Let’s Talk About the Most Ignored Group in Youth Fiction: 12-15 year-olds, a guest post by author L. M. Elliott

Itchy, inquisitive, indignant. Flexing their intellectual muscles but still innocent socially.

Itchy, inquisitive, indignant. Flexing their intellectual muscles but still innocent socially. Looking for heroes to believe in—really believe. Gawky. Excitable. Changing by the month. And testing, always testing adults. Seventh through Tenth graders, twelve to fifteen-year-olds. The Best. And the most ignored readership in youth fiction.

Why? Want an honest answer? Knee-jerk allegiance to reliable parameters and formulae. Discomfort with gray zones. We have universally accepted labels of literature for youth: “middle-grade” (8 to 12-year-olds) and young adult (14 and up). A narrative that settles into the in-between pocket of older MG/younger YA is discouraged (and typically passed over) by publishers’ acquisitions these days. And faces a no-man’s land in marketing and bookstore shelving.

It’s frustrating and—I’m probably going to get in trouble saying this but like those irrepressible middle-schoolers can’t help myself—it’s foolishly short-sighted.  

Seventh through Ninth grades are the make-or-break years—especially for boys—in whether someone will become a life-long reader or give up the joy of books. A window of opportunity before the tyrannical demands of AP curriculum, college tests, and varsity team practice schedules kick in. A time kids might actually still read for pleasure.

I love writing for that age group and visiting their schools. Half my fourteen historical/biographical novels are aimed specifically at those precocious six-graders on up through high school freshmen. They’re such sponges. Ready to take on meaningful and tough issues with courageous curiosity—as long as harsh, heartbreaking truths are delivered with age-appropriate sensibilities. They want truth, not sugar-coated, but not overly graphic or cynical either.  And they need it wrapped in a little hope that if characters (and therefore themselves) stick to their moral compass of what is humane and just that they can indeed make a difference in the world.

These teens need characters their own age. They’re tired of reading about either twelve-year-olds or seventeen-year-olds. (I’ve heard voracious sixth grade readers joke about “another twelve-year-old protagonist—of course,” as they roll their eyes.) For middle schoolers, the dearth of protagonists their own age corroborates a nagging suspicion they harbor: that they aren’t yet worthy or complete human beings.

Interestingly, these readers like what I’d call a wider narrative than strict YA—which generally narrows in on peers going through adolescent angst and empowerment battles. Twelve to fifteen-year-olds seem to relish a multi-generational cast of supporting characters, since they are full throttle into that disorienting developmental stage of trying to figure out adults, learning to accept them flaws and strengths alike, while still being utterly dependent on them. That’s a tough emotional tightrope for them to walk. So, stories that offer at first perplexing adults who eventually reveal themselves to be perhaps the best champion and ally a young person could hope for—like my formidable Mrs. Scott in Bea and the New Deal Horse or the PTSD-plagued, WWII veteran dad in Suspect Red—seem to really grab them.

Of course, writing successfully for this twelve-to-fifteen age range demands nuance in tone and content. Portraying difficult scenes in a way younger readers can take on face value, the more complicated issues and themes “going over their heads,” while slightly older readers ready for it can recognize the more distressing or evocative truths (or humor) laced in. A chance to live up to what Cousin Belle says in Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves: that a well-done story “can speak to souls different ways at different times of life.”

To see the light of day out in the world, these “in-between” novels need editors willing to push marketing departments to pay attention. And teachers to not look down on new works as inferior to “the classics” and refuse to use them. I wish everyone in the industry would follow the lead of school librarians and good indie bookstore-sellers who actually read novels and chat them up according to the client/student standing in front of them.

As a historical fiction author, I’ve seen that youth this age still crave learning through story, by osmosis. They haven’t completely shed the delight of make-believe games or imagination. Works that complement canon literature or history/civics classes—offering dramatized narratives that contextualize core curriculum and humanize history—let them imagine what they themselves might do as they walk along the journey of a character they identify with and care about. When we humans feel something, we remember it—especially at this age.  I’ve had the honor of witnessing this impact with Under a War-Torn Sky (for WWII study), Suspect Red and Walls (for The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, and the Cold War), Give Me Liberty and Hamilton and Peggy! (for the American Revolution).

BTW, I really love capturing the heart and imagination of boys this age, proving they will read beyond underwear jokes or sports profiles if you give them engrossing search-for-self-definition stories encased in action. They really gravitate to historical fiction. Bugs, battles, and beatable bullies—that’s my mantra to include for them. 

Recently, I was interviewed by two 30-something dudes (the best word I can think of to describe them and their podcast—very masculine but still goofy and sweet). One of them had loved Under a War-Torn Sky as an 8^th grader and introduced his co-host to it in a book club style discussion. He claimed the novel is what made him a lifelong reader. I’m sure he was mostly being gracious, but his lasting love of Henry Forester’s odyssey and the maquisards who help him evade capture seems very sincere. It was incredibly touching to hear him describe characters with such fondness, insight, and clear memory. He sent me his first edition copy (from 2001!), much dog-eared, to sign and return. He’d had it since he was fourteen.

At this year’s PLA and TxLA, two of the best school/library staffers in the publishing business told me they’d had a stream of librarians coming to their booth asking for novels with thirteen to fifteen-year-old protagonists. With some surprise, as they turned and searched their rows of new books, they realized they had none.

Educators often, and rightly, bemoan the increasing aging-up of middle-grade narratives, novels pigeonholed as such, but which explore questions too sophisticated for a nine-year-old and better suited for this very age range we’re discussing. Honestly, it’s happening more and more because authors recognize that a particular story demands more complexity but don’t have publishing houses willing to buy it. So, they try to stuff story elements into a box that actually exists.

Solutions? I’m not an expert, just someone who’s been blessed to write for teens for twenty years and to have had editors willing to take on naysayers regarding these readers. I believe the best solution is an additional grouping. A “hey we exist!” or “Junior High” label. Or honestly, doing away with the nebulous term “middle grade,” replacing it with two distinct categories: Upper Elementary and Middle School.  I know that means each would have a shorter purchase spans and, therefore, is problematic financially for publishers—but it seems so much better for our young readers. After all, you wouldn’t drop fourth graders into an eighth-grade class, expecting them to feel comfortable or heard. Or vice versa.

Short of that, creating covers that avoid portraying a character as clearly ‘tween or younger would allow an older reader to pick up a novel without feeling self-conscious. Teens do like to look cool in what they carry around to read. Same with age-range labels on the book—replacing finite frames like 8 to 12 (which makes a thirteen-year-old drop a book like a hot potato) with 10 and up or 12 and up.

Some awards do this already. Hurrah! Like the Bank Street College of Education Best that breaks down its recognition by smaller brackets, including twelve to fourteen. Or the Grateful American Book Prize created specifically to support authors daring to write historical fiction geared to seventh through ninth grades. If more awards committees would do so, that would encourage publishers to follow suit. Speaking bluntly, such recognitions generate more of the sales needed to allow the industry to think out-of-the-box.

The more middle schools can host their own book fairs (perhaps in tandem with an author visit), featuring books they recommend for these hungry twelve- to fifteen-year-olds, the better. I was recently invited to a remarkable middle school in Harrisonburg, Virginia that goes all out to make reading feel fun and cool and magical. They maintain a cozy reading lounge and a “Get Caught Reading” bulletin board—on which they applaud and post the names of kids spotted reading on their own time and initiative. Plus, a “Family Literacy Night” that brings in their whole community to celebrate the joy of books. I know such things require so much extra work, but the energy and excitement I witnessed in those kids—their sense of validation—was electric.

Change often comes from groundswells. Please, speak up when you can about your desire for novels aimed to this age—at conferences, publishers’ booths, or your favorite indie bookstores. Your voices matter—more than anyone else. You really know what teens need and want. Because you are the heroic souls creating readers.

L. M. Elliott was an award-winning, Washington-based magazine journalist, primarily covering women’s issues, before becoming a New York Times best-selling author of historical and biographical fiction. Her novels explore a variety of eras and are written for a variety of ages. They have won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, VLA’s Cardinal Cup, and the Grateful American Book Prize; been named NCSS/CBC Notables, Bank Street College of Education Best Books, Kirkus YA Bests, Jr. Library Guild Gold Selections, Capitol Choices, finalists in the Maine, Vermont, Utah, Virginia, Maryland, Iowa, and South Carolina state awards, and received many starred reviews.   

Author photo from author website https://lmelliott.com/laura-bio-and-interviews

Filed under: Middle Grade, Middle Grade Fiction, Mind the Middle, Mind the Middle Project