Middle Grade, Young Adult, and the Space in Between

[Note: This article was originally published in Jane Friedman’s newsletter The Hot Sheet on May 10, 2023 under the title “Navigating the Awkward Gap between Middle Grade and YA.”]

Traditionally grouped together as children’s books, middle grade (MG) and young adult (YA) literature are two distinct categories, each with its own nuances. Although adults might be active consumers of young adult (YA) books, they are not the intended audience—but nor are children. Libraries and bookstores generally designate a separate section for YA books but place MG books in the same section as books for children of all ages.

While the MG category has its own gray areas, the YA category is especially tricky to define. It was only a decade ago, following the publication of series such as Twilight and Hunger Games, that YA became a publishing phenomenon and was given a stand-alone bestseller list by the New York Times. It was just two decades ago that the Harry Potter books, widely considered middle grade, began dominating the book market. What makes a book middle grade or young adult today? The answer depends on several factors.

“Technically, middle grade is for readers who are in the 8–12 age range,” Lauren Spieller, an agent with Folio Literary Management, explained, “but in practice, I see MG as having two buckets: young middle grade with a protagonist of 8–10, and upper middle grade with a protagonist of 10–13.”

Stacy Whitman, publisher of Tu Books (Lee & Low), also considers 8–12 to be the targeted age range for middle grade books, but she emphasizes that a “mushy middle” has developed in the middle school years, and what may be considered an older middle grade as opposed to a younger YA book “is very overlapping and becomes a judgment call based on a number of factors.”

One of these factors is the sensibility of the book. According to Jessica Anderson, an editor with Christy Ottaviano Books (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), characters in middle grade books are reacting emotionally, physically, and intellectually to the world around them, but this world is fairly limited in that it typically consists of their friends, teachers, family members, perhaps a crush. In YA, on the other hand, the characters may be more concerned with mental health, romance, and the prospect of becoming an adult. “Think of milestones and transitions of the teen years,” she said at a workshop with the nonprofit organization The Word.

YA books are for readers ages 13–18, according to Spieller, and this range can be subdivided into books for the 13–15 and 16–18 age groups. For Whitman, however, “young” YA is for 12-year-olds, and in terms of the ages of the characters, 14–15 is the sweet spot; older YA features slightly older characters and is for the 14–16 and up age group.

The difference between a middle grade and YA is sometimes based less on age and sensibility and more on region. “The YA market looks very different in the Intermountain West vs. New York City or California because of local tastes and understanding of what’s developmentally appropriate,” Whitman said, and “there’s a huge developmental difference between a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old.” She added that, in the UK, YA is separate from teen, and that some books she publishes for an older middle grade audience here in the US are published as YA in the UK due to a “difference in mindset about what a YA audience looks like there.”

Can mature themes work in MG? Yes, but in an age-appropriate way, according to Spieller. An example she provided is Kacen Callender’s King and the Dragonflies (Scholastic, 2020), which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2020 and includes “toxic masculinity, racism, and self-discovery” as themes per the National Book Foundation’s website. Spieller also mentioned her client Ash Van Otterloo’s forthcoming novel The Beautiful Something Else (Scholastic, May 2023), about a nonbinary character navigating a binary world.

One of several recently published middle grade novels to address sexual harassment is Claire Swinarski’s What Happened to Rachel Riley? (HarperCollins, January 2023). “Five years ago, I wasn’t seeing many middle grade books like that,” said Alex Slater, an agent with Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, who represents the author. Yet attitudes began to shift soon after, as explained by a 2020 New York Times article on Why More Children’s Books Are Tackling Sexual Harassment and Abuse. Whitman spoke about the importance of handling such themes in ways that work for younger age groups, including storytelling that is more gentle and less overt, and, given the surge in book bans across the country, “a willingness to stand up for truth-telling.”

Jim McCarthy, a vice president and senior agent with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, also expressed concern about the censoring of content in children’s books and maintained that there are no topics that are inappropriate for children. “There are only questions of whether those topics are appropriately framed,” he said. McCarthy cautioned against shielding children from issues that are considered “mature.” If there are children who are experiencing eating disorders and gun violence, for example, then “there is a need for content that speaks to these issues in honest, thoughtful, and healthy ways,” he added. “Telling children that they can’t handle content about topics that are very real in their lives will only serve to further alienate the readers that we may well want most to reach.”

Does YA need to be edgy? Short answer: no. And although dating and sex—whether on the page or off—are common themes in YA, they are not always relevant or of interest. Spieller has seen “quite a few” such novels, “some by authors who are portraying a non-romantic ace [asexual] character, and some that simply don’t include a romance and instead focus on something else—a friendship, for example,” she said.

Topics like addiction, alcohol and drug use, and suicide are typically covered more frequently, but not necessarily, in YA books as opposed to middle grade. “YA has a tendency towards the dark and serious; the teenage years are full of a lot of angst, and this makes sense,” wrote librarian Karen Jensen in an opinion piece for School Library Journal on why YA is the only major publishing category posting a decline, “but every once in a while we just need to laugh.”

In addition to noting a need for more humor, Jensen encouraged shorter books that keep teen readers, rather than crossover audiences, in mind. Neither Whitman nor McCarthy seemed surprised by the dip in YA sales. According to Whitman, the reason is multifaceted, but population changes are a factor. McCarthy commented that YA as a category might have grown too quickly, but he hopes that “we’re going to see things balance back out and that in a year (or a few months or two years), we’ll see YA gaining back any ground that it’s lost.”

Aside from content, the zeitgeist can influence the choice between publishing a book as middle grade or YA. Whitman observed that the commercial market has aged up YA considerably since she began working in book publishing and pointed out that Shannon Hale’s first book, The Goose Girl (Bloomsbury, 2003), a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, was originally published as a YA novel. “Many would now argue that that is MG, but I’d probably still call it young YA,” she said.

If the characters are 12–13, is the book upper MG—or young YA? “If the characters are not yet in high school, I’m pitching it as middle grade,” said Slater, “even if it’s the summer before freshman year.” Both McCarthy and Spieller also indicated that their inclination is to position a book with 12–13-year-old-characters as upper middle grade, “not just because young readers read up,” Spieller explained, “but because it’s so difficult to find an editor who is interested in acquiring young YA.”

In an opinion piece for Publishers Weekly, librarian Rachel Grover asked Where Have All the 13-to-15-Year-Old Protagonists Gone? suggesting that the need for young YA books may be growing. But right now, if writers are choosing between upper middle grade or young YA for a book with characters who are 12, 13, or a bit older, Slater advises them to call it middle grade. “Chances are, if it’s on the fence like this, it is an MG anyway, and if it feels urgent enough or it’s ‘pushing the envelope,’ it just may help the book stand out in this very crowded and competitive market,” he said. Similarly, Spieller commented that, when it comes to upper middle grade versus younger YA, “I think authors will have more luck querying (and publishing) if they age down to MG.”

From an editorial standpoint, however, Spieller recommends that writers research comparative books and consider their target audience before pinning down an age category. “I’d also look at what books are asking similar questions and see how those are positioned in the market,” she added. Once the writer has landed representation or a book deal, “it’s a matter of working with your agent and editor to make sure you’re all on the same page as to which side of older MG / younger YA you want to be on and adjusting accordingly in the editorial process and the marketing of the book,” said Whitman.

What’s trending now? Whitman has not noticed any standout trends arise recently, “no ‘vampires are the thing now’ or ‘it’s all dystopias,’” as has been the case in the past. Currently, she’s seeing “a wonderful mix of all sorts of stories and general enthusiasm for sharing historically underrepresented voices,” which she would not call a trend “any more than being human is a trend,” she said. “It’s a change for the better that I’d like to see get better year after year.”

The number one category in Spieller’s inbox remains YA fantasy, comprising about a quarter of the queries she receives. “I love those books, but it can be hard to make them stand out,” she said. Similarly, McCarthy commented, “Listen, it’s an evergreen category, and I will always be looking for it; it just feels a little overcrowded right now.” Slater is “always hunting for the weird or the creepy,” and McCarthy is seeing “a ton of horror and thrillers for teens,” a trend he is enjoying but is also cautious about since, like many trends, it may be on the path to getting overcrowded. Both Spieller and Slater expressed interest in more graphic novels. McCarthy emphasized that he remains open to every genre, but because of the cyclical nature of the industry, “some are just a little tougher in certain years than others.”

Bottom line: In a business that relies heavily on comparative titles and classifications of age range and book categories, it can be difficult to break out books that don’t comfortably fit into pre-determined slots in the market, as McCarthy put it. But he is enthusiastic about finding a range of books that serve children of all ages and reading levels, including “bridging books,” books that fall somewhere in between middle grade and YA. “While a book that might not feel wholly YA or wholly MG could be a tougher sell, there’s an appreciation that authors are trying to reach all readers,” he said, “and that can often make the slightly more uphill battle feel all the more worthwhile.”