It's Not Me, It's You: An Argument for Shorter Middle Grade Books

In the past two months, publishers have sent me 41 middle grade books to review for my 16-year-old website, Imagination Soup. It's a place where parents, teachers, librarians, and grandparents can go to find thousands of children's book recommendations and reviews, 99.9% of which I've written.

Usually, I love all the books. And I'm a fast reader. But when I look at the books on my shelves and my apps, I notice that in the past few months, I've finished 17, abandoned 19, and have yet to read five.

This gives me pause. Even more interesting is the fact that most of the recent books I've abandoned are around 350-400 pages.