Middle-Grade - Genre

Photo: pixabay.com

With the other types of children's books (Board books, Picture books, Early Readers, Early Chapter) the categories are separated more by book length and format. With these books, you can just tell by the appearance what category they belong to.

Middle-Grade novels are starting to look like adult novels. They do tend to use fewer words than Youth Adult & Adult novels. But because Middle-Grade novels tend to use a larger font and spacing, the number of printed pages is similar.

The big difference between Middle-Grade and Youth Adult & Adult novels is the content and themes. Middle-Grade novels are kept age appropriate and focus specifically on issues of children in that age range, about 8-12. The main characters in the story are the readers' age or slightly older and deal with issues like friendship, family relations, physical changes, school experiences, injustices in the world.

Middle-Grade novels tend not have any swearing, graphic violence, or romance beyond that of a crush or first kiss.

Middle-Grade Novels tend to be about: 30,000–55,000 words

Middle-Grade Book Reviews:

• The Wolf Princess by Catherine Constable
• Reviewed October 2018

Back to Writing Research - Main Page