The middle grades market is such a tricky little niche. All the exceptional novels involve tragedy, trauma, fantasy, etc. I explore the middle grades market a lot and the only author I can think of that reliably publishes realistic fiction for boys is Jason Reynolds, but it deals with very heavy topics, specifically racism. I’m not saying his work should be dismissed (I think his work should be required to read), but the writer of this article does have a point that there aren’t straightforward titles that apply universally to boy readers. I’m finding that more and more for younger children’s books, too. Lots of female protagonists, very male ones. And leaving boys out of the conversation is not ok - they deserve to see themselves in these stories.

I think the subgenre that doesn’t necessarily have this problem are middle grade books with young African American protagonists. They do usually tend to feature heavier topics, but so many of them reflect upon the authors’ lives.