The Importance of Middle Grade Fiction Today, a guest post by Dawn Dagger

Middle-grade books target the golden age of reading, ages 8-12. Phenomena like Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Harry Potter are middle-grade books. Harry Potter, which started from the middle-grade novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, is one of the top 25 highest grossing franchises in the world, just behind powerhouses like Pokémon and Hello Kitty (which also targets middle-grade age, primarily). Middle-grade books are some of the most prolific in the world. Yet, every year, the list of middle-grade releases grows smaller and smaller.