This post is a couple days late, but this week’s LTB topic is a great one!! This week’s official topic is What Make You Continue Picking Up YA/Middle Grade Books? (suggested by Sam @ River Moose Books), but I decided to change it a little for a few reasons.
The main reason was that I’m 14, which means that I’m in the YA age group, and am barely outside of the middle-grade age group. So, I’m going to instead talk more about what makes me like MG vs. YA vs. adult books, as well as some of my favorite books in each category!
Also, MG stands for middle-grade and YA stands for young adult!
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly discussion post created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Rukky and Dani @ A Literary Lion! For this week’s topic, I’m going to talk about what I like about different book age categories!
Why I read middle-grade
There is something special that I think I will always love about middle-grade. Middle-grade books can be fun to read, and a bit of an escape, and can also be more serious, diving into more complex topics.
There are many middle-grade books that are very special to me; ones that got me into reading, ones that I loved so much I reread over and over, and ones I revisited when I was reading more YA and wanted to go back to some MG books.
Why I love YA
It’s only really in the last year and a half that I’ve been reading YA books, and although at first it was just a few sprinkled in there amount most MG, I now read almost entirely YA.
In YA books, there is definitely a level of complexity that you don’t get in middle-grade. While MG books definitely can be just as interesting, YA tends to go deeper into more intense topics, and tend to be much darker in general.
When I started this blog, I was 12, the age of a lot of middle-grade protagonists. In general, I do think that it is easier to connect with and relate to characters closer to your age, so now that I’m 14, I’m closer in age to more YA protagonists, so reading those books I can connect with the characters more.
My thoughts on adult novels
I haven’t read that many adult books. Off the top of my head, I can only really think of four or five. But there are things that I have noticed from the ones that I have read.
Adult novels are much heavier, and darker even than in YA. They also do not hold back at all, in terms of complexity of plot, violence in general, or
Wrapping this up…
I think that it’s interesting to think about the differences within the content of middle-grade, YA, and adult books, and to think about how the overall experiences of reading the books can vary!
I hope that some of these recommendations were useful, and that you enjoyed reading this post. I had a lot of fun writing it!
What category of books do you usually read? Have you read any of these books? Chat with me in the comments below!
Book Nook Bits 
I agree, books have deeper and more intense topics the higher they go in age level. There’s something about MG books that doesn’t have it because they’re aimed at younger kids. While some MG novels do focus on heavier topics, I feel like they present it in a lighter way which is a nice break from YA.
Out of the books you mentioned, I’ve read The List, Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, PJO, and Hattie Big Sky. I really enjoyed all of them! Great post!
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The way that MG goes into heavier topics is definitely presented in lighter ways, and I also feel it’s a good break from the intensity of YA.
You’ve read so many!! And they really are all such good books. Thanks 😊
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I agree that its easier to read books with main characters in your age group! I used to read YA only and then slowly transitioned to new adult and now to adult now that I’m 21. I still read YA but I lean towards adult now. I need that complexity now and when I don’t I pick up romance.
Age categories make it easier to pick up books based on what we want too. Expectations are different for them all. So the categorization helps.
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definitely!! I think that I’ll always read YA, but I wouldn’t be surprised if as I get older I read more adult. The categorization is definitely very helpful, and I often pick my next read based off the age group as well as genre!!
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I love MG and how many whimsical books there are! I love YA, too, but a lot of it is dark/heavy/serious. “Whimsical” is simply not a word I’d use to describe any of it, which I think is a shame. Same for adult books!
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Whimsical really is a good word to describe middle grade books, and definitely is not for YA and adult!!
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Hey, I really enjoyed reading this post!
I am 14 too (hi-five!) and even I read mostly middle grade until last year(hi-five again!), but now my reading is something like 70% YA and 30% middle grade with (very) few adult novels here and there. From the books you mentioned, I have only read Six Of Crows (I ramble about it SO much on my blog!!) and PJO. Great post!
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I’m so glad!! We have so much in common with reading!! SoC and PJO are both fantastic; they’re two of my very favorite series. thank you so much 🥰
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This discussion topic is really interesting. I’m 16 and read about half YA and half adult but I sometimes read MG for a change, especially since I have younger siblings. I agree that it is nice to read about characters that are your own age. Great post!
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Cool!! It really is nice. Thanks 😊
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