Ms. Yingling: Getting the Right Book into Kids’ Hands

“”Ms. Yingling is the librarian at Blendon Middle School. Her daily mission is to find the right book for the right student at the right time.”

So states the Blendon Middle School website, and there is no better way to introduce this librarian and book reviewer whose blog, Ms. Yingling Reads, has been a mainstay for teachers, parents and readers since 2006. Karen exudes the humility and accessibility one associates with the public servant, and it is this spirit that seems to guide her blog. She truly wants to find the right book for every kid she comes into contact with. Karen also offered some insights into a subject close to my heart — how the publishing process shapes the kind of books that end up on our nation’s shelves. As a writer, I’ve experienced the impact of writing for the editor or agent whose judgment determines my access to the market and to readers at large. Read my interview with Karen to hear her thoughts on the role of librarians as gatekeepers — an important role, and one that bears examination if we are to truly serve child readers.

1. Hi Karen! You were one of the first middle-grade book bloggers that I came across in my research and are something of a legend. By my reckoning, Ms. Yingling Reads has been going strong for 16 years and counting. You are also a longtime middle school librarian.  What motivates you to keep reading and reviewing books for kids? What’s your mission?

My mission since February of 2006 has been to get “the right book to the right child at the right time”. To optimize my school library budget, it helps to read the books before I purchase them. That way, if I can’t think of several students to whom I would hand a book, I don’t buy it. I started my blog as a way to remember what I read, and have found that having a little bit of knowledge about a LOT of books is more helpful to my students and teachers than knowing a lot about a few titles. I’m glad that a few people still read the blog so that I can help more teachers, librarians, and parents find books for children. 

2. Your long tenure as a librarian and blogger gives you a unique vantage point in our shifting times. What are the trends and changes you’ve seen during those years in the types of books that are published, the types of books kids want to read, or the ways that media are consumed?

Things certainly have changed since I started working with students in 1997! When I first started, there were a lot more readers who wanted paranormal romance books, and certainly Twilight had an avid following after 2005. Now, I have students who are reading the books because their mothers read them years ago! My readers have veered away from young adult titles, especially in the last couple of years, and I’m seeing a bit of a resurgence in interest in historical fiction (which makes me very happy!) and books that include social issues. Teachers used to concentrate more on classic books like Little House on the Prairie and other older titles, but now try to incorporate newer books into the curriculum. Some things haven’t changed; my readers still adore books about sports, and I can never find enough humorous books or horror titles to make everyone happy. 

3. What are a few types of books you’d like to see more of?

Interestingly enough, twelve year olds really want murder mysteries! This isn’t a huge surprise; Lois Duncan and Joan Lowery Nixon had a lot of that type of book back from the 1970s to the 1990s. There are a lot of mysteries about dogs in the neighborhood being kidnapped, but young readers who listen to podcasts about murders or stream CSI want to see books on the same topic. I’m always looking for more sports books, and I’d love to see a wider variety of sports covered. There are very few books about volleyball, for example, and lots of students who play. It is interesting to me that so many authors write books about sad things happening, but I’ve found more students want humorous books. Ariana Costner’s My Life as a Potato has been a very popular title. 

4. I remember discovering the San Francisco city library when I was seven years old. I was never the same. What do you think books do for young people? What are the unique contributions of the reading experience to children’s welfare, fulfillment, and development? 

You know, I haven’t thought about this as much, but I should. I am always trying to get the right book to a student so they enjoy reading and do more of it. For me, reading has always been a great escape, and a way to live other lives. The recent increase in books with cultural connections has been fascinating for me. Certainly, reading a lot helps children build skills that they can transfer to other school work, and reading about others increases their empathy. I do think that reading a physical book rather than being online watching You Tube videos is a good break for their brains.

5. Here, in the digital age, young people are immersed in many kinds of short form, visual media. Do you find that kids tend to read more or less over the last fifteen to twenty years? Or are there always children who will want to read?

There are always readers who burn through a book a day; often, these are children whose parents limit their screen time. The advent of smartphones for children has definitely made their attention spans shorter, and since we’ve had Chrome books for students since the pandemic, the amount of reading they do in study halls has decreased dramatically. I do think parents have a lot of control over whether or not their children read at home. If screen time is limited, students won’t be distracted and will spend a lot more time reading and doing other activities.

6. How could the publishing industry better serve the needs of young readers? If you could wave a magic wand, what changes, if any, would you like to see?

I do not understand how publishing works. There are some authors who seem to have frequent contact with their target demographic and do a good job of addressing their needs, but there are also a lot of books that I come across and can’t think  of students who would enjoy them. If publishing is, essentially, about making money, you’d think that publishers would do more market research into what children like to read. Scholastic did a study back in 2014, but it’s hard to find anyone asking children. I know that Wimpy Kid books sell a lot, even though adults like myself aren’t as fond of them. There’s got to be a better balance between what kids want, what adults want to buy for them, and what publishers want to buy from authors. I’d love to see the target demographic be more of a part of the acquisition process.  As I said, it’s something I just don’t know enough about to understand. Twelve year old editors seem like a bad plan!

7. I write and speak about agents and editors as gatekeepers in the traditional publishing sphere — a role that can have complex effects. Teachers and librarians also serve, necessarily, as gatekeepers, shaping our literary environment in complex, sometimes unintentional ways. How do education professionals function as intermediaries between publishers and readers, or between authors and readers? Are there ways publishers could relate to librarians to help them better serve the needs of young readers?

This varies a lot, depending on the teacher and librarian. Some librarians and teachers don’t read very many books and rely heavily on School Library Journal reviews or Junior Library Guild selections. Most of my very favorite and most popular titles are ones that weren’t even mentioned in those sources!  I often do professional development workshops in my district, and am always amazed that some teachers don’t know anything about the latest Twitter controversy or the lives of the authors. Of course, there are some of us who spend a little too much time thinking about books and interacting with authors online. This probably means that publishers are influenced by a very small number of educators. That’s not ideal, but I’m not sure how publishers would change that. I do wish that more librarians would access review copies through Edelweiss and Netgalley and, of course, read my blog every day!

8. What legacy would you like to leave from your many years of serving young readers? 

While I spend a lot of time reading and reviewing books, the audience for my wealth of knowledge is still pretty small. There isn’t really  much of a legacy for me to leave. In the end, if there are a handful of my students who look back on their school library experience and have a very favorite book that I recommended to them, that’s all I can really hope for. 

Many thanks to Karen for taking the time to speak with me about Why Books Matter!