This is a reprint of my
August 9, 2017 post from the Indiana Writers’ Consortium blog.
Age It Right: Part II
When writing for
children, the subject matter must be suitable for the age level. That doesn’t
mean you can’t deal with tough issues, but you must do it appropriately.
I’ll use death as an
example.
Even the youngest
children can be faced with the death of a loved one, so it makes sense to cover
the issue in picture books. Some tell a story using animals as characters. Others
talk about the death of a pet. Then there are books like Tomie dePaola’s Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs,
which emphasizes the memories that remain after a boy’s great-grandmother dies.
Regardless of the approach, the purpose at this age is always to comfort and
never to frighten.
In picture books, the
death usually occurs by natural causes, such as sickness or old age. There is
no violence.
Although violence is
still unusual, middle-grade books treat death differently. Katherine Paterson’s
Bridge to Terabithia is the classic
middle-grade novel on the subject. It begins by developing the friendship
between the protagonist, Jess, and the new girl, Leslie. We come to love both
characters, and when Leslie dies in an accident we cry with Jess over his (and
our) loss. But the death takes place off-stage, and Jess learns to live with
it. If you want to know more, you’ll have the read the book for yourself.
Bridge to Terabithia doesn’t treat death as gently as picture books
do, but it still has a lighter touch than most young adult fiction. In fact, YA
books can be quite dark. Two World War II novels by Ruta Sepetys illustrate
this.
In between shades of gray, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and her
brother are arrested by the Soviets and sent to Siberia. Salt to the Sea follows four young people, three of whom are
fleeing through East Prussia to escape the Soviets. Both books contain multiple
deaths. Many are onstage, and all result from cruelty. As readers, we never
come to terms with those deaths, and that’s how it should be.
As you can see, the age
of the audience doesn’t necessarily limit the subject matter, but it does
dictate how the writer treats it.
So tread carefully.
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