The New York Times Gets that Children’s and YA Books Are Not the Same

My recent rant “Stop Calling Books for Kids ‘Young Adult‘” got a lot of attention. Both from adults who read books for younger readers and weren’t understanding my frustration and from others who work with children and did. Happily, the New York Times sees it as I do and starting December 16th will be splitting their children’s chapter book best seller list into two categories, middle grade and young adult. They are defining middle grade readers as being between 8 and 12 years old. As for young adult, they are defining the category as books published for ages 12-18 while also noting that they are being read by many in their 20s and 30s.  Thank you, New York Times Book Review, for recognizing this.

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