Children’s literature will continue to change and evolve over time. Who will be the drivers of this change? I would love to see children driving much of this change as their interests and needs change over time. This would mean authors who create children’s literature need to listen to and be in tune not only with children’s interests but also children’s needs.

One current trend is the rising popularity of graphic novels for preteens to young adults, there is a growing demand for literature presented in new formats with illustrations (Australian Writers’ Centre Team, 2020). I have seen the drive for change within my own school library community regarding graphic novels. Students often request new graphic novels to be included into the library collections and as a result, graphic novels are regularly purchased and added to the school collection.

The ever-evolving world around us is another big driver of change of children’s literature. Issues impacting this change include political conflicts, social and environmental issues, just to name a few. These needs continue to drive these trends on real world issues within children’s literature for young children right up to young adults (Australian Writers’ Centre Team, 2020).

Whether we like it or not (I am on the ‘not’ side) technology will continue to impact children’s literature and drive change. Studies show that more children still prefer reading physical copies of a books rather than on a device (Gilmore & Burnett, 2014). 20 years ago this was not even an option and although the majority of children prefer a physical copy of a book you cannot argue with technologies ability to connect children with books that matter to them (Short, 2018). Technology provides students with a different experience and can add visual impact. Authors of eBooks need to consider the value-add aspects of technology and not just treat them as a book copied onto a device in the form of a PDF (Hateley, 2013).

There are many trends influencing children’s literature and these will continue to evolve over time. My vision would be that children’s aspirations will drive these trends and impact literature to best suit their needs.

References

Australian Writers’ Centre Team. (2020, July 17). 7 trends in children’s and YA publishing. AWC: Australian Writers’ Centre. https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/7-trends-in-childrens-and-ya-publishing/

Gilmore, N., & Burnett, M. (2014, December 16). Crunching numbers at the Nielsen children’s book summit. Publishers Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/65068-kids-are-thriving-reading-and-hungry-for-more-crunching-numbers-at-the-nielsen-children-s-book-summit.html

Hateley, E. (2013). Reading: From turning the page to touching the screen. In Wu, Y., Mallan, K. & McGillis, R. (Eds.) (Re)imagining the world: Children’s literature response to the changing times (pp. 1-13). New Frontiers of Educational Research.

Short, K. G. (2018). What’s Trending in Children’s Literature and Why It Matters. Language Arts, 95(5), 287-298. https://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/whats-trending-childrens-literature-why-matters/docview/2036727382/se-2