Middle grade questions

[Jo Zebedee]

Oh, smart kiddies' authors of the Chrons (and readers, and parents...)

Middle Grade books -- do any of them have a dark feel to them?
If so, how scary can they go?

Any examples of good middle grade that touches onto dark fairy tales?

Thanks kindly in advance if anyone can help.

 

[Tecdavid]

I read The Wind Singer by William Nicholson when I was at school, and although it was aimed at children, it had some pretty dark themes. Social class was a prominent plot point, resulting in some discomforting and sad scenes between people of different classes. Then there were the villains, which, although not thoroughly described or explored, expressed a clear and obscene obsession for killing people. Pretty creepy.
I believe it won a few awards, though, so the darker themes didn't seem to put readers off.

 

[Pyan]

The Owl Service and Elidor, both by Alan Garner.

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding.

A Kestrel For a Knave, by Barry Hines

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Roald Dahl comes to mind - so yes. Goosebumps. The Hardy Boy Casefiles are actually quite dark in places and always packaged under junior fiction rather than YA in our library. John Christopher's stuff. I'm out of date lol

 

[monsterchic]

Dragon Rider gets a little dark sometimes, umm...Yeah, I'm a little out of date too. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Hex]

MG can get pretty dark but you can't dwell on the darkness in the way you can with YA and adult. The Spook's Apprentice is very dark -- gave me nightmares -- and Mouse was talking about a super-dark MG called something like The Toymaster (?)

In A Dog Named Grk, people are unjustly arrested and murdered in prison, kids are imprisoned and bullied by adults (but not physically tortured), their parents are killed and someone dies in a car crash right there in front of the kids.

I think you're better judging from recent MG rather than more old-fashioned stuff. Rules change.

 

[Alex The G and T]

The Lemony Snickets series run uder a perpetual sense of forboding; albeit rather tongue-in-cheek.

A Wrinkle in Time, fairly dark, too.

 

[tinkerdan]

Not sure I can help here much, but when I was in middle school I was reading Dumas and tried to read Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (which was a dark enterprise mostly for me.) But by then I was also reading such classics as Pohl Anderson's After Doomsday and just beginning to get a feel for Edgar Allan Poe and Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Lots of good stuff there, thanks everyone. I've read Lemony Snickett, which is just a little old, and Lord of the Flies which is too old, I think, but Goosebumps mightn't be far off and I've read a couple of those. Lots of these look good, I'll hit the library with a to order list tomorrow.

 

[SleepyDormouse]

The dark is rising series by Susan Cooper is really quite dark in places. I had to stop reading it to my son (about 9 at the time and quite sensitive)

Ingo by Helen dunmore has dark tones (children are drawn to the underwater world, makes use of traditional folklore but set in modern times).

 

[Hex]

I loved The Dark is Rising when I was a kid but I'm still a bit traumatised by some bits of it... Cafall in the field, anyone?

I recently read Flora Segunda of Crackpot Hall where someone has his heart torn out by spirit-eagles and the mc's father is so damaged by the war-time torture he underwent that he's insane. Very much an MG story, though.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Okey dokey, I can go dark, then. eeeeeee. Only I really don't do fluffy bunnies at all well....

 

[Mouse]

and Mouse was talking about a super-dark MG called something like The Toymaster (?)

The Toymaker. The Toymaker: Amazon.co.uk: Jeremy de Quidt, Gary Blythe: Books

Not sure if it's MG or YA. The MC's not very old. But yes, very dark.

What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn't stop. What couldn't you do if you could make a toy like that?

From the moment Mathias becomes the owner of a mysterious piece of paper, he is in terrible danger. Entangled in devious plots and pursued by the sinister Doctor Leiter and his devilish toys, Mathias finds himself on a quest to uncover a deadly secret.

And here's one of the reviews:

This is well written, but I thoroughly disliked the way it almost revels in sharp knives, blood and sadism. Two stars for interesting characters and an imaginative world, but one to avoid if you are at all squeamish about detailed descriptions of torture and violent death.

Get it.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

No torture! Never, ever, again. It turned my stomach the first time!

Cheers, Mouse, I'll look that one up.

 

[Mouse]

From what I remember, it's not a close POV, so might be interesting to read for that, too.

 

[Brev]

I loved The Dark is Rising when I was a kid but I'm still a bit traumatised by some bits of it... Cafall in the field, anyone?

Shiver...between that memory and your 75 worder I'm sleeping with the lights on.

 

[Hex]

Shiver...between that memory and your 75 worder I'm sleeping with the lights on.

Oh Brev... You say the nicest things.

 

[Mith]

I recently read a novel that I guess would fit the criteria. Called Advent by a chap named James Treadwell. Set in Cornwall with a teenage main character, it's definitely quite dark and at times a bit disturbing. It's part of a trilogy and the second one is out now, though I haven't yet had the funds to pick it up.

 

[HareBrain]

James Treadwell has said he's not sure whether Advent is YA or adult, but I think it's too long and involved for MG. Not a bad read, though. Apparently the sequel is much darker.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Kids do tend to revel in the Murderous Maths and Horrible Histories books. And they positively thrill to the scariness of the Enderman and Slenderman in Minecraft, as well as the Creepers.