Tuesday, January 22, 2013

WHAT EVER MIDDLE GRADE WRITER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MIDDLE GRADERS

 
What Every Middle Grade Writer
Should Know About Middle Graders

Part 1

by Lee Wardlaw







I’ve got a great idea for a middle grade book. So why can’t I just sit down and write it? Why do I hafta read this post first? It’s. Not. Fair!”



You sound exactly like a fourth-through-sixth grader. But do you know why?



If YES, then you’re excused. Scram. Get outta here and write that book.



If NO, you’d better stick around; because to write successfully for this age group, you’ve gotta know this age group, inside and out.



From that first breath at birth to quasi-maturity at age 24 (okay, for some folks, 42), children go through four main stages of physical, emotional and intellectual development. Knowing what these changes are, and when and how they appear, can help you choose age-appropriate plots/themes, construct believable characters, and hook kid-readers from the first sentence – and beyond.



Middle graders are tricky to write for, though, because they straddle two of the four stages: Childhood (ages 6-12) and Adolescence (12-15).  So today, Part 1 of this blog will focus on younger MGs; Part 2, to be posted in February, will feature older MG's.





YOUNG MIDDLE GRADE (ages 9-12; 4th-6th grade)



Favorite Question:  "Why?”

During infancy (ages 0-6), children learn innumerable whats about the world: skies are blue…grass is green…ice cubes, cold…and when you pinch a toasted marshmallow off the end of a stick, it’s – ow! – finger-lickin’ H.O.T. But for young middle graders, what is no longer enough. This age group demands to know why the sky is blue, why water freezes at 32°F., and why is it always my marshmallow that oozes into the campfire, charring into a lump of Christmas coal?



That’s because these children have transformed from concrete learners – who absorb and accept everything around them at face value – to reasoning explorers  who learn about the world from a logical, scientific point of view. (More about that, below.)



Favorite Quotation:  "It’s not fair!”

Hey, just because they know the ‘why’, doesn’t mean they have to like it! Young middle graders have a strong sense of moral justice, hence their indignation when bedtime for them is 9:00 p.m. and older siblings get to stay up till 10:00.
 
Physical Characteristics: Hair thickens. Legs lengthen. The remaining baby teeth leap to their deaths, revealing, in some cases, crooked chompers that require braces. Once small compact bodies grow leaner, stronger, longer.  (And they start to, uh, smell, too!)  These children need to run, dance, swing, climb; they move with the urgency and speed of a flea. Oh, and sports rule!



Intellectual Characteristics:

Middle graders are abstract thinkers. They’ve already grasped what is and are ready to explore what could be.  They can imagine a past and a future – and beyond. So the time is ripe for historical, sci-fi and fantasy fiction. Non-fiction, too. Their thirst for knowledge is unquenchable; their capacity for learning at its peak. (Hence, their passion for trivia.) The world has expanded from the safe-and-known of home and classroom to the vastness of the universe – and the interconnections between it all. Oh, and this is the Reading Age.  Never again will they have the time nor the inclination (with some exceptions, of course) to read as much as Right Now, Right Here.  They are loyal to favorite authors, too, and devour series like movie popcorn.



Psychological Characteristics:

This phase could be nicknamed the Age of Rudeness. Young middle graders can be unthinkingly ungracious. Messy, too. Intellectual learning is their top priority, not please and thank-you, or clean clothes and combed hair. As for baths?  Ha! Who has time for trivialities when you’re contemplating Good vs. Evil?  Besides, there are friends to make! Clubs to join!  Rules to enforce!



Young middle graders seek collective activities (sports, movies) with same-sex friends (4th grade girls still have cooties, don’t ya know). And they create small societies (like No Girls Allowed clubs or gossip fests) with specific limitations and consequences. (There’s that moral justice again!)  As age 12 draws closer, girls may swoon in the emotional swirl of a first crush (despite towering over most boys their age). All of this translates to a need for greater independence from family and school.



So when turning that great idea into a book, remember to keep parents and teachers in the background – and allow your young middle grade characters the space and time to think about and solve their own problems.



Next time:  Older Middle Grade (ages 12-15/grades 6th-9th)





*****

Lee Wardlaw is the author of close to 30 award-winning books for children, tweens and teens, including 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents  (younger  middle grade), an IRA/CBC Children's Choice Book, and 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies (older middle grade), which recently won the Forward National Literature Award for Humor.  She has a B.A. in Education and will earn her M.Ed. in Child Development  from Loyola University, Maryland, next year.




26 comments:

  1. Great post. I loved learning more about younger middle graders. I think you're right that kids read more at this age. As they move into upper middle grade and high school, many who like to read don't as much because there is so much less time.

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  2. You are absolutely right, Natalie! Too, their hormones are raging in high school, so they're far too busy checking out each other to bother with reading. (My 16-year-old son is the exception. He's what I would call an omnivorous reader!)

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  3. Great inaugural post! I have a 4th-grader, and you are spot on, Lee. (Who knew about the baths right?!) Also the reading: voracious.

    I also have a 10th grader, so am looking forward to your next post too.

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  4. Great post, Lee. I see all of what you've said in my fifth grade class. And yeah, the trivia books are favorite choices for both boys and girls. :-)

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  5. Amazingly accurate of my 12yo! His memory of fictional characters, history and statistics blow me away. Now If he would just remember to wash his hands before grabbing a cookie.

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  6. Great post Lee!
    I would add on the emotional side that the young MG kid is really reaching out for affirmation from peers for the first time but they are still very reliant on a steady diet of affection from their family. Most kids this age still need daily hugs from parents or grandparents. They are keenly aware of their position in the family--no longer just a "taker" but someone whose chores and good behavior help the family function. Sibling rivalry also often hits it's highest pitch in these years with physical fighting and verbal nastiness. Yet siblings also develop a lifelong sense of loyalty in these years.

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  7. I taught sixth and seventh grade for a number of years and was so surprised at the differences when I moved down to fourth grade. This is written with compassion and understanding.

    Gotta love these guys!

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  8. My son is 9 and in the 3rd grade and this post describes him perfectly. I cringe a little when he reads me Captain Underpants but he loves that series and wouldn't care if it never ended. Can't wait to read the next post. My MG is targeted for the older MG.

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  9. Very accurate post. As a teacher of middle-schoolers for over a decade, I have seen this play out over and over. The point about adults, though, being pushed off the page, although true, is something I've been thinking about for a while now. I believe that perhaps life may be imitating art in the adults-involvement sense. So often, kids at this age see movies, shows, and videos where kids rule and parents and adults are absent (or buffoons), or they read books where the parents and adults are treated in like fashion. Perhaps it's time to change this? Maybe if we wrote adults into our MG more, which might spill out into the film/TV world, then (perhaps) adults might not be so "bad" to real, live kids of this age? Just a thought.

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  10. Great first post, Lee! My younger daughter is 11, but she's going on 21.

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    1. Funny, when I was 21 I was going on 11.

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    2. Hah! I've been trying to get back to 11 my entire life ...

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    3. Me too. I ain't happening brutha. 11 is looonnnggg gone for both of us.

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    4. True that. But it's a lovely dream.

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  11. What a wonderful post! I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

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  12. Mike Winchell, I totally agree. I didn't mean that adults should be pushed off the page. Far from it. In my MG novels, I always have a couple of adult-characters who stand, at the ready, on the periphery. It's important to have caring, trustworthy, intelligent parents, teachers, etc. in middle grade novels. These adults serve as good role models, sounding boards, etc., and should be available to 'help' in situations that go beyond what the child-protagonist can deal with emotionally, psychologically, physically, etc. Kids need to know they are 'safe', they need to know what their boundaries are in order to venture out, further and further, on their own. And supportive adult-characters can help them in this way. That being said, these readers are also exploring and testing aspects of their own independence for the first time, making mistakes and learning from them. They are also experiencing a social world outside of home and school. So it's important that they - - not the parents or teachers - - be the primary ones to act and react in the story, to be the ones who solve the story's problem.

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  13. Rosanne, thanks for your comments. You are spot on. There is a paradoxical aspect to these young MGs. Sibling rivalry is huge at this age, but so is that loyalty to family, that need to be accepted, loved, hugged on a daily basis. And they really do like helping out (although they may whine a bit) when it comes to chores and other family obligations. Ya gotta enjoy and appreciate it, because soon that will all change. Stay tuned!

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  14. Jenny, don't worry about the Captain Underpants phase. This too shall pass! My son l-o-v-e-d the silliness and bathroom humor of Captain U. when he was 7 or 8, but he eventually grew bored and moved on. We all need our trashy beach reads now and then, right?

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  15. very interesting post. a reminder of how much we all share.

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  16. I thought I knew Middle Graders but I sure learned a lot in this article!

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  17. Glad I found you, Lee (thanks to Cynthia Leitich Smith). Enjoyed the post.

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  18. Great post, and you are so right - the first thing that springs to mind about this age group is the fiery hatred of any perceived injustice.

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  19. Thanks for summing these readers up, Lee. Totally spot on and delightfully written! Many, many thanks again.

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  20. I've got a middle grader of my own, and you nailed it. Thanks for reminding us that middle graders are sometimes in a world of their own. They want to be independent and we've got to put the parents aside and let them explore. How else will they ever discover who they are or want to be?

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  21. I loved reading this. I have a 4th grader and a 6th grader. My eldest is starting to smell and is too busy to comb his hair. 4th grader thinks only of books, Mario Kart, and pokemon. Sixth grader thinks of Lego Star Wars and making friends (and WWII). They don't even notice when they are being rude. Don't even ask me what their bedrooms look like. Yet, they still want hugs from me every night, and every time I compliment my 6th grader, he is thrilled.

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  22. The Age of Rudeness. I shall chant this to myself when I am monitoring my study hall of 75 6th graders. Hey, maybe the answer here is getting in a rotation of middle grade authors who need to do "research" to cover this group. Ha! Excellent post.

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!