Fabulous First Page: Middle Grade

—Go here for my recent free newsletter with TONS of writing links and resources: Why I’m Not Writing This Summer

—Go here for the latest episodes of The Long Road to Publishing: Editors & Co-Authors Writing in Many Genres with The Darling Axe editors David Griffin Brown and Michelle Barker.

—Go here for my Long Road to Publishing bookshop shop!

I got my first agent with a middle grade novel, but I think one of the (many) reasons we struggled to revise the manuscript was because I didn’t have a natural narrative voice for middle grade. My voice, as it turns out, is better suited for YA and adult.

Middle grade novels are generally written for 8 to 12-year-olds, and there is sometimes a distinction between lower middle grade, for 8 to 10-year-olds, and upper middle grade, for tweens. Lower middle grade is one of the few places you can easily get away with an omniscient narrator and/or an animal protagonist— see Kate DiCamillo for examples of both.

I’m no an expert in kidlit, but I did used to read and write it, and I now have a 9-year-old daughter who is a voracious reader (she is currently plowing through all the The Mysterious Benedict Society books).

So, in my experience middle grade often involves one or more of the following:

• humor, especially silly or gross or downright nonsensical humor (6-7, anyone?)

• jokes and puns that kids think are funny

• sassy kid main characters and annoying siblings

• mystery, fantasy, and/or magic

• themes of family and friendship

• a storytelling tone (a lot of middle grade novels are great to read out loud)

• a story that moves at a fairly quick pace (this is partly out of necessity because middle grade novels tend to be short— we’re talking 40,000 to 50,000 words total)

• a simpler plot than you might find in YA or adult

• a strong middle grade voice

I realize that last one is vague. What is a middle grade voice? I’m not sure if I can define it. Good thing I’ve got an example for you.

Today’s Fabulous First Page showcase is, obviously, a middle grade novel, and it’s from a book by a Long Road to Publishing guest. It’s an excellent example of a strong middle grade voice, and a great first page all around.

Before I reveal the title of the novel, I’ll start with a reminder of all the things a first page should try to do:

• Hook the reader right away and invite them into the story. (Of course, this depends on the type of reader you’re trying to attract. What hooks a kid reader might be different from what hooks an adult reader, for example.)

• Set the scene and the overall tone of the novel.

• Introduce a main character (and/or introduce a main setting or theme).

• Hint at a conflict, situation, mystery/secret, or question. (Or, in the words of

  Cecilia Lyra, plant some “curiosity seeds.”)

• Set reader expectations. (For example, a funny book should be funny on page one; a scary book should have hints of spookiness of page one.)

• This post on first pages from Caroline Madden with examples and writing exercises

• This post about first pages from Karin Gillespie.

• This post on Jane Friedman’s blog about first pages.

• This post on novel openings from Devon Halliday

• All the “Books with Hooks” episodes of the podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, in which the two literary agents critique queries and first pages. The Shit About Writing Team

• All my other Fabulous First Page showcases!

Now, without further ado, let’s find out the name of this book and read it’s fabulous first page…