Ideas
Are nerds having a moment? You might say that.
It’s important to address topics of death and loss in middle grade because children do go through those experiences.
I think the best stories are a reflection of life, with all of its messiness, pain, and beauty.
Kids don’t grow up in a vacuum; they are terrified and confused and experience great loss, too. If we want our children to feel safe and to grow into emotionally intelligent adults, they need to know that death is a part of living.
Like or loathe these takes on the purveyors of information science, they’re memorable.
They say to “write what scares you,” and I often use my own fears and anxieties as a guide of urgency for determining what topics people need help starting conversations about.
The truth is we need books that tackle tough topics because kids are already tackling them—whether they’re going through the issue themselves, supporting a friend, or just trying to understand how the world works.
One afternoon when my fifth-grade class was at the library for our weekly visit, my friend Jessica handed me a purple paperback book. “I just finished this,” she said. “It’s SO good. You have to read it.”
Tale of the Flying Forest is Narnia, if Narnia was grounded in Judaism rather than Christianity.
2,173 articles
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LOG IN
We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LOG IN
Thank you for visiting.
We’ve noticed you are using a private browser. To continue, please log in or create an account.
