Introduction
When writers and readers ask why it's so hard to sell/find books with protagonists who are about 13 or 14 years old, I often see the same two-part answer repeated by people in the industry: these books are hard to place in YA because so many YA buyers are adults looking for older-leaning books, and they are hard to place in MG because the target audience don't want to be seen reading books placed in the kids' section. Basically, there's no retail space for these types of books.
However, the more I think about the idea that tweens and young teens would be too embarrassed to be seen buying or reading a middle grade book, the more I wonder: Is this true? What information are publishing insiders basing this idea on? Do they have data, or did they interview kids? Because my own experience suggests to me that this wouldn't be a widespread problem at all.
Online Vs. In-store Purchases
To begin, I wonder how many kids even go to a physical bookstore these days to purchase their books, rather than going online. (Of course, going to the library would result in the same possible dilemma: Does an 8th or 9th grader fear being seen in the kids' room vs. the teen section? Librarians and parents, please weigh in in the comments!) WordsRate reports that over 71.2% of publishing revenue was from online book sales in 2020. We must account for the pandemic, of course, and the closure of physical retail stores, but I would think this is a good indication that a significant number of books are purchased online, thus eliminating the fear of being seen in any particular section of a bookstore by one's friends.
Knowledge of Age Categories
Additionally, so few kids are readers themselves, that the chances that a young person who does read would encounter a classmate or acquaintance in the bookstore or library, are slim. In 2023, only 14% of thirteen year olds reported that they read for fun. And if kids aren't reading, how can they mock the reading choices of other kids? How would they know a book another child is holding is "for younger kids"? They've probably never heard of the book and have no idea what the target audience is! Unless they're savvy at interpreting cover art styles, they may not have a clue whether a book is MG, YA, or adult.
I distinctly remember being in middle school myself, toting around a copy of The Chronicles of Narnia, when a classmate began asking me about it. He was smart, and I'd seen him read occasionally himself, but he had never heard of Narnia or C. S. Lewis. If he wasn't aware of a series that famous, what are the chances he would have heard of a random lesser-known book I brought to school? And then go on to mock me for reading it because it was "for little kids"? Probably close to zero, and it was not something I worried about.
Reading Levels
Finally, so many students read "below reading level" themselves that it's hard to imagine hordes of them walking around making fun of other students for reading, say, Rick Riodan instead of Tolstoy. U.S. reading scores are down,and anecdotally my teacher and librarian friends have mentioned that students are reading "easier" and "younger" books than one might expect for their grade level. So if everyone your age is reading middle grade, is it that embarassing to be seen reading it yourself?
Counterargument
I don't want to say this idea that young tweens or young teens refuse to be seen near MG is completely made up. This quote from Publishers Weekly is evidence of at least one person who doesn't want to be seen reading "childish" books:
"I've noticed often that young middle grade readers tend to want to 'read up' maturity- and content-wise, including my own kids," Hilliard says. "They will shy away from books even though the main character may be their age, and gravitate toward more mature characters. One friend said her daughter, who loves to read, wouldn't read one book where the main character was the same age as her because the cover was too babyish."
Publishers Weekly
However, one obvious answer here would be for publishers to change the approach of the cover art. Publish books with characters who are about 13 or 14, put them in the middle grade section if no one wants them in YA, and just give them a more mature style -- something a little different from most middle grade that still doesn't scream "young adult." And when books are purchased online rather than in a physical store, it matters much less what "section" they're categorized in.
Conclusion
I don't have a definitive answer to this question. My personal experience was that I read a wide variety of books when I was younger, and I never had anyone comment on something I was reading as being "too childish" to read. It wasn't something I thought about, and I went into the kids' section of the bookstore and the library all the time as a teen. (I practically never saw anyone I knew at those places!) Worst-case scenario, you can just claim you're getting a book for someone else if someone tries to shame you about it.
However, I am very interested in hearing from other people. Do you know young people who would be interested in reading books with characters aroundn 13 or 14? Would they want those books to be labelled as MG or YA? Or would they not care at all? Let me know in the comments!
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