We get a lot of questions here at Go Teen Writers about writing books for kids and teens.
“What’s the difference between chapter books and middle grade?”
“What distinguishes YA from adult? Is it the age of the characters or the content of the book?”
The truth is, it depends. Middle grade and young adult novels usually feature main characters who are of a similar age as their audience. That said, some adult stories follow the lives of young people as well. Think of The Night Circus, Orphan Train, White Oleander, and All the Light We Cannot See among others.
Oftentimes the book cover, the tone of the writing, and the summary on the back of the book (or inside flap), make it clear the book was written for adult audiences, but sometimes it’s hard to tell. And for a young writer trying to work out who they’re writing for, bookstore shelves can muddy the issue.
So, let’s talk about it. What are the categories of children’s fiction? And which audiences are these books written for?
Board Books
You remember board books, right? These are books created for very young children, usually toddlers. The pages are made of thick paperboard to limit the damage little hands and mouths can do, but really, if a board book hasn’t been gnawed on by a little one, I’m not sure it’s fulfilled its life purpose.
Primary audience age: Three and under
Age of the main characters: Not applicable. Board books can feature people or animals or objects. They can be heartfelt, silly, educational, or starkly simple. The pictures may be black and white or bright and vibrant, depending on the publisher’s goal.
Average length: 100 words or less
Some of my faves: Day Dreamers, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Guess How Much I Love You
Picture Books
For many of us, our first memories include being read picture books, either by a teacher, parent or other adult. While picture books can be read to the youngest among us, they’re longer than board books and are written to appeal to both grown-ups and children alike, as their reading is usually a shared experience.
Primary audience age: Toddler to second grade
Age of the main characters: Like picture books, there is generally a wide range of characters, ages, perspectives, and themes.
Average length: Less than 1,000 words, often in a 32-page format
Some of my faves: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, What to Do With an Idea, Stay Through the Storm
Early Readers
This is a very exciting reading stage for so many kids. They’re finally able to read words on their own. To service these readers, publishers produce leveled reading books. These books start with very few words per page and include pictures to help convey the story. The complexity of words and plot increase as new readers level up.
Primary audience age: Early elementary
Age of the main characters: Like picture books, there is a lot of variety here, with the goal being to keep the interest of young children as they attempt to read on their own.
Average length: 200 – 3,500 words, depending on reading level
Some of my faves: Little Bear, Bathtime for Biscuit, Amelia Bedelia
Chapter Books
Chapter books are geared for intermediate readers. They feature a broader vocabulary than early readers and use words to tell the story instead of leaning heavily on pictures.
Audience age: Seven to ten years old
Age of the main characters: If people are the main characters, they are often children near the audience’s age. That said, plenty of chapter books focus on animals as main characters.
Average length: 4,000-12,000 words, with short chapters
Some of my faves: The Magic Tree House, Ivy and Bean, Whatever After
Middle Grade
As children age and their reading abilities increase, so do the plot complexities, story problems, and maturity of the novels. Middle Grade books are often full of growing pains, exploration, and curiosity. Many of these books appeal to readers of all ages, though they are written with a very specific age range in mind.
Primary audience age: Eight to twelve years of age
Age of the main characters: Usually the main characters are close in age to the primary audience, though again there is plenty of middle grade that focus on non-human characters.
Average length: 20,000 to 40,000 words (though many novels exceed this, especially if they are part of a larger series and the characters are aging alongside the readers; think Harry Potter)
Some of my faves: Harry Potter, Seeing Cinderella, Keeper of the Lost Cities, The Warriors series, and Percy Jackson
Young Adult
Young Adult is a very exciting category, and can be among the most frequented shelves in a bookstore, attracting teens and adults alike.
Young adult books often have heavier themes and showcase more intense relationship dynamics than books for younger readers. They also present challenging emotional responses as they often feature characters experiencing situations for the first time–coming of age stories are very common and can be presented against many backdrops.
Primary audience age: Thirteen to eighteen years of age
Age of the main characters: Usually thirteen to eighteen, and this is the first category where things are going to get a bit more rigid in that regard. We’re not featuring main characters younger than this, unless they quickly age in the story. And, for the most part, we’re not seeing books with an adult protagonist. The main thrust of the novel is almost always focused on a teen character or characters.
That said, there have been an influx of books that feature college-aged leads, and bookstores have often opted to shelve these books in the young adult section. It can make deciphering true YA from New Adult a challenge.
Average length: 60,000 to 120,000 words
Some of my faves: The Hunger Games, A Northern Light, Scorpio Races, Six of Crows, and Code Name Verity
Additional Thoughts
I hope this has been helpful, but please realize there are always exceptions to these rules. Keep in mind that publishers and book sellers can choose to market a book as they see fit. The Night Circus, for example, could just have easily fit on YA shelves, but it was acquired by an editor looking for adult fantasy. All the Light We Cannot See has much in common with Code Name Verity, but one was shelved and marketed to adults while the other made waves in the YA community.
There will always be overlap and books that push the boundaries of a category, but I hope these rough guidelines help you as you decipher just who it is you’re writing for.
Looking at these kidlit categories, can you pinpoint who you’re writing for? Do you write for more than one audience? Any other questions I can answer?
Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.
Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.
It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.
To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.
For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
This topic has been confusing me for some time. My WIP has two POVCs. One is fourteen, which places her right on the lower edge of YA, but my other POVC is twenty-three. That makes my book sort of difficult to categorize. My friend who read the first chapter says it sounds middle grade-ish, and I see what she means, but I never really thought of this book as a middle grade project when I set out to write it. But it doesn’t feel like your typical YA, and with a fourteen year old narrator and several other crucial characters being children, it doesn’t seem like something adults would read. I want to try to figure out what category this book falls into before I start submitting it to agents and publishers, because they will be more willing to take it on if they know how to market it. Any ideas?
The only examples I can think of where there are point of view characters from children and adults alike are books in the adult section. I wonder if anyone can think of a kidlit book that does that?
My suggestion may not be what you want to hear. If it were me, I’d consider aging down the 23 year old–especially if you’re aiming for kidlit shelves. One of the harshest realities to swallow is that you don’t get to create your own shelf in the bookstore. And while I’m all about taking on big challenges, I don’t think it benefits you or your story to fight this battle. This is where the business of being an author can rub uncomfortably against the day to day creativity of being a writer. There’s no right answer, but if you’re looking to publish, keeping the market in mind is key.
Yeah, that seems like some pretty solid reasoning. I honestly didn’t have an audience in mind when I started. I just went with the idea as it came to me because I liked. it. Now I realize that if I want to publish this thing, I should probably start thinking about my target range. I still have a long way to go before I can even think about submitting it, but I know this will be an issue, and it keeps nagging me. I might toy with aging the 23 year old down in the edits. We’ll see. I guess it depends on what my story becomes as I complete it. If I take plot, character development, tone, theme, and emphasis of different characters and scenes into consideration, there really are a bunch of different ways I can solve this issue, but I guess I can’t tell what works best until I have a fuller story and a chance to play around with all of them.
Thanks for your input, though. It has opened my mind to some solutions that I hadn’t considered before, and it’s a good lesson in the compromises integral to the industry.
This is so helpful! Thanks for this!
I would have to say I’m writing for YA, but I have a similar problem as Em Elizabeth. Even though content, interest, and theme is for teens, the writing STYLE seems a little young. Will the writing mature in time or are there specific steps I can take?
Oh yes! Your writing will mature. I promise. The other thing to consider is whether or not you have a particularly good MG voice. If you do, that’s awesome and nothing to be ashamed of. I wish I wrote a little younger, to be honest. It can take some time to figure out, but when you discover your writing voice, it can help you determine which audience might be best for you–at least to start with. Audience hopping is definitely possible.
My main character, Matt, is 12 in bk1. I assume that puts him in the middle school category. But I definitely want to write HS stuff cause that’s where we need more good clean books. I go through books too fast and am walking the HS/young adult/adult line. Not easy.
P. S. I just finished the new release of Keeper of the Lost Cities and am officially HOOKED on that series.
I just finished the last books, too. I can’t wait for the next one, though I’m severely disappointed in the way she chose to deal with the romance side.?(Poor Dex!) Also, I find it a little disturbing and violent.
Last books of Keeper of the Lost Cities, that is.?
Which one? You mean Legacy? It was good, but I found it a bit disappointing after building everything up.
Helpful breakdown—thank you so much!
I’ve literally been trying to research this all week! I write mostly YA, but over the past year, I’ve discovered I love writing (and reading) middle grade fiction even more. The problem is, during this year’s NaNoWriMo, my main character decided she didn’t belong in a middle grade book like I had intended. She wanted to be in a children’s book instead. So I kind of freaked out because I don’t know anything about writing for that audience. xD
This post was really helpful, though. Thank you!
Pinpointing the age category of my WIP has kind of been something I’ve ignored until now just because all of my previous attempts have kind of failed utterly. My problem is that the writing style is humorous and relatively nonchalant, but the main character is an old man. I’ve always thought of it as being geared towards Middle Grade readers, kind of, but I’ve never read any book focused on an older person, much less one aimed at roughly 10-15 year olds. I’ll have to think about this more.
When I started my book, I was 12/13ish. I thought I was writing for older kids than me. Now its been nearly three years and I still wish I was writing in the YA section, but I’ve had several friends read it and the only one that liked it was the 6th grader. Also, character age is a problem, because they were my age when I started, but now I don’t want to write about 13 year olds, also, there are two 13 POV characters and one 17/18 year old. I don’t know what to change, because even the topic of the book is not something YA readers like. (Clean, non-romance, action, modern day, not mystery)
It’s weird, because I want to write for middle grade audiences, but I often end up writing YA as a teen. Middle grade is the most fun for me to read so I want to write it a lot, and although I’ve had one idea for it, most of my ideas are definitely YA. It’s kinda sad for me 🙁 Do you think there’s a way to make YA stories work as middle grade?