Friday morning the BEA Middle Grade Editors’ Buzz panel will be held, and as I am moderating it, I thought a preview was in order. As you may have had occasion to notice, most of us like to feel that the things we choose to spend time on are worthwhile. That will be an easy task for everyone attending and participating in the BEA Middle Grade Editors’ Buzz panel.
There is no genre that is more important to get right than Middle Grade. As booksellers the ratio of handselling to adults buying for kids and to kids selecting for themselves is more equal in Middle Grade than it is with any other children’s genre age group. It truly is in the middle and getting it right is of enormous importance in terms of relationship-building with middle grade readers as they will shortly age into a period where suggestions from a stranger are not quite the thing.
Also consider that Middle Grade books, at least for DDG, have the highest percentage of sales based on the fewest number of titles. Meaning we sell more copies of our go-to books in that section than in any other. Locating the best Middle Grade books is a mandate for any engaged store. Happily, fulfilling that very mandate is the Middle Grade Editors’ Buzz panel’s reason for being. Even more happily: it excels at doing so.
The Buzz panel’s featured titles deliver not only an exceptional five books, but books that represent five distinct species of Middle Grade fiction titles, The graphic novel journal, the time travel fantasy, the snarky but with heart humorous adventure narrative, the award candidate personal growth narrative, and the high octane fantasy adventure narrative are all represented. There are interesting shared elements as well, notably themes built around altering the fates and dispositions of parents.
Frazzled by Booki Vivat (HarperCollins, Sept.) is a graphic novel journal of a girl’s entry into Middle School, or more properly the position of her entire life caught in the horrors of the middles. This genre is so popular right now that a quality entry is as sure a thing as you’ll find, and Frazzled is certainly all that. Expressive illustrations, immediacy of tone, and plenty of narrowly averted doom are just the thing.
Gertie’s Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley (Farrar Straus and Giroux, Oct.) is a book with unmistakable appeal for kids, adults, and awards committees. Gertie is a strong-minded character, completely immersed in her own persona. She has no artifice to speak of, no degree of identity separation. Impulsive, creative, with a warm heart and feelings that run hot, she is deeply likable and trouble for herself on top. This is a story with a terrific lesson about mistakes not being the end of the world, and the enduring value of truth to self.
As I have mentioned here earlier, time traveling is a hot genre now. Will it continue to be so in the future? Absolutely it will, unless a future person travels back in the past and alters the present so that the whole genre never happened. Altering the present via the past is the prime mission, in fact, of the young hero of Time Traveling with a Hamster by Ross Welford (Random/Schwartz & Wade, Oct.). Traveling to the past to undo his father’s death, accompanied by a time-traveling hamster companion who must be kept safe from harm during his adventure, is the backdrop for this engaging book. Grounded more in science fiction than fantasy, it has the pleasant temerity of actually playing with the time continuum in the story, something that is usually only seen as a cautionary tale.
The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes by Wade Albert White (Little, Brown, Sept.) is our snarky but with heart humorous adventure narrative in the realm established by Roald Dahl. This tale of horridly oppressed orphans making their escape and fighting their way into the coin of the ream, adventures, is a particularly good specimen due to its commitment to tone, genuine humor, fast pace, fun faux primary documents, and characters who engage our affections.
I will tell you that The Lost Property Office by James R. Hannibal (Simon & Schuster, Nov.), our high octane fantasy narrative, is a book that I personally think may be a huge success. This is a fantasy rich in history, built around a secret organization underpinning the British commonwealth. The Lost Property Office has five wings, each of which requires a special skill for its largely hereditary members. The story takes place over a very short space of time in which an enormous amount happens. The appealing lead character, Jack Buckles, is a 13th (an ominous number) generation tracker, an ability grounded in having the condition of synesthesia sensory overlap. Trackers put synesthesia to magical use, “sparking” off objects containing minerals, such as stone walls, touched by others in the past so that they can see what happened in the past, becoming high powered detectives. The author has synesthesia himself and the book carries with it a remarkable breakneck pace, filled with dynamic sensory images. The tight focus, intriguing secrets, strong characters, engaging villain, and all around excitement were exceptionally appealing to me and I think will be to many young readers.
If there were ever five books worth rallying round to hear their respective editors hold forth upon, it is these. Well, those of you at BEA on Friday, I look forward to seeing you at 11:00 a.m. in room W184bc, and everyone else, well you know what to do next.
These all look fantastic! Thank you!