Whaddaya mean, "Intermediate Fiction?"

No, you're not going crazy. It's section move season at the Booksmith, and if you think your favorite section isn't where it used to be, you're probably right. Lots of changes are in progress and in store (get it?) here in the kids' section. Fairy tales, folk tales, mythology, and poetry are in a more prominent space, and graphica is growing yet again. But the change that makes me happiest deep in my book-loving soul is the impending expansion of Intermediate Fiction.

When customers ask what "intermediate fiction" actually means, my answer is, "we usually say about 8 to 12." That DOES NOT mean the section is off-limits to seven-year-olds, thirteen-year-olds, or anyone else, of course. Harry Potter's there, and I defy you to pin an age on that. In any case, the category known in the publishing business as "middle grade" covers a lot of ground, both developmentally and in terms of the stories available. To my mind, it's the richest part of the kids' section. It houses classics and hot new titles, series and  stand-alones, simple and complicated fantasy, funny and serious and in-between realism, historical fiction, mysteries, semigraphica, verse novels... Most Newbery winners are there. Quite a few books are there that bring up major nostalgia.

As far as I'm concerned, Intermediate Fiction is where (a lot of) the good stuff lives. I hope you'll bear with us as we change things up on you again. We're making room for more good stuff.