The Magic Toyshop

Oh man, what do I love more than a young, plucky female protagonist? It’s always refreshing to have one not only in my own personal reading, but in my syllabi at school. I had no idea what to expect when we started The Magic Toyshop, but finding out the protagonist was a spirited fifteen-year-old girl had me ready to dive in.

This book made me even more scared of swans. Thanks, college. 

This book was capital-C Creepy and capital-D Disturbing (what I’m assuming the author was going for). We talked a lot about this book in conversation with Gothic novels—it’s got similar imagery and a literal creepy uncle.

                
What this book does that’s really interesting is that it unabashedly tackles a lot of issues at once without being too overwhelming. There’s the Gothic element, the damsel-in-distress problems (in two characters, interestingly enough), and the “typical” teenage-girl-finding-herself issues. That last one doesn’t seem cliché in this book, though, because Carter writes about Melanie’s problems in such a way that you don’t feel like they’re the same problems you’ve read over and over again.

                
A lot of people in class were pretty disturbed by the protagonist’s blatant ownership of her sexuality. Right off the bat, Melanie (who is fifteen at the beginning of the novel) takes possession of her own body. She’s not ashamed to talk about herself—something that’s refreshing to see. Remember all those Judy Blume books you read as a kid? This is those books, sped up times a hundred and mixed together with a mysterious/creepy/fascinating story of two groups of siblings and their attempts to escape the tyranny of the patriarch of the house.

4/5

Middle Grade vs. Young Adult Fiction

Remember that JRW Conference I wrote about? When I was there I learned, among many other things, that there exists a genre that for some crazy, stupid reason I had never heard of before: middle-grade. 

I'm sure the more savvy book lovers have already come across this term, but for those of you who, like me, haven't heard of it before, here's a very, very basic definition: While YA books are typically made for teenagers aged 13-18, middle-grade is for kids 8-12. Pretty simple, right? But there's a lot more to the distinction between the two, and it's fascinating. And since I would probably take too long to define it, you should absolutely read this awesome, easy-read of an article that aptly defines the differences between the two genres. 

So, anyway, when I first learned what middle-grade was, I was shocked. And also a little pissed off. Why had none of my school libraries mentioned this to me before? Why wasn't there a separate section for middle-grade books in my public library? It might have been that I had just missed it and gone straight to the historical fiction shelf, but somehow I don't think that's the case. If so many books are considered a virtual "stepping stone" between children's lit and YA lit, why don't we hear more of it? 

Am I crazy? Am I the only one who hadn't heard this phrasing before? Obviously I've read tons and tons of middle-grade books-- I just didn't know I was doing it. Let me know what you think!