My Thoughts on Age Appropriateness in Middle-Grade Literature

After once again completing Jack London’s novel Call of the Wild, I have a few thoughts on appropriateness.

I have my writing reviewed by other authors. It is imperative. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. When a group forms and those traits in writing are complimentary, exponential growth can happen.

In many things, it is good to know the rules well so that you truly understand when and why to break them.

I often break the rules in my writing. The main criticism I receive is that I have themes and lessons that will go over the heads of some younger readers. I embrace feedback and need that challenge though it can be uncomfortable or even painful. After honest reflection, there are some things that, even though I know the feedback is correct, I choose to ignore it. This is one of those criticisms.

If it will go over some of the reader's heads, that does not mean all of the reader's heads. My hope is that my work is read to smaller children by parents, and if something is challenging, it will inspire a great discussion.

When this criticism was first brought up, I protested. “What about Farmer Boy? Charlotte’s Web? A Wrinkle in Time? Anne of Green Gables? Hatchet? White Fang?”

“Kids are different today,” was the reply I received.

Are they? Has the human brain changed in the past fifty years? No. Society has, and our expectations of children have. My children were captivated by these stories. However, I also read to them and paused to answer any questions.

The definition of what is appropriate and what it means to challenge children has changed. Some works of middle-grade literature are applauded for challenging young readers differently. By injecting advanced content into the story. Not advanced sentence structure or a poetic writing style that enhances depth and imagery, but just more adult content.

Development progresses in a healthy way, like a three-prong pitchfork. Physical, intellectual, and emotional. If these things progress out of balance, there is a great deal of insecurity and, eventually, low self-worth. If the prongs of a pitchfork are extremely uneven, it will no longer work properly.

For example, if a person is physically thirteen but has not yet developed the emotional coping skills of a thirteen-year-old and is then exposed to very adult ideas that require experience and a high level of coping skills to navigate and interpret, the result is insecurity. Repeat for long enough, and the pattern results in a general feeling of less than.

I want to challenge young readers, but not by introducing adult content they are unprepared for. Innocence will be ripped away too soon as it is. Introducing these topics too early does not prepare them. Introducing coping skills does. I choose to challenge with concepts, lessons, and occasionally sentence structure.

It has also been suggested that I keep my sentence structure to a fourth-grade reading level. Here is an example of a single sentence from Jack London’s Call of the Wild:

“With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been a defiance of life, only it was pitched in minor key, with long drawn wailings and half-sobs, and was more the pleading of life, the articulate travail of existence.

This challenges me as an adult. Too advanced for young readers? Yes. As an adult I ponder the depth of this. But yet another movie based on this book was just made intended for young audiences and well received.

To put this in perspective, this movie hit theaters one hundred seventeen years after the book was published. To me, that says it's okay to have a sentence beyond a fourth-grade reading level once in a while. More importantly, it is not only okay but imperative that young people are challenged with a depth of thought and content. By challenging them in these areas, they will develop the ability to think critically and exercise their emotional intelligence and agility in such a way that they will meet adult content when it comes in uninvited droves with security and stability.