Guest Post: Barbara Dee on Keeping it Middle Grade: Handling Tough Topics in Fiction

Learn more about Barbara Dee.By Barbara Dee
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

About a year ago, on a NerdCamp panel called "Tough Topics in Middle Grade Fiction," we were talking about how middle grade was evolving, growing up, tackling subjects that used to be considered taboo—for example, sexuality, terrorism, refugeeism, and drug use.

I asked the educators in the room which underrepresented topics they'd like to see on their bookshelves.

A middle school principal raised her hand...