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.
