Pearl F.

Well to help your story.

First, the time frame leaves you with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in Europe. The Wild Bunch are all dead or in prison. Richard West is the last of this group and was killed last year. Jesse James has been dead since 82. Frank James has been acquitted of all charges and is living quietly. Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch…[Read more]

@emberynus-the-dragonslayer

Yeah, I’m personally not bothered by swearing so I don’t really care if it’s in a book I read. But yes if that’s the standard and all then I shouldn’t put in there! 🙂

Thanks, everybody for your opinions!

@beth20

Sorry I replied so late!

Thanks! (to the part about liking my name)

I’m not an expert on the subject. Personally I don’t put swearing in any of my stories. (Just a personal standard) I have read a few MG books with swearing in them. (But usually by the time I read them, my mom had colored over those words with a black marker hehe! :lol:…[Read more]

@caseybold @shannon  @cassidy

Yes very true! I think I’m just gonna say my book is for YA audiences! And yeah obviously there will be middle graders who read more adult-themed stuff. But for all the ones who don’t that would be unfair, to say the least, if I through something in there that they wouldn’t feel comfortable reading.

@cassidy Hey…[Read more]

@beth20 The guidelines that @corkybookworm shared for differentiating between Middle Grade and YA are pretty universal across several sources, so I’d agree with that. For everyone mentioning Ranger’s Apprentice, that series is riding the line between the two. Technically it’s considered high Middle Grade/low YA, and even a lot of libraries don’t…[Read more]

Hi @beth20! (P.S. I love your tagline, Brian Jacques is one of my FAVORITES!)

I was actually thinking of Ranger’s Apprentice myself when I read your initial post! It is aimed for a Middle Grade audience, and there is very mild swearing, so I think it can depend. And I feel like there have been other MG books I’ve read that had mild swearing, b…[Read more]

@corkybookworm

Thank you! I’ll definitely check it out!

Themes aren’t really as much an issue (dark vs. lighter stories) so much as content, length, and target audience.

Yeah, I’m not familiar with the Ranger’s Apprentice specifically, but there are always exceptions. I found an article that may be more helpful to you. There are multiple elements that go into it, and this is for general purposes, but an overlook is this:

MG:

Age of readers: 8-12

Length: 30-50,000 words

Content: No profanity, graphic violence…[Read more]

@a_nna

Hey!

Yeah definitely makes sense!

I’ll have to look into it a little more! But yeah I’m thinking my book might be aimed at YA!

But I’ll prob stay on this group just in case I want to post some of my short stories!

Thanks to both you and @corkybookworm

Thsnks,

-Beth

@beth20 Hello!

I agree–use of mild language eliminates a work from middle grade. However, if you took that out, deciding whether or not your book qualifies as middle grade would depend on what else is in it (you say it’s not dark, but how in-depth are those awkward crush moments?) and its overall theme.

For threads of romance, I look at Jerry…[Read more]

@corkybookworm

Hey!

Okay yeah, so my book has not very much language only like h**l and d**n and a*s nothing more than that. And it’s very rare!

But there are books like Rangers apprentice books which has mild language and I’m pretty sure they are for grades 4-8. Correct me if I’m wrong. And 4-8 would be middle grades right?

Hey, Beth! Nice to see someone on here! 😀

Having any language at all automatically rules out middle grade as an option. It sounds like your story might fit better as YA. I hope this helps!

Gonna tag ya’ll @nicoleg
@a_nna love your drawing of Stich btw! @emma_cat_caton
@cassidy
@jeremydvance
@story_guardian
@emberynus-the-dragonslayer   like your name!

@jennythefaun fan of Narnia??       @corkybookworm    @shannon    @caseybold

@pookiemonster    @emgc  love your cover photos!!    @seekjustice    @abigail-rebekah

Phew think that’…[Read more]