Let’s talk about Middle Grade
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2024
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Book bans have gotten so bad some fundies are saying things like “the majority of mainstream books should be burned.” It’s going beyond “parental rights” and right into wanting to end literacy.
Good lord. That side is so reactionary and dishonest.
How could someone religious want to end literacy. You can't read the Bible without literacy and literacy requires more than one book to learn.
I honestly don’t know why they care so much, because half their kids can’t/don’t read anyways
that's it exactly, enough education to perform, not enough to question. Some people WANT to repeat history.
Given how interconnected we are tho, it might not be as easy as they think, especially once they hit the adult years.
It's why they tried to ban Sunday School when it first came out. That didn't work either.
Not being able to read the Bible was just fine for people in the Middle Ages. Get off my lawn.
I don't understand book bans. I come from a country where challenging/banning books is difficult to the point of it being impossible. I mean, challenging books is a thing here, but they are never banned from school or public libraries.
In what world is a child walking into any library and asking "Where's the 🌽 at?" and the adult librarian gives them a reading list?!
honestly this is like saying Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, Rick and Morty, etc. are targeting children. first of all i think parents should monitor what children are watching. second of all it’s none of these shows faults if YOUR children watch it. the world shouldn’t have to baby itself to meet your expectations. just do your due diligence. same. same with books. be more careful and responsible with what your children access.
Icebreaker doesn’t look like a middle grade? He’s only saying that because it’s a drawn cover. That’s like thinking Demon Slayer must be kid appropriate because it’s animated. It’s up to parents to look into what their kids want to read. If your kid watches Demon Slayer that’s on the parents, not Crunchyroll or Ufotable or the mangaka. Also I got super excited when I saw Witchlings in your thumbnail I LOVE that series it makes me want to read more MG (as a woman in her 20s)
yes. Perhaps the colors are bright and "childish" looking, but are we really going to try to say adults aren't allowed to enjoy colors and cute art styles on their book covers??? I'm a grown adult, and I actively avoid books with those weird stock images of sexy people on the cover. They weird me out. (but also, I'm ace, and don't actively seek romance or smut... so I'm sliiightly biased lol)
Literally, its just ignorant people stumbling their way through life not doing any research & literally judging a books by their covers, who then get mad that there weren't big blaring red signs on the covers saying "NOT FOR KIDS" to make up for their utter lack of insight.
This is 100% correct.
Icebreaker cover looks like generic Contemporary Romance lol Only someone unfamiliar with book cover trends would think that cover looks like a middle grade. They're scratching the bottom of the barrel to find something to get mad at
So what you are saying is...I should show my kids Oyasumi PunPun.
Oh EW to that dude sending an 8-year old in to get "adult books". Like, who's the groomer now, my guy?? 🤢
I so appreciate how much thought and work you put into videos like these, I learn a lot from them and you always give me a lot to think on 💖
what i wouldnt give to hear the specific instruction this child got honestly
That sounded like such an odd thing to me. Just because to an eight year old, what would adult books mean to a young child? Anything outside of the children's section would fit those qualifications. And to an eight year old, books for teenagers might constitute the same thing.
But yeah, sending a child in to find 'adult books' implies one thing to this person, and that's to find books meant for adults that have sexual/steamy content.
This!! Like who tf sends an 8 yr old to the adult section of a bookstore or library?!?
As an artist, the Icebreaker cover upsets me because the proptions are wild
As a children's librarian, i know for a fact Middle Grade isnt dead and even better than some YA and adult books.
I was gonna say!! Because I'm nearly 30. I LOVE to read. And I read a lot of horror and literary fiction....and middle grade books. I'm not into a lot of the YA horror or lit fic on offer, but a cute little middle grade mystery? I'm in on a chaotic day.
Someone said it!!!! I hate that cover too!
I agree! I like reading middlegrade novels over YA ones most of the time. Coming of age type books just connect the most with me. I'm sure YA has similar
I just read (not new) Howls Moving Castle and loved it. I also loved Lonely Castle in the Mirror.
I've been loving Middle Grade because I don't really care for romance focus which a lot of YA does. So does MG, but there is less of an emphasis. But it's so fun to read. I want
And some of that middle grade horror is scarier than adult stuff. Katherine Arden's Small Spaces quartet? That hits on like...every freaking fear everyone has.
The "problem" of kids accessing "inappropriate" books is only a problem if parents aren't parenting. I've worked in a used bookstore for 10 years, and the only time I ever had a young teen looking for adult books, her aunt and grandmother asked me about the books on her wishlist. They wanted to make sure they were getting her something age appropriate - as they should be doing! That's the responsibility of the parents and adult relatives! Because of TikTok, much of what she wanted was adult romance. It was honestly thanks to your reviews that I could help them find similar YA titles that would be a better fit.
I did have a parent who I had to talk out of getting the Twilight series for her 2nd grade child. The child could read at a third grade level which the Twilight books are written at. I explained that the words in the book are 3rd grade level but content is not.
I remember my mom pre-reading books I got as gifts when I was a kid to make sure they were okay because the internet wasn't as prevalent. Now it is so easy to find information on what exactly is in a book, the fact that parents aren't putting in the work to read a book summary, an age rating from the author, or a couple of GR reviews to make sure it's appropriate is baffling to me.
That's really sad that preteens can't be in the library without parents/guardians. The library is a safe space for kids with abusive or chaotic home lives.
God, the book banning situation has gotten so exhausting. As a children's librarian, it would be so inappropriate for me to tell someone else's child they can't read a certain book because I personally don't think it's right for them. That's not my call! Each family gets to make that decision independently, and I don't have a say in it, and that's how it should be.
There is another issue, I believe that even when they are actually parents, they are not exactly active parents. They would rather blame everything else for their inability to guide and monitor what their kids are watching or reading.
I used to write on wattpad. My books delved into really deep issues that are not appropriate for teens (zero spice, btw), and I have always rated them as mature for those reasons. The app should have then kept any person under eighteen from reading them, but I cannot tell you the amount of comments I had from 13-14 year olds that would just lie about their age on the app (obviously) to read these books.
Their parents placed too much trust into an app that basically depends on good faith.
I honestly feel like these parents don't really care about what their kids are actually reading. They just want extreme censorship due to mostly religious belief (from what I could tell). They are not thinking long-term of how that could affect not just their potential kids and other's kids but the community as a whole, because what they are doing is limiting access to knowledge, and what that results in is individuals who would be easy to influence and control (either by other people or the state itself).
For sure parents need to be responsible, that’s a basic part of the job we agree to when we take that role on. When I said “tell me to do my job”, I mean it and I mean it for other parents too. We have a responsibility. Expecting others to do it for us would be laziness on our part. It’s ours. And in this case it’s such a basic, bare bones thing being asked of us to pre-screen what our kids are consuming. And we have tools at our disposal that make it simple for us. Now if a parent doesn’t know about those tools, sure, they should be given the run down on them. But they exist and parents should be told they exist and utilize them. Engage with our media specialist. Check age ranges and tw. We can and should do this ourselves.
@ReadswithRachel I agree with you wholeheartedly. And I am glad that such amenities are available to parents to take advantage of. I just see it also from the aspect of me coming from a country that heavily censored books (only now moving past that in the past 20-30 years). My own high school teachers had to live a time where philsophical books were not allowed (amongst other things), authors who wrote "revolutionary" ideas were jailed, tortured, and murdered. I feel like this is against the USA's principles of freedoms, and it is sad to witness such a war against books specifically. They think that just because they disagree with something, it is an attack on their person, their kids, their beliefs, and their safety.
People don't know how privileged they are until they are stripped away from basic rights and I hope they never have to find out how terrible it could be to be denied access to books just because the wrong person in power didn't like it.
We are fully in agreement. This is why I worry about people who don’t usually align with those people using their same arguments. Because the people who make those laws aren’t going to be sensible people, they are going to be people who are obsessed with controlling through censorship and then saying it’s for safety. That’s what moms for liberty’s main tactic is right now.
I have a similar view, it's is fully the parents responisbility to decide what their child is exposed to. If you don't take steps to learn about ehat they're are doing and reading then that is nobody's fault except your own. It's the same thing woth the internet, parents need to be involved and knowledgeable about it so they can educate their kids and put safeguards in place. You can't expect the world to cater to your views and instructions tour child in them.
@@ReadswithRachel this needs to be done with some care tho. part of the issue is that parents r screening everything & seeing lgbt+ content as inappropriate for their kids & surveillance is a new favorite tool of fundamentalists to keep their kids from making their own decisions. i also think theres a clear difference btwn "a child should never see this" & "a child should never have a non-peer show them this" & these regressive bald pos only get by on equating the two & i think we often underestimate the content kids r rdy to see esp when theyre at stages where they independently explore their identity. if u get comments from minors, delete them, report & dont engage with them. tag & filter ur content appropriately.
i just cannot support the idea that parents should monitor their kids internet useage bc when i was 14 online i needed safe spaces to talk abt abuse. i would not have found out that its not normal to be beaten & what i had to survive otherwise. no abuser would let their child view this content. i could have died. surveillance could have killed me.
I know that my parents didn’t check that the books I was reading as a pre-teen were appropriate. They 100% were not appropriate, so you can bet I’ll be checking the books my kid reads! And that’s my responsibility!
Exactly. I make sure books are appropriate for my daughter. She's gonna be seven so it's pretty easy to keep her with like picture books, but when she graduates to chapter books I will make sure she doesn't read anything out of her age range, unless I read it first.
Absolutely. I was reading V.C. Andrews (dating myself) and 80s bodice rippers that I picked up at garage sales for 10¢.
I keep an eye on what my teen reads, but I’m not incredibly strict about it.
He was reading early chapter books in kindergarten, so it was sometimes hard to find books that were appropriate in content and fit his reading ability.
But now I’m less concerned. He’s 14 and he isn’t in to erotica or extreme violence, so I’m mostly okay letting him choose his own books.
Most of the books I’ve been choosing for him lately are classic books that got banned from his school like Animal Farm, Catcher in the Rye, and Fahrenheit 451.
I read it with him and we talk about the themes and symbolism.
My mom bought me the first Game of Thrones book for my 12th birthday because I was an avid fantasy reader. She and GRRM would have gotten along splendidly.
I actually saw parents buying Ice Breaker for their tween daughters at B&N. I wanted to say something but didn't. It's on the parents to check what their kids are reading. If they got mad later on, that's entirely on them 🤷🏻♀️
Oh God, I hope they checked after the fact 😩 parents, please do your jobs!
Although I know some parents buy things on the spot because they’re out at a store and then they later check at home. That’s what happened with my brother and that Laney Taylor book. He realized in chapter 2 that it was not age-appropriate and he texted me like maybe I should have checked before hand.
@@ReadswithRachelI'm a substitute teacher working all grade levels. I never had problems with the elementary kids and what they read. Middle schoolers I'm a bit more wary. I've caught students reading books with adult content. These are usually my mature students so I don't have a problem with it but I do have a quiet conversation that if one of their more immature classmates gets ahold of it, I'll either have it put away or (temporarily) confiscate it. My high schoolers are good but I do usually see them read Harry Potter or anything by Rick Riordan 🤷🏻♀️
Did they not realize they were in the adult romance section (assuming the book was shelved properly)? Yeesh
@@ofthewilderwoodsthe kids more than likely grabbed it off the "Popular on Booktok" display table which is usually centered between the YA and adult books, or front and center the moment you walk through the doors
It was probably displayed on a table since it’s a popular title rn. That does make it a bit harder to tell, which is why I always read the synopsis, and sometimes check the author’s note if there is one. (I’m making it a habit to put an author’s note in my own books that list possible trigger warnings because I think that is a good practice.)
I grew up in a small orthodox village in Eastern Europe. Think no more than 400 people and a lot of churches and monasteries. When I was in elementary school, I was very passionate about mythology. My teacher, a priest daughter (orthodox priest can marry) and the revolving cast of priests who would be at the school to preach and shit tried to pull the ' How dare you read pagan, satanic, ecc. book?" and made the stupid mistake of confiscating my books. My mother was pissed. She made it very clear that:
1. She's the one buying me books therefore what I read has her implicit consent.
2. Someone who is not even related to me has no role in deciding for me.
3. My education doesn't end with the school.
the back cover of icebreaker (at least specifically the physical paperbacks i find in the bookstores around me in the uk) explicitly says "contains 18+ content" (right underneath the plot summary of the blurb, same size etc) it's not our fault if you didn't look at the book before you bought it
As a writer, I think the educators are right. When I was a kid, we had Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, every Roald Dahl book, and a bunch of random books like The Candymakers or The Mysterious Benedict Society. A Series of Unfortunate Events was considered pushing the edge. Comparing them to MG books now, they aren't as advanced in the writing but that's what made it accessible. If kids are ahead in reading they and their parents will find their own books. I was an advanced reader so my mom bought me Shakespeare and Little House on the Prairie and more advanced stuff but I still like the middle grade books because that was what fit my age range. Sure A Midsummer's Night Dream appealed to me writing wise but the content in Matilda was way more entertaining.
I think Middle Grade books are actually YA books while YA books are more like New Adult. The ages and what would be appropriate for each group has gotten muddled and I feel like it starts with publishing because they dictate where books are placed.
Also, YA really needs to be split in two different categories. As a 17 year old, I didn't want to read what 14 year old me loved. It should be YA is for young teens and New Adult could include 16 years old and up or 17 years old and up.
I have been thinking this myself for SO long. I felt like YA has been pushing to go adult and I did discuss this with someone else. For example, I used the ACOTAR series as YA becoming more mature and they tried to say the series was for adults and wasn't YA. To which I brought up that the series won several awards in the YA section. Granted there are a bunch of other series and examples.
That's a bit confusing. Doesn't YA stand for Young Adult? Why is there a category called Young Adult and one called New Adult?
This makes me wanna just throw all them categories away and rename them or something. Not being hostile, just genuinely confused about why they're named this way.
I have heard that Publishers tried to push for New Adult as a category, but dropped it because it was too niche or smth
New Adult is a category for 18-25 ish characters, who are still developing their independence but old enough for explicit sexy times. It’s mostly self published, from what I can tell, although some were popular enough to get picked up by traditional publishers. It’s definitely NOT appropriate to YA, which is supposed to be for teens.
Yes! It was extremely difficult whenever a family came into the bookstore where I worked and asked for YA recommendations for their 12 or 13 year old because so much YA published now have mature content. I had to think back to the books I read as a teen and hope they were interested in one of those titles because at least I knew what was in those books. Granted, I know that there is YA being published today without “spicy” scenes, but it is physically impossible for me to read every book that comes out. This is why I listen to book reviews while I’m driving to and from work lol
There are still definitely actual middle grade books, though. Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are still available (and Percy Jackson is still going). Rick Riordan Presents is an imprint that publishes a lot of books from authors of different cultural backgrounds where their myths and legends come to life. Wings of Fire is a great middle grade series about dragons. Erin Hunter is still publishing several series. The Skandar and the Unicorn Thief is really popular right now. Greenwild is a promising new series about plant magic. Endling was a solid fantasy series. There are a lot of good standalone books, too.
Though, it does feel like some YA has gotten more mature. I will never agree that ACOTAR is YA, but that is where I usually see it shelved.
Disclaimer: I don't have kids, but I started teaching third grade this last year.
Out of my class of 24 kids, only 2-3 were AT reading level and none above reading level (as we would expect to see more of pre-Pandemic). A quarter of my class wasn't just under grade level in reading ability but actually 2 or more grades behind expectation. It was really disheartening to see, and as much work as I can do during the day, a lot of it comes down to whether they're reading with parents at home or not.
Icebreaker does not look middle grade and even if it did who tf buys their child anything without looking through it first, don’t blame a book for lazy parenting
I used to work in a used game store and cops would routinely send their young kids in alone to try and buy M-rated games in an attempt to "bust" us (it's not actually illegal, so they just wanted to find an excuse to harass us). They never did this for the big chain stores like GameStop, of course. Unsurprised to hear this is a common tactic from the "protect the children" crowd.
This is just a little anecdote, not about banning, but about moms and reading. I am a nearly 30 year old woman who has loved reading always and that's completely due to my mom. She was a young mom with 2 kids by 22, hauling us to the library and always reading to us. My mom was very much involved in what I was reading (even in ways that seem a bit inappropriate, like giving me her copy of Flowers in the Attic when I was 12... She knew I was spooky and weird lol), and that continues to this day. She's now just about 50, and has experienced some severe health issues in recent years. Chronic pain plus a bunch of other issues have changed a lot of her pre-illness hobbies, but when it comes to reading our roles have flipped - I read up on what books are available at our local library and pick up whatever I think she will like. Just like she did decades ago 😭. The kind of relationship you have with your sons... It matters. It fosters reading and love for life. I think of my mom as a super hero, and a lot of your work with the schools, your views and values, they remind me of my mom. From a stranger, I think you're doing an incredible job, Rachel. Much love you and yours.
i think the whole "kids are reading adult lit" thing (specifically in the case of icebreaker) is blown wildly out of proportion from multiple discussions and discourse about the cartoon-y covers that are becoming more popular and some people saying "this looks like a kid's book", and it's spiraled from there. fueled by tiktoks of "teachers" claiming that they've seen 10 year olds reading adult lit and people not taking two seconds to remember that people get on the internet and lie all the damn time. like, kids will seek out darker/more adult material regardless (i know my ass was reading plenty of stuff i shouldn't have been reading when i was between the ages of 9-13) but these days it's more likely to be stuff on, like, wattpad or ao3.
i also find it hard to believe because we've also seen teachers discussing how kids in that demographic are reading way below their grade level because of many systemic and societal reasons, which is actually being studied whereas these stories about kids reading smut in class is all anecdotal, so how the hell are they making their way through these adult erotica novels anyway?
omg yes about the whole thing that it’s documented how children’s literacy isn’t as great as it could be and yet people are claiming that a significant amount of kids are reading things that are above their age level like which is it
These are the same people who claim they want more freedom and kids should be raised in the home but they want to do none of it.
Also as a non parent who doesn’t want kids I can’t imagine going to meetings to dictate what anyone’s kid can’t read
It's wild to think of it, but so much of this outside the publishing industry is that parents aren't really getting involved at all, aren't reading to their children, aren't teaching their kids to read (bc they believe erroneously that's something that starts in school, not a skill the child is supposed to be equipped with before they begin grade school), and it's mind-boggling to me. My mom read to me. She taught me how to read. Who do I expect to do the same for my kids?
If we are trying to get New Adult to be seen as a new age group, then Middle Grade needs to stay. Both are really important transitional periods of our lives. Both are really important in addressing body image, boundaries, independence, mental health/physical health, etc.
isn't it so strange that conservatives seem to want BOTH the ability to homeschool/spank their child AND the removal of responsibility/power from the parent on how to raise their child? why aren't these people jumping up and saying "well, then raise your kid right!" instead of banning books and making laws? isn't that what you'd think they'd do?
but no, because it's never about the books. it's about control. they want every kid raised the same way, and that means void of anything they've deemed inappropriate or sinful, like queer or mental health content. exactly like rachel said. they use these very trivial non-issues as a means to create laws and skew the world in their desired direction.
As a reader who reads without regard for age range (Well, minus adult bc im a sex repulsed ace, if anyone has adult books w/o sex scenes please tell me them) I feel like the idea that “middle grade is dead” is stupid. I still know kids that are reading Percy Jackson and Warrior Cats, and middle grade is still being published. I recently read Tethered To Other Stars which is a phenomenal middle grade book that talks about a lot of topics I think kids should know about, on their level. But I also think we should encourage more kids to read middle grade (I saw ACOTAR in my sister’s middle school classroom?!) and not jump immediately into straight up YA. Also I’m saying this as a biiit of a hypocrite, I read THG in elementary because of the hype.
fellow ace: I fully avoid the romance genre bc at this point, smut seems to be unavoidable. I'm sick of Amish romance lmao. I've reread Twilight so many times only because it is a guilty pleasure and fade-to-black. I've given up mostly. I write my own sexual-tension heavy, but non-graphic romance stories privately. I think Dog Days by Elsa Watson is still one of my absolute favorite stupid-fun romantic(?) comedy books because it is so wild, and the sex is fade-to-black. Listen, the pickings are slim here. XD
There’s some great romance without sex, or with it behind a closed door/just referenced and not described. If you’re interested in historical romance (ie similar time period to Jane Austen and Bridgerton), I’d recommend books by Mimi Matthews (her Belles of London series, starting with the Sirens of Sussex, is fantastic) or Vanessa Riley (I’d recommend her historical fiction books about real people which have little to no romance, like Island Queen or Sister Mother Warrior). In the indie/self pub space, there’s some great books with ace rep too. JR Hart put out two novellas with aroace rep, The Heartbreak Handshake and Go Truck Yourself. This is also part of a multi-author series Clover Hill Romance, and while each author writes in a different heat level, each book includes a note in the description on Amazon, in the front matter, and on the author’s websites for many of them, indicating what to expect. I’d recommend those two, Visible Mending by M. Arbon, and a Milky Way Home by Hsinju Chen (that one is low heat/non-explicit).
Also an ace, and I read a lot of stuff as a kid (THG in elementary school too) that wasn't technically 'age appropriate' but I turned out perfectly fine. I also read a lot of MG as a young adult. people who think MG is dead have never been to a scholastic book fair, or, like, talked to a middle schooler.
if you want recommendations, i suggest natasha pulley - she writes historical realistic fantasy books (the new one is sci fi though), there's romance/relationships but 0 sex scenes as far as i can remember. my favorite is the bedlam stacks but they're all good imo
Oh! Also Lord of the Empty Isles by Jules Arbeaux. It's a science fantasy about grief and acceptance. Main character is aroace. I found the importance it placed on queer platonic relationships heartwarming. It does deal really heavily with grief and loss, so do be aware that you're in the right headspace.
Rachel I have a book suggestion for your 7 year old! When I was a tiny dyslexic child I really loved the Geronimo Stilton series, they’re adventure books with occasional illustrations and the text uses illustrative typefaces which really helped keep my attention and helped me sound out the words I was unfamiliar with. I still adore these books and I try to recommend them to any parents of young children.
I gobbled those books up for a while and then never heard anything about them until a week ago when I saw a bunch of them at a second-hand book store. And then I found this comment. It’s nice to see that they weren’t just some fever dream and that other people know about and read them as well.
Teacher here:
Hi! I teach 4th grade at an advanced level elementary school (private, teaching a grade above 4th grade). While I don't often agree with our advanced curriculum (social emotional teacher here trying to survive competitive academic sphere), it is lovely to have most if not all of my students either at or above grade level in reading. I have a massive library (2,000 books) in my classroom and my students devour books.
Here are some trends:
- Graphic novels are king - easy to digest, high interest, and can actually be really well-written
- Covers matter - like us, my students shop the covers and the ones that look cool or look like them are more likely to be read.
- Students really love realistic fiction, along with myths and legends stories
To get them to read chapter books:
1. Buy the graphic novel version - so many books have a graphic novelization. Buy that first, then tell them there is a novel of the book with even more details. My kids love the baby sitter club graphic novels and were floored when I pulled out my collection of the chapter books.
2. Buy high interest books. Students have to try to find their genre, to help them, find books that match their interest, but also the pacing that they enjoy. My boys are obsessed with the Animorphs series - it's weird and fun to read. My kids are also surprisingly into Shakespeare right now (the junior novelizations). They are quick to read and have a lot of crazy things in them. They love horror too. Short ghost stories are a great way to build stamina.
3. Inspire them! See an issue in the world? Find a book for it. For example, we read Ban This Book by Alan Gratz and discussed the real world issue of book banning. They then went and read most of the books that were banned in the book that we had in our library. They were shocked to learn what was on the list and inspired to spite the people banning books.
4. AUDIO BOOKS! Get the novel and let them listen to the book on Libby. This is especially great for those nuero-spicy kiddos or kids with reading struggles.
On content that may not be appropriate:
I think middle grade actually does a good job for the most part. I use common sense media or ABbookfind if I am unsure. I do think YA does find its way into elementary and middle school though. Mostly because we live in a culture that just buys things without really vetting them.
Anyway that's just my two cents.
This is a reason why trigger and content warnings are important. They are not just for adults who don't want to read about certain things, it's also a parental guideline. I help my aunt with picking books for my cousin by researching TW and CW for books on the Internet so we can discuss if the book is not going too far.
She is not a child, she is a late teen and reads books for teens, YA, war history and sometimes even horror, and this information is really important for us. There will be always some teens who are interested in books directed towards mature audiences, be it fiction or fact/history books, and such info is super helpful for guardians who want their child to engage with literature they are interested in while still keeping them safe.
Some websites even provide CWs for bad tropes, like showing men getting harrassed as a "haha funni SA joke", which is very helpful since we don't want my cousin to normalize certain things.
As an young aroace, I wish more books had content warnings simply within them (such as right after the title page or whatnot)
I’ve come to realise that the people with the hottest of takes about children online have little interaction with them on fall into the camp of thinking their malicious beings that society is to nice too. I used to fall into that camp but when you have the privilege to be around children you realise they dumb intelligent and incomplete beings being and the cognitive dissonance needed to not see them as such is something progressives need to revaluate lovely video as always your content has been a big help to rethink my problematic thoughts on children and their often ignored rights
When I was a toddler, my parents and I got into Disney. We watched all the movies except for a few that my mom insisted would traumatize me. Only years later I watched the lion king, the hunchback of Notre dame, Bambi and Snow White and the seven dwarfs, and knowing how impressionable I was at that age, I’m glad my mom made that decision for me.
In 2015, when I was 10, all my classmates were obsessed with a new fantasy book. I, an avid fantasy reader, wanted to read it too. I told my dad that I wanted to read that book. He did his research, and forbid me from reading it because “it was for grown-ups”. My 10 yo self threw a fit, because I desperately wanted to fit in, but I soon forgot about it when my parents gifted me the Percy Jackson saga, that I love to this day. This year, I finally picked that book up, and I can safely say that, had I read a court of thorns and roses when I was 10, I would’ve not been happy.
Barely two years later, a 14+ horror movie came out. All the 12 yo girls of my team went to watch it. Remembering the way my parents raised me, I refused. When I watched “It” as an adult, I got scared shitless and thanked my common sense.
A week ago, while in the bookshop, a bunch of 12 yo girls went to the romance section, and one began talking about how good the twisted series was. 12 year old girls. Reading Ana Huang books.
So, moral of the story? The reason I didn’t read ACOTAR as a kid, wasn’t traumatized as a toddler and had the common sense to avoid It as a pre-teen was because my parents checked the medias I wanted to watch before letting me. They still do, tbh, because they care. And the reason a pre-teen read the twisted series and influenced her friends to do the same, is because her parents weren’t attentive enough.
So yeah, choosing a book and suggesting it to a child is the parent’s job, not the librarian or book clerk’s. Let’s not blame publishing houses and artists for your inability to check the media your child consumes.
My 9 year old loves Rick Riordan and all of the ones his imprint does. There are so many middle grade books available.
YES RR Presents has sooo many good choices!
I can not tell you how readers on yt who “want to take the politics out of the books on the years’ ban list.” Drive me banana pancakes.
I know a yter who politely criticized you for putting politics in front of book bans! And you “make an apolitical situation and bombard it with political obfuscation”. I think that means you’re doing something great for all of us ❤
Happy Pride Rachel 😊
Lol well as the person showing up to my local school board about my children’s educational environment, I can tell you that I’m not the person who made it political. The book banners are. I didn’t get involved until I noticed that they were . And the same people who do not have kids in the school are showing up over their political beliefs, and asking my school board to put less money into special education which services my children. I specifically put my kids in public school so that they would have access to the services they need and so that they would not have a politicized educational environment like the one that I experienced. The same state in which I went to school is now heavily trying to politicize my children’s school environment, such as allowing Prager u material to be submitted as classroom instructional material. I’m actively working against folks who are trying to heavily politicize (in a very partisan way) my children’s educational environment.
Reading is inherently political though, as My Name Is Marines always wisely says
I teach 6th grade students in a Florida public school system and I read every single book that I put out in my classroom library and almost exclusively read middle grade books so I can help find books for reluctant/struggling readers.
And so many students get bored with their age level and I have had so many girls reading stuff that they've "seen on TikTok" that they just...bring to school and read during dismissal.
By the time I was 13, I had seen po** on the still young internet and had at most run across nothing more than a singular book with some minor groping. I have always been a voracious reader. I had also heard more from my friends experimenting at that age than from any book I read. I feel that for most of the people who are fighting for this book banning it is posturing and homophobia. It's happening where I live too and librarians have been harassed by the chair of one of the local city councils for making displays for Black History month and other diversity initiatives. It's honestly scarier than many of the other legislative actions ultra conservatives are aiming for because they are trying to control not actions but minds and educations.
Not about middle grade, but I'll always remember a particular cover of the VC Andrews book, Flowers in the Attic that existed a few years back. The cover definitely made it kind of look like this cutesy romance book because it had two blond models with their foreheads pressed against each other and was also kind of in pastels. It kind of made me laugh, knowing what the book entailed .
However, it's so easy to look these books up and see what they're about, especially nowadays. You can ask the librarian or one of the people who work at the bookstore too. They'd be helpful. Ice Breaker and other adult books like it aren't likely to be with the kids/teens/middle grade books in the bookstores either.
I just looked up the cover and it's truly awful. Omg. It looks like a generic tearjerker romance. Was the designer given ANY context as to what the book was even about? Maybe the only thing that relates to the contents is that those blonde people could be siblings. 😭 Still, as misleading as the cover is, the synopsis should give away that the book isn't what it looks like. Parents can also ask librarians/bookstore workers about it or look it up online before letting their children read it, as you said. But also... Why does it look like that????
@@user-i9z Right? It gives the vibes of something like, The Summer I Turned Pretty or another similar type book. Like a coming of age novel
. I have no idea. It's like the only thing the designer knew was that two of the most important characters were blonde and conventionally attractive. Like you said, it would still would be obvious that the book isn't what the cover implies, based off the synopsis or asking a librarian or bookstore worker, maybe looking it up online.
The cover still made no sense though. I like to imagine models were hired for it and told what it was for, but they didn't say anything because they were paid. Or maybe they weren't told what it was for and then they went into their local Books A Million and saw themselves on the cover of Flowers in the Attic. Maybe a friend stumbled upon it and took a picture, texting, "This U?" at them.
My 31 year old ass loves reading middle grade. Its the best. Maybe im immature but i love the humour and thw super super awkard first love story. 😂
Have you read Wings of Fire or Skandar and the Unicorn Thief? They are my favorite middle grade series.
coming at this from the perspective of a Certified Former Minor, its so odd to me for people to act like it's not the parents' job to judge whats age appropriate for their own children. it feels like they'd rather just sanitize the entire world rather than advocate for parents to inform themselves and, yk, actually parent their kids.
like, as someone who was a little shit when it came to books and tried to smuggle adult fiction past my mom, it was very obviously her job to stop me in my tracks and get those books out of my hands. which she did!
its not librarians jobs to look after the kids in their buildings. im not even gonna touch the subject of book banning anymore bc thats just so blatantly stupid that i dont even know what else to say. just let parents parent their kids 😭
The thing is I know theres some parents who dont care and would let their children get any book and not care but I also think the government should not be able to tell me or anyone else what is "appropriate" for anyone to read.
Well, my POV is that of a writer, and from experience, I can absolutely, unequivocally say MG IS NOT DYING. How do I know? Because every day I have a signing, I always see dozens of parents and kids coming in every hour and they are MG readers. That is why I'm currently writing one so I can be a part of encouraging kids to read.
I taught English UF for five years and so all of my interaction with the Florida book banning has been at the university level (oh yes, it is happening there--actually the year I left DeSatan somewhat successfully implemented this "political opinion survey" all instructors/faculty were required to take. I'm sure for entirely innocuous reasons). I don't live in Florida anymore but you've really opened my eyes to how broad this problem really is.
In our library, we have cards specifically for kids, and we've had them since I was a kid. It means a kid can't take out materials shelved as adult material. In practice, this resulted in eleven-year-old me taking out Sherlock Holmes novels on my dad's card with his knowledge.
A couple recs for your older niece "The Mermaid the Witch and the Sea" by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, "The Midnight Girls" by Alicia Jasinska and "The Shadow of the Fox" by Julie Kagawa
For both/the younger one "A Thousand Steps Into Night" by Traci Chee
All were fantastic without being too adult
My oldest is middle grade (she's 11 and starts 6th grade this fall) and there's a lot more middle grade books than people think are out there! I live in the midwest and both the local Walmart and Barnes & Noble have some good selections. On another note I've had to tell her no on Icebreaker because apparently the parents of her friends don't look over books before handing them to their at the time 5th grader. Now that kids parents are throwing a fit over inappropriate books when they didn't do their due diligence in looking at things before handing them to their kids. It's exhausting.
No piece of media of any kind has fucked me up more than the emotional abuse I suffered at the hands of my adult caretakers. Accidentally coming across a book with a sex scene in it was the least of my problems when I was watching my mom commit slow suicide every day. Conservatives can cry about it all they like, but the call is coming from inside the house, so to speak.
I’m really grateful to work as a public middle school teacher during the school year and as a comic book store employee during the summer months! I’m also very grateful to work in a shop that stocks a ton of middle grade reading options (both comics and graphic novels). Our middle school readers are our most loyal customers!! Kids love reading when they have the chance to - taking away those opportunities via book banning makes my blood boil.
Woke up to Rachel?? Perfection on this Saturday!! I’m currently studying an MA in Children’s Literature and its been an interesting point about the formats of books that seem to be popular. For instance, graphic novels were a focus and I think as long as children are reading, it’s a good thing. However, no Middle Grade books that i have studied or read have been adult in ANY WAY. I appreciate your view on it. Middle Grade ISNT dying but I definitely think the publishing world will recover. (I’m UK based though so seeing the international side has been cool.)
RACHEL MIDDLE GRADE CONTENT? IM LIVING!
You made me bop on over to thrift books and order Root Magic and Some Kind of Happiness for my niece as well as Sawkill Girls and Cabin at the End of the World for myself. Less than $35 for all four!!!!
@@justokayemilay6029oh my god what a DEAL. I love thrift books so frickin much.
thank you SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO! The connection between the "corn in MG/YA books" discussion and moms against liberty mission is something I never really thought of and im kind of embarrassed lol. this is such an important video and i will be plugging it everytime i happen upon this discussion
I remember hearing at some point that librarians were looking for shorter books for middle grade, especially after the pandemic or something along those lines. However, it seems like publishers may not be picking those up.
The most recent middle grade books I read are Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao and Into the Glades by Laura Sebastian. The benefit of these books is that the chapters are short, so it feels like a fast paced book.
Can you imagine the accusations of "groomer" if literally anyone other than a Republican politician had sent someone else's kid into the library to pick up an age-inappropriate book?
What's next? Banning parents from having grown up books in their homes for themselves? Most of the books I read at 8-13 was stuff my dad had bought for himself, he reads science fiction & fantasy mainly. Some of which I'm sure wasn't appropriate for my age at the time. Personally I found I just didn't understand the stuff that wasn't age-appropriate, as in it went clear over my head and didn't "stick". You can't keep children completely isolated from adult concepts without banning them for adults too.
This is craaaazy. Kids have always been reading books way out of their age range. Especially if they’re at the library frequently without supervision if they want to read adult books they’re going to. Kids have always been reading things they probably shouldn’t be it really isn’t that much of a problem imo
My almost 60 year old mother told me how when she was a kid in elementary school she read a book called the happy hooker. When I was 11 I read lit fic and loved April henry who wrote thrillers with murder kidnapping and assault. Kids are gonna read stuff if you don’t want them to u gotta be an involved parent
I read a lot of stuff as a kid (Harry Potter as a kindergartner) because i loved reading, and I turned out perfectly fine. Honestly, my nerdy book loving friends are the best kids I know because books allow people to live out things instead of doing them in real life.
100% with you, I think it’s most important that they read at all. Would keep an eye on it to ensure they aren’t ending up traumatised but yeah
This might sound weird but I remember when I was in 5th grade and we read the short story from Hemingway called The Killers. I remember it so well because we were what you would call special ed this day, I struggled with reading for most of my school years, and we never read stories that much. I'm fact it might have been the only story that we read in that year.
you don’t know raina telgemeier? I would love to hear your thoughts on her two books that got her the most popular, Drama and Smile. Smile is an autobiographical graphic novel about her story dealing with a really bad dental injury as a tween, and Drama is also inspired by her experiences I believe, it’s the story of a tween girl theatre nerd experiencing crushes and friends coming out for the first time. Drama was my favourite, I read it over and over. Raina’s graphic novels are incredibly compelling imo and the art is awesome. I believe she also illustrated the graphic novels for the babysitters club, but that was after I grew out of her target demographic.
Drama was literally my introduction to the concept of gay people as a kid lmao, looking back on it it might not be the best rep in the world but those books were really influential to kids and I have a lot of fond memories of them.
hi, i’m a student, and i just wanna say that i read the last cuentista for a competition and it was so good
I appreciate how passionate you got in this. IMO this subject is super important so thank you for the work you do to fight against these rules and regulations people are wanting to put into place. I've seen it in books, movies, and TV, and am seeing it in surprising ways in video games too. Mostly conservative values trying to be enforced over the arts in general. It feels like a fight as old as time... it's kind of exhausting. So again, thank you for standing up for kids here. It's great to have this accessible on youtube!
Like since when did public libraries become babysitting services for inattentive parents? Do these people literally never speak to their own children about their interests? I feel like you'd have to literally make a conscious decision to turn a blind eye to your kids to not realise if they were reading something inappropriate for their age. At some point you have to admit that it's not an issue with the system or "wokeness" or whatever other vague problem; You're just a bad parent who expects the rest of the world to pick up the slack for you.
We have to now take a picture of our tiny 12-title ECSE classroom bookshelf every month(or lesson cycle) and submit to admin because of these yahoos that don't even send their kids to our district. I assist sweet little 5yos that can't hold a spoon let alone a book but somehow making sure rainbow covers or stories of all types of families needs more of my time and energy...🙄
The whole "I know it when I see it" thing about p0rn is that conservatives will call anything even slightly sexual porn. It makes me so annoyed. Like, my dude, there is a children's section and a teen section for a reason!
Yes, an open conversation is so important. My mom frequently checked out media before we watched it and was very open about what she considered age appropriate and created an environment where -- regardless of how I feel about the specifics now -- made me and my brother feel comfortable going to her and saying, "Hey. This actually has this thing in it and I know I'm not old enough, so have it back." (Or w the case of movies, "Can you fast forward it for us?")
This might be a small thing, but i dont think i personally owned a single hardcover fiction book until i was adult. We primarily purchased paperbacks or used the library.
One of my favorite MG book series I’ve read as an adult is the Braidy von Althuis series. Its about a boy living with his very unusual family- his dad’s a barghest, his uncle’s a ghost, his aunt’s a swamp witch, his cousin has a toy block for a head, and his grandma is a magical puppet haunted by a fairy. Braidy and his mom are the only humans in the family, and the throughout the series Braidy learns about embracing differences, taking accountability, consent, and other various lessons, with each book focusing on his conflict with a different family member and resolving it.
Its very whimsical and I would have loved if the books were around when I was a kid
My parents did not monitor my reading and I read Go Ask Alice too young because it was in the YA section. My mom saw I had it after i read it and went “ohhh that’s a dark book.” Thanks Mom!
1) you've unearthed the memory of me being an advanced reader in 3rd grade and my dad having to explain that while yes, I do have a 12th grade reading level, Stranger in a Strange Land (which was recommended by the reading counts quiz) is not for children 😅 and that I should take reading lists with a grain of salt. Largely as long as I was in the children's section it was never a problem for me to find something to read. I was just excited because it was on my parent's shelf, in their section of the bookshelves.
2) my favorite thing about Manga as a kid was that not only do they include a rating for age, they Also include *why* it's that rating (ie 16+ for implied sexual content and dangerous situations,vs 16+ for graphic violence). The age range helps but I the earlier internet days those warnings were super helpful when I was desperate for any graphic novel I could read, whereas my mom once sent me a pirate book that she hadn't read and didn't include any warnings, and it was an adult novel with a graphic sex scene x.x that was on her, not on the library or the bookstore or my own choices!
19:49 this kid and many others used as pawns by the adults in their life that want to control others is always a problem and how’s this kid was used just to force an example was just despicable.
I read Witchlings for work this year (children’s librarian trainee) and it is genuinely one of my favorite books that I read this year. I read it for a specific project so I’m not required to continue the series but I absolutely am going to.
Side note, not that I don’t trust your judgment but some of the things in the later few seasons of Young Justice were a little intense even for me and I was 22 watching them the first time! 😅
I’ve only let them watch seasons one and two (depending on episodes, some we avoid). They like Blue Beetle a lot but they haven’t really been interested in continuing past that anyways. They’re now obsessed with dragon ball z kai
@@ReadswithRachel sounds like the right approach. It was just on my mind because I was just having a conversation with a friend just yesterday about how genuinely shocking some of the decisions in the writing of that show are. Maybe it’ll be an interesting thing for them to revisit when they’re older
My 14 year old sister started reading Haunting Adeline, after like 20 pages she dropped it because it wasn't good.
Currently she's reading The Virgin Suicides.
When i was around her age i read Nancy Drew, and scarred myself with a short horror story about a guy with seven fingers 😅.
I was reading teen, YA and adult books in middle school, partly because my parents didn’t bother checking to see what exactly I was reading and partly because my dad encouraged me to read adult sci-fi and fantasy from a very young age. Also, by middle school I was reading tons of inappropriate fan fiction on wattpad lol.
As a fifth grade teacher who's constantly trying to expand my classroom library, the middle grade recs at the end are a GODSEND.
29:30 - Demonstrating there is actual HARM is also important to whether we consider something a problem! Because let's say a very young kid finds an erotic novel...they're not going to understand it if they're too young to be interested in sex!! They're probably going to think it is boring or gross and put it down after a couple of pages! Now, a VIOLENT story, that could be upsetting - but, even then, probably temporarily, and it is something that a parent could talk their kid through. I read 'The House of the Spirits' when I was 15. Did I have nightmares about getting arrested and tortured by a military dictatorship? Yes, for about a week. Did it do me any permanent harm? Heck no, probably the contrary! Did I want to read more Latin America magical realism? Heck yes!
This is another thing that I keep telling the school board is that they have to demonstrate that not only is the issue that kids are picking up books outside of their age range, but that harm is actually being caused due to this. And Julie has specifically said that it is enough that hypothetically a highschooler could pick up a Book like psycho and maybe go onto commit a crime because they were inspired by psycho. This has never happened, but she told the school board that she believes that this hypothetical child and this hypothetical reality in which this child would do such a thing, even though this would be considered an outlier im data, this fear of hers and his hypothetical that she has concocted is enough apparently to take the book off shelves. I keep having to go up there and explain to them that hypotheticals are not the way in which we decide which book and which books go. Evidence is. And I told them specifically that we used evidence space measures in deciding what goes onto my children’s IEP plans, so why we are suddenly deciding to do differently regarding books is beyond me. Evidence matters.
As someone who was that young kid who found not only that erotic novel but also very sexual (but not overly explicit) comics in my older brother's room, putting it away is exactly what I did! Yuck! And then when I later did feel interested and ready I picked them back up again and read them and read more of them. Contrary to being harmful, I think that realizing that I could explore and understand these kinds of themes through fiction was beneficial for me in the long run, even if I did read some stuff that made me want to bleach my brain afterwards.
Right? I read all of Sherlock Holmes by the time I was 10. I also read stuff like Ranma ½ because the library didn't separate manga into age ranges at all (this was just around 2000 and it was amazing that they even had manga). Did I occasionally pick up manga that were a little too adult for me? Yeah, generally in terms of violence or setting. I put them down and returned them without reading them, just like when I borrowed CDs that I didn't enjoy for whatever reason.
I remember one time when I borrowed a YA audiobook set in a Japanese setting, something about warring clans and supernatural elements and a warrior from one side and princess from the other falling in love. That was the first thing I ever borrowed that had sexual themes in it, and when it got to that part I stopped listening because a) I didn't care for romance plots and b) it did make me a little uncomfortable, because there was both a consensual scene and I THINK an attempted assault. Did that make me uncomfortable then and there? Yes, a bit. Did it traumatise me? No. The only reason I remember it is because that's THE ONLY TIME this ever happened to me with an audiobook. I've DNFed bad books of course, but I never had another (non-manga) book that I never finished.
I also read ElfQuest aged 9-10, which WAS in the adult section of the library. The only reason I found that was because I followed my mom, was OBSESSED with the covers (beautiful drawings and wolves, hello???). My mom SKIMMED THROUGH THE FIRST ONE and said "I think this is meant for adults, but you can take the first one and we can look at it at home". And we did. ElfQuest has comic book violence, upper body nudity and some implied/fade to black sex scenes. The violence isn't very graphic or gruesome. I grew up in a country where bodies aren't villainised (mixed saunas, nude beaches in some areas, families with young children get ready together in the morning at the same time), and kids get basic sex ed in elementary school.
There's also mature themes like persecution, racism, war, etc - but the severity of these totally went over my head as a kid. So did I read more of the series? Yeah, I DEVOURED them. My mom let the library staff know that I was allowed to check out ElfQuest, and ONLY ElfQuest, from the adult section. ...see how easy that was?
First, kudos for encouraging your son to read what he likes. Not all parents recognize that reading is reading and should be encouraged in whatever form their child enjoys.
Second, am I surprised that there are some parents who didn't read the back cover of Icebreaker and then were clutching their pearls. Nope.
There are too many parents that don't screen out books (or tv, movies, etc) that aren't age appropriate out of ignorance or laziness. I went there because I've seen it and dealt with it first hand. It is up to parents to do that, not the rest of us.
The adults should be (and those board members specifically should be) pointing back to the parents and reminding them that they have a responsibility to their kids in this.
My qualifications: Aunt to an 11 and 15 year old, indie author, former educator, and earned a doctorate in education.
Part of this conversation should be schools. Schools need to provide modern middle grade titles both in their libraries and classrooms. Schools should also focus on free choice reading and not whole class novel studies. This is how you grow a love of reading. If kids don’t have access to books they want to read they don’t know those books exist. A lot of kids ONLY access to books is at school.
Thank you for pointing out the age range thing on the books you featured! Something I hate is people want age ratings, like movies and tv shows, ignorant of how those go hand-in-hand with bigotry and censorship too at times. The age categories, while a tad flawed on the YA side at times, already exist. If they’re not on the books themselves, publisher sites often include them for the kids’ books! And so many of the indie romance authors are *so* transparent that they write for 18+…how much clearer could that be?!
37:59 A head's up about Young Justice: The show DOES dive into themes of death and loss, pretty heavily especially in the second season onward, just in case you didn't know. It's one of my favorite shows, but it does get brutal, so I'd recommend checking the plot summary/details if that worries you.
There's also loss of a parent in the first season as a major recurring plot point after Zatanna's intro. He's not technically dead, but in terms of emotional impact, he might as well be.
Oh for sure we have skipped those episodes!
I hope they're enjoying the show otherwise. I loved it as a kid, and that love has only grown as an adult. (Especially with the season 3 and 4 revival seasons being VERY mature and adult focused).
The only restriction on books i had as a child was that I was not allowed to read V.C. Andrews until I was much older. I was allowed to read her works when I was 17/18 years old. I understand why, as I probably would not have understood the content. I could have read them sooner (14/15) because of my maturity in understanding, but I just didn’t feel like picking one up. It is 100% up to the parents to advocate for their children in what they can and cannot read. Parents need to be very involved in the child’s literacy.
I know with my 7 year old daughter, she isn’t on the same level that I was at her age. But I work to make sure that she is given books to read that will make her think that are age appropriate, as instilling critical thinking at a young age is very important. She loves going to the library.
Also, The Dark is Rising was a wonderful series I read in middle grade. Susan Cooper.
I loved Susan Cooper too!
"for a long time now, we not only have a generation of children that's reading below their grade level, but we also lack a variety of mg books..." YES. THIS PART. working in a lower-income school (and this was over a decade ago), i had so many 9/10/11 year olds reading at a picture book/beginner chapter book level who *would not read* because the books were too babyish. we need more books at henry and mudge/boxcar children levels of simplicity with percy jackson levels of subject matter.
When I was 8-12, I read things like PJO, captain underpants, diary of a wimpy kid, dork diaries, Fablehaven, children of the lamp, HP, hunger games, twilight, divergent. 8-12 is such a large age gap. My siblings are just one either side of that and both have dyslexia, which means that the books they are reading are way different than the ones I read at that age, because my reading level was very high at that age. But when I was younger, there were also a lot more programs that rewarded kids for reading, I remember it was easy to get a free book from BN for reading several books, and getting a free pizza from Pizza Hut.
My mom read all of those books first or they were recommended by my librarian. 8-12 I was in the kids section. They were clearly marked. I had to be 13 before I could go upstairs to the teen section (I may have been allowed earlier with permission from my parents and the librarian because there were certain books I needed) my mom would read books then let me if they were appropriate, and always let me know that I don’t have to finish a book if I don’t like it. I stopped reading eclipse after about 100 pages because I got bored of it. I was 11 and did not finish that series until I was 13-14. Even now my mom screens books for my younger brother. I screen picture books for my siblings. I screen tv shows for them too. When my 13 year old brother was little, there were certain shows I would not let him watch, but current little ones can. There are ones he watched that they do not. My mom did not let me watch sleeping beauty as a kid, but my youngest siblings have seen it multiple times. My 13 year old bro was not allowed to watch Coraline, at 7, but my 7 year old sister has watched it multiple times. She can handle it, he could not, but at 6 he could handle jumanji and it still scares her. Parents (and in my case older siblings) are responsible for what their kids read and watch.
I work at a library, but I’m not a librarian. The hardest thing that parents at my library struggle with is finding books that fit their kids reading level. I read a lot of middle grade when I was younger, but mostly the stuff that’s on the older end, stuff that sometimes gets shelved as YA. None of the books at the library are organized by reading level, so it’s really hard to tell what’s going to work for a specific kid. We do have one category called J Series, which are early chapter books which is something I often recommend for kids who are still learning to read chapter books. Many of those books are stuff like Diary of a Wimpy Kid which has pictures to help the kid learn to read chapter books.
My biggest wish is for authors to write more books in that age range, because there are only so many of that kind of book at the library. Once the kids have read 2-3 series they’re interested in, they don’t know what to read from there. I’ve been trying my best to learn about the middle grade books we have on our shelves, that way I can help recommend the right books to the right kids. We have a lot of kids at our library at that age right now, which is why I think it’s so important for me to be able to help them.
I appreciate your perspective as a parent. This will be something for me to navigate as my kiddo continues to grow. Unlike your niece, I am all about magical books! Amari, Nevermoor… Witchlings! It’s cozy and cute, with a good helping of mystery, peril, and dealing with injustice. So excited for the 3rd one coming out later this year.
Damn I was looking for a video to listen while drawing but I was blessed with your upload, this is gonna be so good
Thank you for this! It gives me so much more to think about when reviewing middle grade, which I love a lot!
It feels so good to be this earlyyyyy!!! Thanks for the video
Wow an hour long video 😊. Yay 🙌🏻
new Rachel video?! i'm so pumped!!!
I’m very excited to watch this video, I’m going to crochet while I listen
I do the same! What have you been crocheting latelym
@@mistywindow16 a blanket made out of flower squares:)
Assistindo um vídeo da Rachel e bebendo um cházinho, oh coisa boa
My grandma said when she was a child (She’s 90 now) they didn’t really have books for kids. They were mostly considered unnecessary and expensive. Kids were meant to listen to their parents and play or work outside. There will always be silly opinions about what kids should and shouldn’t be reading but in the end, we all become adults and the more information we have by then the better we will understand life.
Thank you for all the middle grade recommendations!
Any time!
My daughter is 11, she’s a HUGE reader (broke 3 different backpacks because she carries too many books with her). She loves YA fantasy, all the rick riordan series he spotlights, Wings of Fire, Harry Potter, Warriors, Land of Stories, the Hunger Games. She is getting older now and wants to read more scandalous stuff. I look into every book I buy her, but it is difficult to filter everything that comes from the library and her friends lend each other books as well. At the end of the day you do your best and then just be open to talking to your kids🤷🏻♀️
If anyone is looking for good disability rep in their middle grade that has mythology and fantasy thrown into the mix, The Storm Runner trilogy by J.C. Cervantes is amazing. It's got a main character who has to navigate his world with a physical disability, but he doesn't allow this disability to define him. It's based off of Mayan mythology, and it's an amazing series. The author has since released a new series that I am waiting to read.
However, be sure to read the books to make sure they are right for your child.
31:02 Abeka, now that's a blast from my past. Thanks for that reminder. 😩
36:31 Young Justice after season 2 gets a lot darker, more on-screen blood and gore. That's why I stick with the first two, which I love!
Yeah they don’t go past season two. They lost interest anyway and now if they’re gonna watch a tv show it’s gonna be DBZ kai. But my youngest is also still watching Lucas The Spider, which is probably the cutest thing ever. He’s def not ready for young justice season 3.
@@ReadswithRachel I do remember there being a fun episode in the later seasons where all the Harpers get together and have an adventure, I like that one.
But there is probably some stuff I'm not remembering in it that I wouldn't show my younger siblings.
Yes! Thank you!!! My kid can’t even read yet and I already do my job at picking her books and other media and I am more than capable of continuing to do that as she ages. It is no one else’s business but my family’s.
I was reading adult books from the age of 10, my parents just let me read all their books if I wanted to, so I was mixing my middle grade books with Stephen king, Dan brown, tad williams… I don’t know if librarians ever tried to restrain me, though I distinctly remember borrowing books from the adult section at 14. nobody really cared what I was reading imo, they were happy I did it at all. I skipped YA entirely btw. I think restrictions should never be enforced externally. Not sure I would have read as many books if I had been forced to read age appropriate only.
Only time I was ever told no was when grandma saw me read the memoir of a sex worker that went into graphic detail when I was 12. understandable tbh. She read it herself and decided it’s inappropriate, no external conservative bigots required.
Also, thumbs up for Maus. I think it’s an important book telling a story that needs to be heard. I read it as a teen and it left a lasting effect, borrowed it from a teacher. Recently bought my own copy.
45:34 Oh, I loved Gregor the Overlander in middle school! I may have to reread it now that I've been reminded it exists.
Literally don’t judge a book my it’s cover and actually read the book a bit before giving it to the kid.
covers aren’t perfect like the lovely bones has a cover similar to a sarah dessen book and those are VERY different kinds of books and they’re not cartoons, covers are marketing decisions and can often be flawed and inaccurate so people need to always check the description
None of this removes the fact that both libraries and bookstores always separate books by age range (and theme, and fic/nonfic, etc). Like when in doubt, just look up at what aisle you're in? Tell your kid that all the kid stuff is over there? 😭 How lazy can these people be??
Another really good middle grade series is Keeper of the Lost Cities. It’s about elves and everyone I know likes them.
I highly recommend The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce for your 13 yo niece. I read them at that age and bought them for my own younger cousins when they were the same age and they both loved them as much as I did when I read them!
I feel like part of the reason the average booktoker might think there’s no middle grade out there is because… it’s not being marketed to them? Idk when I hear people say “why is there no ____” 99% the answer is “because you’re not actually looking”
I applaud you for dealing with these bunch of people. I am growing even more livid and I'm childless.
Almost done with work and this is just what I need ❤
i've been reading a lot since i was a small child and i never had issues with age-inappropriate content because my mom was so involved, she's always placed a high importance on reading and would select books to read with my sister and me. she still gets library books for me if she finds something she thinks i'd like, which i really love honestly (i'm 20 now)
she also always encouraged critical thinking and would talk to us if we read something we didn't understand or had questions about
Thank you so much for making this video Rachel! I've written 2 middle grade stories and have been querying them since September of last year, constantly wondering and worrying what's going on in the mg market and if these stories would ever work. I'll continue to keep at it and see what happens. My fave middle grade books so far is Zachary Ying by Xiran Jay Zhao and the Witchlings series by Clarabel A. Ortega ☺