Where’s All the Short Fiction for Kids? A Talk with Ren��e Watson and Torrey Maldonado on These Much Needed Books

It all began with a school library media specialist named Christina Chatel. Author Torrey Maldonado noticed that in an issue of School Library Journal she had an open letter asking for shorter middle grade books. You know what she means. There’s been a need for years for teachers and librarians to give kids shorter books with the same complexity as thicker titles. Trouble is, there’s no built-in pre-existing market for that particular need, and, additionally, only a handful of authors are capabl...