Declan–while I enjoy spirited discussion, I do not appreciate rudeness, whether directed toward myself or members of my contributing team. Going to someone else’s site and calling their comment a “meaningless rebutted” is not nice manners. Healthy debate is welcome at DIY MFA. Attitude and nastiness is not. Please conduct yourself accordingly. Thank you.

When determining categories like YA and MG, you must consider a few things: the voice/aesthetic, the age of the protagonist, and the intent of the author. For instance, The Catcher In the Rye might have a teenaged protagonist and teenaged voice/aesthetic, but the author clearly did not intend it for a teen audience (as YA did not exist until many years later). Much as teens have appropriated The Catcher in the Rye as YA, this book is clearly not. (For similar reasons, I strongly object to The Lord of the Flies or To Kill A Mockingbird being called YA.)

More importantly, I’m concerned with this assumption that YA means a book is somehow more sophisticated than middle grade. Simplicity of language or slightly toned down themes does not make MG any less dark or sophisticated a category. Really the only things you can’t do in MG is sex and drugs but it can definitely be just as dark as YA and it can deal with extremely painful, grown-up themes. For example, No Laughter Here (a wonderful book by Rita Williams Garcia) is clearly middle grade but is more shocking and painful than most YA I have read (and I read a LOT of YA).