An Open Letter to Middle Grade Authors and Publishers Regarding Book Length, a guest post by School Librarian and Media Specialist Christina Chatel

Dear Middle Grade Authors and Publishers,

I write this letter to voice my concern over an issue that, as a middle school media specialist of
eleven years, I struggle with daily and am in need of your help. As a tween reader of the late 1980s and early 1990s, I grew up on the short, pulpy, gritty, sugary-sweet paperbacks of the time period. Through my years as a high school English teacher and then school librarian, I eagerly watched the evolution of middle grade and young adult books from the 2000s to present.

Today’s tween books are increasingly reflective of the diversity of the students I serve in my
metro-Detroit suburban middle school libraries, while having a literary heft and an honesty and a smartness and a social awareness to them that I didn’t always see in the books I read as a teen. And yet…

Middle grade authors and publishers—where are all the SHORT novels?

You cannot imagine how many times a day I can tell by the wrinkle of a pre-teen nose that the
book I’m suggesting has too many pages.

You cannot imagine how many times a day I have students asking me where the “short book”
section is.

You cannot imagine how many brand-new books gather dust on my new book shelf because
they are just too long.

I can usually talk a sixth grader into a title that meets their desire for something short, but it’s
much harder to find a book on my shelves skinny enough for the discriminating seventh or
eighth grader that has a storyline appealing to 12-14 year olds featuring diverse characters that also doesn’t have a cheesy, elementary school-looking cover. And even if that book is a mere 200 pages…blast it all if that hardcover doesn’t make the book look even thicker…

Let’s be clear—when I say “short” or “skinny” books, I’m not looking for hi-lo titles or easy
readers. I’m not seeking more books in the vein of Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Dork Diaries. I am
asking for genuine middle grade books (meaning grade 6 and up) written by authors of different backgrounds who can, frankly, get a captivating story done in way fewer than 350 pages.

What seems to temporarily satisfy a “short book” request is often a verse novel, which I can
convince them into checking out because I show them there’s not a lot of words on each page.
Verse novels have become a smash hit in my libraries—please keep the verse novels coming! A
huge favorite is Tommy Greenwald’s Game Changer, which mixes verse, text messages, and
social media posts, leaving me to wonder why we don’t have more (short) middle grade books
that are written in the ways that kids communicate.

Admittedly, there’s work and research to be done on our teacher and librarian side of things to
figure out how we can build our students’ post-COVID reading stamina so that they are not
intimidated by longer books. We do still need books published for our students who are ready
for, delight in, and seek out epic tales with a high page count—but those children seem to be
few and far between.

In my thinking, herein lies the problem: too many books are being published for grades 4-6 or
grades 9+, but not enough that appeal to the kids stuck in the middle, the seventh and eighth
graders.

We need your support by writing and publishing tween books that are around 150-200 pages,
with an enticing start, action throughout to keep kids’ attention, and something provocative to make it truly middle grade book versus upper elementary. My ideal middle grade “short” book would have the look and feel of Jason Reynold’s Ghost—the simple cover has mass appeal, the size is just right, the storyline is easy to book talk, the narrative allows for great discussions, and the main character is so, so relatable to tweens. The provocative part? You find out right at the start that Ghost learned he’s such a fast runner when he and his mother had to escape his drunk father who was brandishing a gun at them. Teens are
immediately pulled in by this premise, and they stick with the story, because while Ghost makes one bad decision after another, readers still can’t help but to love him and cheer for him to succeed.

I know I’m asking for a lot—thin book, appealing cover, timely topics that 12-14 year olds are
interested in, varied text format, humor, page-turning action and adventure, as well as diverse
authorship and characters. Nevertheless, the publishing industry rose to the challenge of the We Need Diverse Books movement over the past ten years. What’s our new rally cry for the 2020s? It can only be this: #WeNeedShortMGBooks. (And, of course, we still need diverse books, all the respect to the hard and important work of that organization).

Signed,
Christina Chatel
School Library Media Specialist

Author Bio

Christina Chatel has completed 11 years as a School Library Media Specialist at Boulan Park and Smith Middle Schools in Troy, MI. She received the Roger Ashley Freedom to Read Award in 2022 from the Michigan Association for School Librarians. Prior to being a school librarian, Christina taught high school English for ten years. You can find her on X @medialoguer and on Instagram @troymsmedia.

Filed under: Mind the Middle, Mind the Middle Project