Once upon a time I was a precocious child, and a rather annoying one if I’m being honest.
I don’t remember not being able to read or learning how to read. One day I just picked up a book, and I was off into worlds of adventure. Unfortunately, I wasn’t like Roald Dahl’s Matilda. I didn’t have a public library nearby where I could drag a red Radio Flyer wagon, nor did I read “Moby Dick” at the age of 4, and I didn’t develop magical powers (I’m still disappointed about that).
I did, however, absorb all kinds of books from a very young age, making my way through classic Golden books, Mother Goose, and Dr. Seuss then soon moving on to National Geographic and Scholastic magazine subscriptions, “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Secret Garden,” and series such as Boxcar Children, Babysitter’s Club and Nancy Drew. Before I knew it, I had finished almost every book in the elementary school library.
At this point (second and third grade), I was reading at a 11th and 12th grade reading level according to the Accelerated Reader program that my school utilized. My teachers wanted me reading within my reading level but didn’t really have suggestions on what I should be reading. I read the few books on the back of the librarian’s book shelf (which I had to get parental permission to do): “Gone with the Wind,” “The Face at the Edge of the World” by Eve Bunting and “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier are the few I remember. Eventually, I was given permission to visit the high school library and check books out from there.
And now we’ve come to our problem — well, one of them at least. A fourth grader probably shouldn’t be reading books written for high schoolers. They should be reading books written for fourth graders, but except for a few rare titles, there weren’t books being written at that time for young people with high reading levels.
Books with high reading levels had mature topics and language. I did find one series that I enjoyed, a historical fiction series called The Russians by Judith Pella about Russian history and the fall of its monarchy. I recognized the story from the animated musical “Anastasia.” I read the series and really enjoyed it, but looking back on it there were graphic depictions of death and war, not to mention the repeated attempts to kill Rasputin and the awful assassinations of the czar and his young family that I had nightmares about and wasn’t mature enough to be reading.
It didn’t get much better from there. My mom, grandma and I would go to the used book store which had cardboard boxes filled with 50 cent books. We’d collect anything “teen” we could find. There wasn’t much yet. Harry Potter and Twilight weren’t around. Much of what I found were older titles: “Forever” by Judy Blume, spooky titles by Mary Downing Hahn and Lois Duncan, basic young romances in Harlequin Silhouettes, depressing books about people dying by Lurlene McDaniel — oh, and “Flowers in the Attic” by V. C. Andrews.
These books were at least a little more age appropriate (well except maybe V. C. Andrews, which I of course obsessed over and read ALL of.) But I quickly made my way though those and soon enough, I was on to the adult books that my mom and grandma had at home: Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, Mary Higgins Clark and Julie Garwood just to give you an idea.
Now 20-some years later as a teen librarian, I realize how fortunate kids are today to have not only a surplus of teen books being published, but also an exciting newer category of middle grade titles created specifically for tweens ages 8 to 12. It’s become such an important transitional area for kids who aren’t quite ready for teen books but are ready to develop stronger vocabularies and absorb more complex storylines. Grade school chapter books tend to have illustrations and uncomplicated text, whereas teen novels often feature mature themes that deal with heavy topics and emotions that tweens (and their parents) are often too young or immature to fully grasp.
Because of this, we created a specific section at the library for middle grade books, our Tween collection, which is housed in TeenHQ. Books consist of titles chosen for tweens in fourth through sixth grades, ages 8 to 12. Here you’ll find some crossover titles from our Kids department: “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney, “Holes” by Louis Sacchar; some classics like “Little Women,” “Anne of Green Gables” and “The Call of the Wild”; Young Hoosier Book Award winners; and Jimmy Patterson’s Presents novels. This section helps to create a safe, out-of-the-way space for tweens to visit TeenHQ, not have to socialize with “scary” teenagers and find books just for them.
With the success of our Tween collection, we’ve also started hosting Tween programming! We offer Tween Scene and Studio Tween events that take place in TeenHQ to help get tweens more comfortable with me in the safe, structured environment of TeenHQ and to offer them an opportunity for independence from their caregivers and positive social interaction with their peers.
So far, we’ve had programs such as a video game tournament, LEGO challenge, experiments with ink, and collage art. Coming up we’re having a “Paint like (a famous artist)” Studio series, and a Taylor Swift party in October to prepare for her Indy concert.
Jessica Smith is the Teen Specialist at Greenwood Public Library. GPL staff members share in writing this twice-monthly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
