People have been complaining about the lack of books for kids in the upper-MG/lower-YA age range for years.
Here’s a post from 2017 pointing out the fact that YA often isn’t really for teens anymore. Yes, the protagonists are often 15-18 (itself a problem because it completely skips over the 12-14 age range), but the vast majority of people reading YA are over 18. And the stories and themes reflect that.
Laurie Morrison wrote about this even earlier — in 2014 — and her blog references advice a writer was given in 2010 to avoid that “gray area” where the age of your protagonist blurs the line between MG and YA.
And we’re clearly still trying to figure it out today, as evidenced by a 2023 Publisher’s Weekly post from a middle school librarian lamenting the lack of 13- to 15-year-old protagonists. Or even the 2024 post on From the Mixed-Up Files on gaps in the MG/YA market. That one specifically dives into the lack of age-appropriate romance books that kids seem to be craving more of (another lack that Morrison has spoken out about), but I think it still applies to overall hole in the market.
This is getting very inside baseball, and I didn’t really want to do that, so let’s simplify things a bit. I have a theory that’s very singular and admittedly self-serving, but I don’t think that makes it wrong: kids are missing book series that grow up with them.
Not Just Series — Series That AGE UP
There’s no shortage of book series for kids of all ages. This is something that makes a huge amount of sense for everyone involved. If a reader likes a book/story/protagonist, they’re likely going to want more of that world. Parents are generally happy to keep buying books in a series that they know their kids like and they’ve possibly already vetted once, because they don’t have to worry about it. Publishers and authors, generally, are thrilled to stick with a universe that’s making them money (provided, for the authors, that they still feel like they have something to say in that universe).
And there are lots of good ones out there. I’m going to miss countless series, so apologies for that, but here are just a few examples:
For MG
Aru Shah – Though there are five books covering Aru’s journey, the entire series spans roughly a single year. Great books, but they’re not really designed to grow with the reader.
Amari – Likewise, the first three Amari books all take place across a compacted timeline, and it seems like the fourth will follow that trend.
For YA
Inheritance Games – The entire trilogy takes place over the course of a year, and Avery starts as a 17-year-old.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – While the protagonist, Pip, does age from 17 to 18 over the three books, the timeline still seems to be roughly a year — or possibly less. And, again, she starts at 17.
As if the subhead wasn’t a big flashing sign, you can probably already see where I’m going with this. Unlike older popular series for tweens and teens — for example, Percy Jackson, and that other one by She Who Shall Not Be Named — a lot of modern series aren’t giving us time to live with these characters. To watch as they grow and change over important developmental periods in their lives. And, perhaps just as importantly, to see how these characters tackle versions of real problems that real kids are facing today over time.
I think that’s what’s missing in a bigger, broader way, and I have some theories about why it would help to have more books series that grow with their readers in this way.
The Importance of Growing Up with Readers
It’s no secret that lots of kids who read often lose interest in their tween- to early-teen years. Part of this is likely just the nature of growing up and developing new interests and so on. And part of it has to be due to the black hole in that part of the market. But I think it’s also because there’s not enough out there to get them hooked in a way that makes them want to keep going.
Here’s why I think more long-timeline book series help with that:
Hook’em Before You Lose’em. If you have a reader at ages 8, 9, and 10, they’re likely wanting to read about 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds — at least. Starting your protagonist at this lower age range gives you a better chance of attracting younger readers before they start “aging out” of reading.
Keep Them Coming Back. When kids start a book series where they eventually become older than the protagonist, I believe there’s a higher chance that they will abandon it. You need to give your characters the time and space to age, grow, and experience things that your readers either will or are currently experiencing. They need to see your characters as models (not necessarily role models; they absolutely shouldn’t be perfect) who provide them glimpses into what growing up is like.
Offer Them a Bridge. Yes, we certainly need more novels that are specifically aimed at the older MG-younger YA demo. They can be standalones or even series like Amari, which fantastically paints a portrait of a 13-year-old girl facing extraordinary challenges. But I also think it’s wise to build a bridge from MG to YA that allows kids to comfortably transition with characters and a world they’ve already come to love. That they already feel safe in. Series that start with characters in the 10-12 age range and continue through 17 or 18 offer a clear path that takes them from one side of growing up to the other.
Of course, that’s not the only thing we need to do. I’ve seen with my own kids that audiobooks are a great way to get them to “read” even when they can’t be bothered to pick up a physical (or digital) book. Fiction podcasts are another great tool parents (and maybe even educators) can use. They, too, are potential “bridges” that can help guide kids back to reading or keep them on the path.
Want a real world example?
This One Gets It
I can’t say enough good things about R.A. Consell and his Stealing From Wizards series. While it is essentially the Canadian version of that other globally popular wizard series, it is incredibly cleverly put together and Mr. Consell has developed what I think is a winning formula both for readers and in terms of getting his work out there. I won’t get into plot details or anything like a review, but if you want to know more you can read what I’ve written here and here about the first two books.
It follows my suggested, tried-and-true formula of each book following a year in the main character’s life. Over the course of three books, we’ve watched Kuro grow through Avalon Academy’s middle school, surviving all kinds of horrifying things (most notably repeatedly being blamed for theft — because he was a notorious thief — and his own painfully bad magical abilities), and by the end of book three he finally climbs the literal cliffside that serves as the students’ final challenge before they can transition to the Academy’s high school. Again, though, trying not to make this a review — suffice it to say that the characters grow and learn in ways that feel real and true for actual 11-, 12-, and 13-year-olds. (I may be off by a year there, but you get the idea.)
But here’s the thing. Want to know how our family discovered the series?
At age 10, my son told me about an awesome podcast he’d just discovered. Curious, we turned it on in the car because he wanted to listen to the next chapter. Much to my surprise, it wasn’t what *I* would have considered a podcast, but an audiobook. Mr. Consell was releasing his books, one chapter at a time, as individual podcast episodes. Each book marks a season, and by that point he had already released all of books 1 and 2, so our entire family devoured them.
The bad part about this was that there was a long (for us) wait for book 3 to come out. But when it did, both of our kids read the actual book because the podcast hadn’t been released yet. They then went back and listened to the podcast once episodes started coming out, and this in turn spiked their hunger for book 4, which will release this November. It’s a way to meet kids where they are while still bringing them back to that thing we all want them to do: keep reading.
This is what I’m hoping to do with my Future Me series, the big difference being that I chose to work within the realm of (light, character-driven) science fiction because I thought it provided me with the opportunity to give things more of a real-world veneer and make it feel more like something that could possibly happen.
Will This Really Solve the Problem?
All by itself? Of course not! As with most of the problems our world is facing today, getting more “tweener” kids back into reading will require a mult-pronged approach. One that involves finding new ways to speak to them, meeting them where they are, and encouraging their various influences to support this goal.
But every little piece of the puzzle helps, and I think bringing back this one in a bigger, more modernized way would definitely help.