: Re: Crossing the line from Middle-Grade to Young-Adult I would like to followup on this excellent question which outlined differences among works for children, middle-grade, and young-adult. What are

@Murray165

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Most of the difference is in a degree of adult themes that are depicted in the book. For younger readers, you would have less violence (or the violence that is less graphic), and you don't want to go too deep into the dark themes.

However, "Relationships/Sex" stands aside in the list of your concerns. This is the area where middle grader might have a lot of curiosity, but the points of view for 10-year olds and 14-year old would be completely different. Same goes for protagonists - it would be very difficult to write a compelling romance for 10 year old character, and very plausible for a 14 year old one.

If your protagonists are older, you can have a "fairy-tale romance". It is understandable for the older characters to act their age and maybe even get married at the end (Hooray!). Literature and other media have countless examples of how this can be done.

"Sexual violence" is also a very grave subject for middle graders, and even for young adults it should be handled with great care.

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