I recently decided to expand Ink Spells’ charter to include reading/reviewing/talking about books for Young Teens. The first Young Teens book I reviewed was The Dark Deeps, and the recently reviewed Behemoth tread close to the dividing line between Middle Grade (ages 8-12) and Young Teens (12-14).
I described books for Young Teens as such:
These books generally feature younger teen protagonists, aged 14-16, and are almost clean enough to be considered middle grade reads – except that they generally have darker, more mature themes, often more sophisticated subject matter, and have some kind of underlying (yet not heavily explored) romance themes.
If a book is all about kissing and dating in the high school scene, I would consider that firmly in the YA (young adult) territory. If there are explicit sex or violence themes, or very dark subject matter, I would similarly consider that out of the realm of Young Teens. But there are many great books out there, that fit nicely into the Young Teens definition above, and I look forward to reading them!
Do you have any suggested reads you think would be appropriate for Young Teens?
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. And we have a button on our sidebar that says clean reads. You could probably find a lot of suggestions there. Also we have a Tween button. Hope that helps!
Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon was a great read with a boy MC. I read young teen to young adult depends on the story. 😀
@Andye You guys rock the teen reads, so I will def be checking it out. And I was pondering Paranormalcy – it's definitely clean, but there's more kissing and love infatuation than I was thinking would fit the Young Teens category, as least as I'm thinking about it. But I'm not sure…I'm still figuring my way through what would interest my 12 yo.
@Brenda Thanks for the rec! 🙂
Ooh, I have so many. And Andye's site is awesome!! A must visit. I like some older classics. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause is one of my favorites.
I don't have any specific titles for you (sorry – I've been reading adult and older YA in my book pile lately), but a question for you: How would you handle a series – like HP – where the MC grows older and the series becomes much darker? Starts off as MG then grows up – HP is in the MG section of the bookstore, but the later books I won't let my guys near until they are firmly in their teens. Just wondering. 🙂
@Sheri Thanks for the rec! 🙂
@Debbie An excellent question. HP was one of the first books I reviewed, and I think I may have to do a new post (with the movie coming out). The upshot: I evaluated each book on age appropriateness and have basically doled them out to my kids when they hit the age mark (movies are similar but separate). My boys are huge fans, which made me even more cautious, but they eagerly await the day when they can "step up" to the next novel. My 12yo just finished the last book, and we're going to see the movie for his birthday. 🙂
I've been reading _The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance_ by Catherine Ryan Hyde and it seems to shake your category. The MC is only 13 but the story is very gritty–there's an alcoholic mom with serial live-in boyfriends and the MC herself smokes and drinks. I've seen a handful of other books like this with younger-than-typical MCs but very solidly upper-YA plot elements. I'm not sure what to make of it. Your thoughts?
@Laurel My thoughts are that books like that make me nervous. I know that kids read up, so they are often going to read books that are above their "age-appropriate" range anyway. But when you start having protagonists that are young like that, it makes it even more difficult to keep kids that are too young from picking it up.
Of course, there are some people that believe that 12-14yo should be reading that material. I'm not one of them.
This reminds me of Ender's Game (awesome book BTW!). The MC is eleven, but Uncle Orson really didn't write it as a kid's book. It was an adult book about a kid. This is where parents/teachers/gatekeepers have to use good judgement and know the books before they recommend them – which is part of what Ink Spells is here to help with, in my own small way.
hi miss susan! you got lots of really intresting comments on your post. it got me wondering if i could want to read some of those more older books. im a really good reader and could understand stuff really good. so much kids thats my age got lots of bad stuff in their life and that gets me thinking maybe a older book could be a help with dealing it out. for me im not just real sure.
…hugs from lenny
I like that. Young Teens. Perfect. And a much needed category for crossover books, as you describe.
@Lenny My mom's a psychologist and I know there are some kids that have lots of bad experiences in their lives, and that books can really help kids deal with things. My mom calls it "bibliotherapy" and I'm all for that. But for kids that haven't seen that rough side of life, the Mom in me wants to let them be kids as long as possible, and protect them from the darker stuff. When kids are a bit older (like teens) they can handle a lot more stuff. Also: I think talking about books is always a good thing. Even when I tell my boys a book's "too old" for them, I tell them why and we talk about it. We also talk about books that maybe are "borderline" and they read anyway. Talking is always good!
@Tracy Thanks! And welcome fellow MG-writer-SCBWI-er!
I'm not sure I have a suggestion, but I'm loving reading all the commenters suggestions!
@Elana Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I think Deadly Little Secrets and Deadly Little Lies would be okay. There is a kissing scene and a kidnapping, but nothing too over the top.
Great book recs on this post!
There are so many new deliniations, I'm not sure where books all fit–YA, Upper Middle Grade, MG, Tweens, New Adult, now Young Teens. You'll have to help me with more definitions like this one.
I loved Lindsey Leavitt's Princess for Hire. :o)
Great new charter blog expansion, Sue! I look forward to hearing more.
@Sharon Thanks for the Rec's!
@Jackee Thanks for the rec! I know it's confusing, partly because I think it keeps evolving. But I see that as good – I think it's because MG/YA/Young Teens/whatever is one of the few growing segments of the industry! 🙂
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead are two awesome books that I think can easily be ready by younger teens and older teens (and adults!) and the themes are universal enough that age isn't much of a consideration. There's an infatuation in Suite Scarlett but nothing comes of it.
@Sommer Thanks for the rec! I hadn't heard of Suite Scarlett before !