Some surprising titles that I'd not considered to be MG (but Amazon does):
Aretmis Fowl
Percy Jackson series
Harry Potter (1 through 7)
Ender's Game
Eldest series
The Giver
His Dark Materials trilogy
The Chronicles of Narnia
Septimus Heap books
Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
City of Ember
Hatchet
A Wrinkle in Time
Holes
The Earthsea books
Stargirl
...um. Wow. I've read most of these books*. I used to emulate these books**. Clearly, I have had a skewed idea of MG. And I think you guys are right...there is a distinction between upper and lower MG. Heck, there's a distinction between Harry Potter 1 and Harry Potter 7. But in Amazon's 9-12 category, there are books as varied as Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss to Christopher Paolini and Louis Sachar.
Thing is, I did not consider any of these books to be MG (with the possible exception of Narnia and early HP). I just....didn't. A Wrinkle in Time? That was the epitome of YA to me...but it says, right there, for "ages 9-12." I thought the Earthsea books were adult. Stargirl is set in high school. Anne Frank's diary is about the Holocaust. I thought The Giver was way above MG.
True, there are some books on Amazon's 9-12 list that are labeled as YA if you click on the book for more details. (Eldest was the first I found.) And Percy Jackson is under the children's and the teen section.
So...um...all I've learned is that I need to do some more research, and that MG is definitely not what I thought it was before.
* And the ones I haven't were on my to be read pile. Except for Pullman's books cuz, yanno, Pullman sucks.
**Again, except for Pullman. See previous footnote.
8 comments:
Yeah, I laughed aloud when I saw the third grade list of favorite books for the year at my kids school. I'm thinking "3rd graders are reading Eragon and naming it a favorite book. That is seriously amazing."
It made me rethink for sure.
Interesting. We discussed this once during an online class and the verdict was that if the MC is 13-18, it's YA. But, after reading the MG list, the MC is some of these books is definitely teen.. So is it a content questions? Hmmm...
I always knew that I read books outside of my target age range. Up to about 10, I read horse books and Baby Sitter's Club. After that, I read fantasy--and I grouped Madeline L'Engle and CS Lewis with Ursula K. Leguin and Patricia McKillip. They're all the same to me, age wise, because I read them all at the same time.
I think part of the problem is in the publishing industry's idea that there are steps to reading. You read CS Lewis first, and then you can read Madeline L'Engle and only after that you can move on to Ursula K. Leguin. That's wrong-headed thinking; people don't read like that. I didn't read like that as a child...which may be one reason why I'm having such trouble figuring it out now!!!
I also think MG has changed over the years. Actually, children's books in general have changed. There was no such thing as YA when I was in high school, and MG definitely had a softer coating. But kids nowadays are ready to tackle almost anything. And kids are seeing and dealing with much more than they used to.
This is most definitely the case if third graders are reading Eragon. Wow! The verbosity of the prose was near my limits, so I'm amazed that kids that young have the patience to sit through the whole thing. That's amazing! In a good way, of course. :)
I do have to admit when I saw the reading list, I had to question how many of them had actually read the whole book and how many had seen the movie and said they read it.
Interesting. I've always heard Stargirl is YA. I met Jerry and Eileen Spinelli at the NJ June Conference this year (SCBWI) they were fantastic speakers and adorable together. And Jerry says it's true, Eileen is his Stargirl. (ahhhh).
I also thought The Giver is on the latter end of MG/beginning end of YA.
I think MG is one of the broadest spans, with the exception of picture books. Now there's a broad span for you!
Part of this, is kids are more mature for their age than when we were growing up. Even though the third grader isn't at the reading level of a book, if the subject matter interests them--I think the fantasy books are high up on their lists--the third grader is going to want to read it with their parents, or attempt to read it on their own. Plus now there are books on tape/CD, the child can read along with the audio version and improve their reading at the same time.
And if one third grader is "reading" a book, the rest of the kids want to read it too, even if it is to carry a thick volume around.
Also, a good number of the books listed have been made into movies, and the kids automatically want to read the books if there is a movie in it.
Note: this is based on my observations from volunteering in my kids' school library.
Excellent points, Vivian!
And Sheri: Awwww!
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