals, which seems to allow "adult" characters to be heroes of kids books. [total weirdness: when I typed "heros"' it autocorrected--not to "heroes," but to..."jerks". Huh?]

Kate wrote: "I've written a blog post on this topic..."

Good post.

I write action/adventure MG, which isn't quite "realistic," but is hopefully "believable." Both parents are alive (yeah, how shocking!), and well aware of possible dangers, so I need to go to some lengths to get the 11-year-old heroine off on her own. First, her parents need to fight a fire, so she's sent off to roam through a college campus building on her own (which seemed plausible to me). A lot of the plot work in the story is building pressure which will force her to disobey and run off into danger, despite her parents' strong instructions to the contrary. And... it leads pretty quickly to disaster.

(Hopefully not-too-self-serving plug: read it yourself, The Lightning Gun is on free Kindle promotion through Thanksgiving, the 27th).

I spent a lot of thought trying to come up with ways around this issue, and also setting things up so it would be easier in Book 2.

To my mind, a similarly-sized drama killer is the cell phone. Every kid has a cell phone these days. Back in the old Hardy Boys days you had plenty of dramatic opportunities:

* The heroes can't send the vital information in time
* The heroes can't warn the victim
* The heroes are lost or trapped and need rescue
* The heroes find the victim or villain, but now need to alert authorities

But when everyone carries a cell phone, there are a huge host of issues like these that simply pop like a soap bubble. I tried to deal with this, too.

One useful tip: if the cell phone ever breaks, there are no more pay phones, and strangers are very reluctant nowadays to let anyone make a "free call."

Hi Jay,

Yeah, I pity those writers in the mystery genre as well. No longer can the assembled suspects be stuck in a creepy house, far from civilization, when the phone lines go down...

Kate--thus the prevalence of historic settings for mysteries!

M.G. wrote: "C.S. Lewis wrote and interesting article about the value of fantasy and darkness in children's literature that is worth reading: http://library.taylor.edu/dotAsset/8b......"

I agree. Most writers won't make much money anyway, so it would be nice to write an interesting book that's also good.

Glad I write fantasy. Cell phones and now i-phones; info everywhere. Mysteries would be difficult to write!

Kate wrote: "Hi Jay,

Yeah, I pity those writers in the mystery genre as well. No longer can the assembled suspects be stuck in a creepy house, far from civilization, when the phone lines go down..."

Oh there's no problem in loads of places in the UK. Combinations of powercut so unable to charge phones or being on the wrong network, so you have to walk up to the next hill to get a signal... or hang out of the window to get more than 2 bars, which go off just as you connect... the possibilities are endless. Come to think of it....

Good point, Jemima! And cheapskates like us get "networks" that only serve the biggest cities. The spouse and I have frequently laid plans when biking and running in opposite directions "call when you reach Half Moon Bay..." only to find that we have no reception there. For that matter, my mystery heroine shares a problem with me: she's not that used to the cell phone, so when wanted it is usually dead, or she doesn't know where it is :)

Rebecca wrote: "Good point, Jemima! And cheapskates like us get "networks" that only serve the biggest cities. The spouse and I have frequently laid plans when biking and running in opposite directions "call when ..."

Most of the time my mobile doesnt have enough charge to do more than text. Then it gets one out and asks to be recharged :)

Then of course I leave it charging and forget to take it with me. By the time it gets back in my bag it will sit for days before I want it, and then we start again...
:)

Hi Rebecca and Jemima,
Those are all great mystery contrivances, but will they not make us seem like DOFs (dumb old fogeys) to our young readers?
kate

Kate wrote: "Hi Rebecca and Jemima,
Those are all great mystery contrivances, but will they not make us seem like DOFs (dumb old fogeys) to our young readers?
kate"
My earlier one about networks, is common to everyone in my area. The funniest thing is the local bus into the nearest city: five miles from my village, as the bus goes up a hill, half the phones beep as they've just got a signal and retrieved their messages.
The rest of us are on the network with signal in our village, of course.

Kate, since I am a DOF,and my main character is a flake, it kind of works...I couldn't be hip if I tried.

I can also think of ways for the cell to lead someone into trouble--the urgent text from a friend...

How did we get here from paranormal fantasy? Talk about thread drift!

Take a bunch of creative people and see how far they travel! As Scree, my character, said, "Who knows where a thought will lead?"

J.S. wrote: "Take a bunch of creative people and see how far they travel! As Scree, my character, said, "Who knows where a thought will lead?""

To trouble, all too often :D

I serve on our school board. Nothing strikes fear in the heart of our Superintendent like me emailing him and saying "I've been thinking..." :D

I can only imagine!