If you’ve followed my blog for some time, you probably know by now that I review both Middle Grade and Young Adult books. While MG is geared towards kids ages eight-twelve, YA is typically for teenagers and older. They’re both great, and their age suggestions aren’t limited to those in the age group. I know of adults who read MG and YA (after all, they write most of it!) and teens who read MG. (And review both YA and MG, like myself.)
I’ve been into Middle Grade books since I was seven or eight. I’m very familiar and comfortable with this section. If you give me a name of a book in MG, most likely I’ve either heard of it or have read it – or have read other books by the author. I want to be an author myself someday, and I definitely see myself writing in MG.
Middle Grade books certainly have safer content than Young Adult, but the main problem I have with it is this: the books are for 8-12 year-olds, so most of the main characters are around that age, as well. For kids, what their parents or guardians do or say affects them in everything – how that kid lives, what their story is like. So it makes sense for lots of Middle Grade books’ main plots be something circling around the main character’s parents. But that means that in MG books, there’s adult content written from a more innocent perspective.
I’ve gotten into Middle Grade books before that has foul language, or issues such as a child being abused, shootings, alcoholics, nasty divorces… inevitable things that happen in today’s world. But at eight years old, I wouldn’t understand a book like that. In my reading group in elementary school, my mom said “no” to many books I was required to read for this reason. This is marketed to kids from eight to twelve years old?
As for Young Adult, I’m thirteen, so it’s only been within the past year or two that I’ve branched out and stepped into this section. However, I’m definitely not as comfortable with YA as I am with MG. For one thing, Middle Grade is for younger kids (“tweens”), so I know that most of the books will have cleaner, less mature content. At least for me, I’ve found that YA books have more sexual content than anything. I feel a lot safer picking out a book in MG, so I tend to gravitate towards that area more than I do Young Adult. In fact, I rarely walk into my library or bookstore and pick up a YA book without having checked out the content on blogs I follow beforehand.
That’s not to say that all of Young Adult is inappropriate or unclean. There are lots of great books in this section. Actually, there are several YA books I thought I wouldn’t like, only to find how much I loved them. (I doubted The Selection series for a long time before giving it a try – and if you know me, I love this series!) The issue for me is that books within this section are everything from border-line Adult books (which I had to learn the hard way) to border-line Middle Grade books… and for a bookworm with high standards for “clean” and “unclean” books, it can be tough to differentiate between the two, at first glance.
My issues with Middle Grade and Young Adult books has a simple fix. If there are border-line YA books in MG, and border-line adult or MG books in YA, why can’t there be another section in between these two? A section for 8-12 year olds, a section for 12-year-olds and younger teens (like myself), and a section for older teens. Another thing I would love to see happen is books be rated just as movies are, but that’s a whole other post. 😉 (For more thoughts on that, I really loved Ana’s post on it here. You should definitely check it out!) But I think that adding another section would be really helpful, and an easier way to find good books for my age group.
I love MG & YA books, and I will continue to read and review them. Thankfully, I’ve found a great community of bookworms who are “in between” sections and content, like myself. There are still lots of great books that are right in my comfort zone when it comes to the content I read. This post was a sort of venting-session with my frustration for the types of books that are set out for each age group. But I really do hope something can be done about it, eventually.
what about you? how do you feel about mg & ya… and the content that comes along with them? i would really love to read what you have to say!
Yeah. I get where you are coming from. Lately I’ve been feeling a little to old.for some MG. Some of the characters are just so young. And ive been havimg a harder time conectinng with the younger characters. I’ve been gravitating towards young adult. Don’t.get me wrong I’ll still read MG. Yes! In between books are awesome! If I ever write a book I’m going to write one.about a 14 or 15 year old and keep it clean. I’ve read a few books I.consider in between. The whole percy jackson series and Harry Potter are great in between reads. And the MDBC are in between too!
I understand what you mean. I still love Middle Grade books, though, and I hope I won’t grow out of them… even if I don’t always relate to the characters in the way that I’m in 5th or 6th grade and have bullies/friendship issues/etc., I hope I still enjoy them. C.S. Lewis said, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” 🙂
I think I’ll probably write books like those, too. Although I think I’d like to write in all genres – MG, YA, and adult. (When I’m an adult, of course.) I’ll probably start with MG or YA.
Yeah. I should give the Percy Jackson series a try. MDBC is a fantastic in-between read. Especially because the series relates to a bunch of ages.
I loved this post, Emily! Like you, I feel so much safer picking up a random MG book that catches my eye than picking up a YA book, because I never know how clean or unclean it’s going to be. At the same time, though, I’m growing out of the themes in MG. Since MG books are intended for a much younger audience, the themes aren’t often as serious or deep, which is why YA and Christian adult fiction and classics appeal to me. So yea, I’m really in a dilemma. I like your idea of creating more age groups for fiction. I read Heather’s response post to mine yesterday, and in the comments section I suggested pretty much the same thing, although I would still like ratings. There is some YA that is so clean it could easily pass as MG and some YA that is so gritty it could easily pass as adult fiction. I know that some of what’s included in YA is realistic, but that doesn’t mean I want to read about it at all. I also don’t really like it when people try to imply that because a reader stays away from unclean fiction, they are immature. Ummmm…NO. Even when I’m adult, I’m going to stay away from it. Is staying away from FSoG deemed immature? No! It just depends on a reader’s values. Mainly all I want is some kind of warning on books so that I can choose books with a sense of assurance. Also, just a question for you. Do you rate books lower based on unclean content? There are times where I’ve read a story that’s really good but I have to skim because I came across unexpected content (*cough*Fairest*cough*). I don’t want to rate those books lower just because of that if I enjoyed the story. Ugh. It’s just another dilemma. *sighs*
Yes, I completely see where you’re coming from! Though I do wish there were more Christian TEEN fiction, like Rachel Coker or Tessa Emily Hall’s books. I need to work on that. 😉
I read Heather’s response, as well, but I still stand with you. I wish there were at least some way or another books could be rated.
Yep. I remember when I first started book blogging, I followed several blogs with bloggers around my age who reviewed much more deeper content, and I felt like they didn’t respect my reviews since they were “immature” or “below their age” or whatever. My friends at school can be that way, too, and it annoys me. Why can’t I still appreciate MG?! Just because I’m now a teenager? Aye aye aye. You make a great point. My mom won’t read FSOG… does that mean she’s immature?! Nope, not in the slightest.
That’s a good question. I’ve thought about it before, and… it’s kind of tricky for me. Around the time I started my blog, I read “Fangirl” by Rainbow Rowell. (Which I do NOT recommend reading, due to content.) And though I reviewed it on my blog, I gave it a low rating because I didn’t enjoy it at all – due to the content. If there is unclean content in a book, I usually don’t enjoy it as much. Nowadays, if I read (or DNF’d) a book like that, I wouldn’t review it because the point of my blog is to review CLEAN books. I would mention it in a Stacking the Shelves or something and let people know why I disliked it, but I wouldn’t review it, because giving it a rating can be hard. Others will give it a higher rating because that content doesn’t bother them, and I rate the books I like based on characters/story development/etc., not content. So… yes and no? It is a tricky question. As you can see, I could write a whole post on that subject!
Thanks for the comment, Ana, and the wonderful discussion. 😉
I agree 100%…I too struggle with finding good, clean books in YA and so I have to read a lot of MG…..but come on…I’m 17! I want to read YA because I am YA……That’s why in my writing you wont find any foul language, or sexual content. Because I don’t think Authors realize how extremely happy I am when I find a clean book. And I hope to someday be one of those rare authors that supplies completely clean MG and YA books…..
By the way, you should read the Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen if you haven’t already. It’s my favoriteeee book series! My 14 year old sis LOVED it, my 12 (now 13) year old brother LOVED it and even my Dad loved it 😀
I agree! I hope to be one of those authors, too. I guess a lot of authors don’t realize that “clean” doesn’t mean “cheesy.” It stinks.
Ooh. I’ll have to check those books out. What are they about? Thanks for the recommendation! 😉
I feel the same way about YA books. Even as an adult (which apparently I’m supposed to be), I’m not into the graphic content that’s rampant in so many YA novels. Thankfully, there is starting to be a delineation between “New Adult” and “Young Adult” novels, with New Adult being the more “mature” (which really just means inappropriate) content. It is really difficult to categorize books aimed at the 12-14 age group, and I wish “upper middle grade” were a tag that more people would use.
Also, I have to second the recommendation for the Ascendance Trilogy. One of my all-time favorite series in recent years.
I have noticed the “New Adult” section, and it does make it easier to correlate between the two.
I’ll definitely check it out, then! I’m going to see if my library has it today. Thanks for the recommendations. 🙂
The struggle is real! I love all the MG books at my library, and sometimes I feel like I’ve read them all twice, so when I go to the teen room, every book there is centered around content I don’t want to be reading about. I wish there was a perfect shelf with books in between!
I completely get you!! I’m in this weird stage where MG books are too easy or young for me, but some Young Adult books are too old for me. 🙁 There definitely should be a genre in between! 😉
When I was your age, I struggled a lot with figuring out what to read! I don’t think either MG or YA were quite as prominent as they are now, but they existed, but I was usually concerned that MG would feel too young (especially the reading level, since I was on a post high school reading level), and that YA was mostly about dating (even Christian YA, which I read more of back then) and I wasn’t ready for that yet. I agree there should be more in-between!
A website that might be helpful for you is Rated Reads, which has content reviews of YA and adult books, which I still find useful even though I’m 28, because I still don’t want to read something with a lot of language or graphic sex. Hope that helps you some!