GLMA Summer Institute 2025

I am a middle school librarian who has grown frustrated with the publishing landscape that designates books as middle grade (ages 8-12) and young adult (grades 9-up). I published a “Manifesto in Support of Middle School Books” on SLJ’s Teen Librarian Toolbox in 2024. This led to a podcast on School Librarians United and a partnership with Christina Chatel, a Michigan librarian who published her own article about the lack of shorter books for middle school readers. Christina and I have teamed up to advocate for a new publishing category called Young Teen Lit. We have published our “Five Criteria for Young Teen Lit” and are working on an advocacy plan that includes talking with booksellers, publishers, industry groups, and authors to push for this new category. We are writing articles for SLJ and Publisher’s Weekly this spring. This session will include an introduction to my advocacy work and the Five Criteria, followed by a step-by-step discussion of each criteria and books that are working for middle and high school librarians as well as the books they wish would be published. I will share extensive Young Teen Lit book recommendations and we will crowdsource a list of favorites. The session is intended to be lively, practical, community-building, and inspiring.