Conduct a personal stock take of your knowledge of children’s literature. List some strategies you use or could use to increase your professional knowledge of children’s literature.

Hi. I’m Shannon, I’m a bibliophile, and possibly a book hoarder as well.

My nearly 5000 books attests to that (they’re really not all worth keeping!). Of those, quite a lot are picturebooks, children’s novels, and Young Adult novels. Having children of my own was excuse enough to source quality picturebooks and, later, children’s novels. The YA novels are mostly for me haha. I do love having a home library, and I also use a lot of them in my teaching – from professional learning to lesson resources.

I’ve also been an active member of Goodreads since 2007, where (surprisingly) I’m still #25 best reviewer in Australia, but my ‘active’ status has definitely dropped off since I started teaching and I don’t use it to keep abreast of what’s out anymore. I used to review books on my blog (and cross post to GR), but I accidentally deleted my blog a couple of years ago and I don’t visit the book blogging community anymore.

When it comes to genre fiction, I have a longstanding love of speculative fiction – especially fantasy, science fiction and dystopian – and romance. I did my Honours dissertation on fantasy fiction and originally had plans to do my PhD in it! I also enjoy historical fiction, coming-of-age drama stories and some mysteries. I’m not much of a crime/murder mystery reader but I do enjoy them from time to time, and thrillers.

But my ‘knowledge’ of children’s literature could be better. As I work in a senior secondary school, our library doesn’t stock much in what I would call the children’s fiction age range (what the Americans call ‘middle grade fiction, I believe): mid- to upper-primary, especially, which can also cover grades 7 and 8. Some books, like the Nevermoor series, straddle children’s and YA (in that they are written for children but are just as enjoyable for older readers as they’re quite sophisticated. Note, also, that the first Harry Potter books were written for children, while the last ones were definitely more YA).

Which is great for helping kids like my son expand his reading from easy graphic novels (Captain Underpants et al) to more involved narratives that rely more on the reader’s imagination.

So when it comes to what’s available, what’s ‘out there’, what’s being published and emerging trends, I’ve been relying mostly on those delightful occasions when I get to go to Fullers or Dymocks and browse their children’s section. So many books! Gosh it’s come a long way since I was a kid in the 80s, when there was nothing interesting to read and they all had such terrible, terrible ugly covers! (No wonder Roald Dahl was so popular, he really had no competition!)

To complement my browsing, I could

• follow more children’s book reviews sites/reviewers – Instagram is my usual haunt these days, but the reviewers I follow all focus mostly on adult books
• I don’t know, actually. My brain is so tired. Is there a children’s literature equivalent of Good Reading magazine? I should find out.

Children’s literature – and books and reading in general – seems to periodically come up against a new foe. I wonder if, when the television appeared in most people’s homes, they worried about the death of the book? Certainly the first couple of decades of the 21st century have lobbed constant grenades (such as the ebook), yet books persevere – even enjoyed a resurgence in popularity.

On the other hand, both television and smartphones have reduced the amount of reading people do, as all three activities require leisure time – one must choose how to spend it. I wonder if this competition for our attention is what has finally encouraged publishers (normally so conservative) to crack open the hallowed halls of white cishet stories and allow in more diverse voices?

For publishers are on social media and the web, as well, and they’re paying attention to what young people are reading and talking about, what they care about. (The fact that anyone can write reviews online, and share their thoughts, can be a positive.) Maybe publishers are just responding to ‘trends’, as per usual, but I’d like to think that – in Australia at least – they’re also growing more confident in publishing books that won’t automatically appeal to a majority.

It’s easy to see this in YA fiction, with the current popularity of M-M and F-F romances, gender fluid characters, and more main characters who are not white. Yet, from working in my senior secondary school library, I don’t see the readership expand. It’s the same teens, simply expanding their reading tastes (which is great, but the truth is, if you don’t get kids reading and loving stories at a young age, it’s hard to get them reading when they’re older).

Kathy Short (2018) says that, in the U.S., picture books accounted for only 14% of published children’s books in 2015, and that publishers are more focused on books for older children and teenagers (the 8-18 age range, roughly) (p.288).

From Yellow Kayak by Nina Laden & Melissa Castrillon. Simon & Schuster, 2018

I’m very interested to see what Australia’s stats are like, as recent as possible, because when I walk into my local bookshops – especially the wonderful Fullers Bookshop – the wealth and breadth of picture books available will make you feel born again. They have the most beautiful, artful books, ones that are like works of art, as well as humorous, or exploring mental health issues, or what it means to belong, or what ‘family’ means, as well as the environment and so on. And that’s just the fiction.

Macmillan, 2018

The children’s novel section is a mix of three main genres: fantasy; historical (especially WWII); and realism – including the (often illustrated) comedy books that my son still loves. Meanwhile, YA has come a long way from white-washing book covers, and while fantasy, mystery and romance are clearly still the most popular genres, there are more stories featuring African heroines, and strong young women in general. I’d be worried about the popularity of Colleen Hoover’s books amongst older teens, but they are becoming very savvy to toxic relationships and I’ve come across good critical readings.

Where to from here? I agree with the Annabel Barker (Australian Writers’ Centre Team, 2020) that graphic novels will continue to gain in popularity – Heartstopper is only the beginning, I’m sure.  What I would like is more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices published, and I hope the future of children’s literature in Australia continues to move away from its conservative past.

When I’m feeling optimistic, I believe that at some point, the obsession with smart phones and social media, and with always being on, will die down – it can leave you feeling as empty, gross and sad as eating greasy fast food, after all – and books will continue to respond to what’s happening in the world with increasingly edgier, gritty stories that make your imagination spin, your heart beat harder, and open your eyes to the world. You can’t get that from a screen.

References:

Australian Writers’ Centre Team. (2020, July 17). 7 trends in children’s and YA publishing. AWC: Australian Writers’ Centre.

Short, K. (2018). What’s trending in children’s literature and why it matters. Language Arts, 95(5), 287-298.