I work with young readers who vent to me about fiction books their teachers assign.

Ugh, not another book about mean people.

There’s just so much sad stuff in this book.

Can’t we just read? I hate [insert generic comprehension check here].

Ah, middle grade readers. Such a mix of tender sensibilities, growing toughness, and tendency to tune out what might overwhelm. While these young minds are hungry for wider vistas, their advancing vocabulary and bold affect do not automatically come with mature critical thinking and healthy emotional processing. And the range is wide even within the middle grades; third graders do not read, retain, or reflect like sixth graders.

Careful book curation as introduced here in January (Mind the Middle Project: What IS Middle Grade Fiction Anyway?) is important to reprise at the start of the school year. Let’s prioritize reader confidence and a lifelong love of reading over hot or heady topics better suited for older audiences. Themes and text density, and tasks should align with the expected developmental milestones for middle graders.

Yes, readiness levels are rising, but readers who’ve been happily wading in story time routines won’t all dive simultaneously into comprehensive literary analysis. Overly advanced skills or subjects tug at some kids like an undertow. Struggling with surges of reluctance, they can’t navigate worrisome concepts and may flounder with completing work. For now, float big ideas on books with fun-to-functional elements. Let new tides of awareness and related skills rise and flow. As readers mature with moderated exposure, books and analysis will become secure anchors or even life preservers for deeper waters.

Dialing back the in-your-face drama and streamlining response requirements is not falsely protecting or naively expecting wide-eyed innocence. It’s not lowering achievement expectations or disregarding the value of bibliotherapy and free choice. It’s parsing and pacing titles and tasks to nourish and sustain this precocious, sometimes prickly, group of readers.

Tapering this tapestry of ideals into available teaching time and learning variables is not easy. Here are some pre-reading, analysis, and reflection concepts and sample activities that may help. Each relates to Winx Thinks – Dinosaurs! Book 1 of my new Stinky Socks Adventures series (at Bookshop or Amazon). Mindful of required learning standards, they can be individualized for a range of middle grade needs. Change a few prompt details, and the activities are adaptable for most any middle grade fiction book you choose.

PRIORITIES

SCHEDULES – Defend extended reading time. If no heavily scaffolded supports are needed to maintain readerly focus, let kids stay immersed in the story via print, digital readers, audiobooks, or shared reading. And while sectioned or chapter-by-chapter responses can be efficient, they often yank readers from the story in an unrecoverable instant. Guide readers to choose a logical pause between plot-churning versus more business-as-usual scenes or chapters before dipping intocomprehension checks and analysis. Some kids may ask to read to the end before proving mastery. Shorter middle grade titles are perfect for testing this desire to see what worked, what didn’t, and why. Allowed the freedom to try this once, many will agree there’s value in intermediary reading checks for subsequent books.

Read a scene, chapter, or more of Winx’s adventures. Identify where you want to stop reading. Winx likes to both tell and act out his recent time travel adventure for his sister, Marta. Accurately reenact a scene of your choice with action and dialogue. [Note – Let students focus on timeline and setting details. The acting will bring forth interpretations of mood, motivation, tone, voice, and traits.]

SEASONING – Spice it up with cross-curricular ingredients to stimulate appetites for the book’s many layers. Reinforce enthusiasm or lure under-engaged readers with science, music, critical thinking, history, collaboration, art, or problem solving that relate, even tangentially, to the story’s plot or setting.

Winx loves All Things Dinosaur, and the plot also dovetails with the advent of paleontology. Be like Winx and find even more fast facts and ideas that relate to the story. Dig into kid-friendly biographies for ‘gossip’ about, or great finds by early paleontologists. Find paleoart of your favorite dinosaur then imitate it. Make a list of Marta’s mystery illness symptoms and interview an adult for likely treatments. Use your findings to edit or add scenes (written or drawn) to make the story more personally appealing.

PEDAGOGY

CREATIVITY – Do your lessons sustain unfettered readerly joy or skew heavily into comprehension check lists? Choose more joy. The meaty stuff comes through when the learning is motivated. Sure, traditional annotation and anchor charts are useful, but tap into multi-sensory, out-of-seat, explorations, too. Creative flow invites young minds to retain, reflect, refine, and grow.

Winx finds a stack of books with titles that all reference time. Search a library, store, website, and/or private bookshelf for 10 books (or 1-2 per person for the class) with ‘time’ or a synonym in the title. Sort the books by bespoke categories like:  Winx would/wouldn’t read the book, visit the book’s setting, or find the book useful for becoming better at time travel. Add more categories! Predict, then confirm after reading, how each choice connects to plot, setting, theme, or characters in Winx’s story.

CRITICAL THINKING – Quick and quirky can help readers digest story elements and relate to how characters think, act, explore, and mature. Ask for logical links to familiar things (not long answers) to set the stage for deeper querying later.

Aiming for the Mesozoic, Winx doesn’t immediately realize he’s time traveled to a farm in 1750. List five setting details to explain how he determines where he’s landed. List 10 things you often carry or use every day that were not around in 1750. Choose one item you’d sneak to 1750 for a 30-minute visit. Would Winx agree? Why?

PRAGMATICS

FORMAT – Graphic organizers and color-coded outlines are awesome. Sophisticated word choice and proper punctuation, too. So is getting outside of the box. Do it all. Super-charge standardized writing exercises by fueling first with dynamic pre-writing. Motivate focus with digital art, music, interpretive movement, or dimensional design activities.

To the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” the Timeless Toe Covers (a.k.a. Stinky Socks) sing for Winx about some important rules of time travel. Select a passage, chapter, or entire book and recap key plot points, thematic details, or character milestones to the same (or similarly familiar) tune. Option:  Work in pairs or groups where one half drafts words while the other half repeatedly checks them against the tune to maintain rhythm with careful word choices. Change roles at least once.

FUN-DAMENTALS – Play is the work of children, so FUN can catalyze middle grader’s literary growth, too. Direct accounting of literary elements can wait until readers first play with the story in different ways.

Winx’s story includes a lot of puns, sibling patter, and even some poo fossils, all great pre-reading fodder or intermediary breaks.  1) Search pun lists like 101 Funny Puns and One-Liners For Kids and Adults or 31 Funny Puns for Kids | Reader’s Digest. Sort the puns by spelling, sound, or contrast humor. 2) List five brother-sister pairs from sitcoms, books, or movies known for their shared humor, minor spats, and stick-together-ness. Rank them in order of Most to Least Like Winx & Marta. Explain the rankings. 3) Find the scientific word for ‘poo fossils’ and why they’re important to paleontologists. Explain this in four distinct ways to:  a first grader, a professor you want to impress, a very proper lady, and a friend who can’t crack up at what you say.

PICTURE BOOKS ARE NOT (Just) PRIMARY

Middle graders need picture books! Many high-concept titles share content that aligns both with middle grade curriculum and individual levels of readiness. Plus, these 32-page powerhouses are efficient, engaging encapsulations for dipping into how to study history, STEAM, SEL, and most any literary element found in longer books. Pair at least one picture book with each longer title to catalyze critical thinking and concept connections.

Prepare for Winx’s paleo-excitement, fact-based thinking, and time travel goals by enjoying “Lulu & The Brontosaurus” by Judith Viorst, “Sinclair, The Velociraptor Who Thought He Was a Chicken” by Douglas Rees, or “Time Flies” by Eric Rohmann. During/after reading, look for touchpoints to Winx’s adventures. 

PREP for MORE

Choose books and assign tasks that help middle graders engage in their developmental comfort zone. Yes, there are large, oft-ugly truths incredibly well-conveyed in fiction. And yes, critical thinking requires exposure to disciplined processing patterns. But learning about new, perhaps intensely different cultures, cadences, or ‘common knowledge’ should not come at the expense of the brain development and social-emotional health of even our most prodigious young readers. Structure access so young minds and soft or bruised hearts have time to prepare. This can only improve how they will process blaring headlines and fully adult contexts when the time comes.

Ultimately, readers must select their own content and maintain their own levels of engagement. Middle graders given well-moderated book topics and tasks can steadily build pace, depth, and breadth into their literary skills as they develop an intrinsically sustainable love of reading. Afterall, there many chapters to come for these developing young minds.

BIO

Katie O’Brien Engen, M.Ed. and wordplay specialist, writes stories and cross-curricular learning resources to engage young minds with big ideas. She works in private practice mentoring students with executive function and language processing challenges. Katie also reviews kidlit books for various outlets. Happy to leave her desk for family or sports, Katie is fueled by faith, laughter, and ice cream. She lives in Maryland where her favorite run is the ~10 miles to the Washington Monument. Unlike Winx, Katie has yet to pick a favorite dinosaur. See www.KatieEngen.com for more on books & brainy fun. Follow Katie on Insta @bigideas4youngminds or X and Pinterest @KTOEngen.

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