The collapse of Angus & Robertson bookstores in Australia in 2011 brought with it an onslaught of doomsayers: the ringing cries of “books are dead! Publishing and reading novels will be a thing of the past soon! It’s the era of the EReader!” brought a sense of trepidation and sadness in many booklovers across the country. And yet the printing and consumption of print books remains as steady as ever, particularly for teenagers (Harvey, 2015, para. 2; Short, 2018, 287).
Reflecting now on the literature that I had access to as a teenager compared to what is available now, it is clear that, out of all the trends discussed by Short, (Short, 2018), diversity in children’s literature stands as both one of the areas that has experienced the most growth, and yet still has so far to go. In my teenage years, protagonists of the young adult (YA) fiction that was being published in my genres of interest (fantasy, historical and contemporary) were typically young, straight and Caucasian. In my first year of acting TL (last year) this was perhaps the first thing I noticed of our school library’s collection: it was not diverse, and did not accurately reflect the diversity of our student cohort or the wider world. It was the first change I sought to make in the collection. Now, even two years in, I am finding it easier than ever to find diverse books for our collection.
Despite having only seen the changes in this trend in two years, this is one area I am happily awaiting a boom in: the increase in books published about more diverse characters (and not just supporting characters, but diverse characters in protagonist roles), by more diverse authors, about more diverse topics.
On the other side of this coin is the potential for the rise in transmedia stories and storytelling. Resources such as Inanimate Alice were created years ago, and yet the potential for innovation in storytelling through multimodal forms has yet to be fully realised, I think, by both educators and public consumers alike. As an English-trained teacher I learned of this text in university. Would I have discovered it or others like it if I had chosen to pursue another career path? I think, unfortunately, the answer is ‘no’. As a TL I see some picture books come with a CD still, or instructions on how to view the song version of the book on YouTube (see The Wonky Donkey). Transmedia storytelling has such potential, and I expect it will continue to grow.
But who will be the drivers of this change?
I believe it has already started, and that it will continue to grow with us: the passionate readers, the educators, the authors from diverse backgrounds, the independent publishing companies, and also, to some extent, social media. Networking sites such as Instagram and Facebook have created a space for authors and aspiring authors from around the world to connect not only with each other and publishing companies, but also with new readership. Finally, reader voices are being heard (including the criticism toward publishers and even authors without diversity in their texts), and new authors are able to connect directly with their audiences and put their diverse stories out in the world – sometimes even without the aid of a publishing house.
The shelves – thankfully – finally present and represent a much broader world than they did when I was discovering reading. There is, however, still a long way to go to ensure that more books about diverse characters and by diverse authors are known (Cooperative Children’s Book Center [CCBC], 2020).
Reference List
Cooperative Children’s Book Center [CCBC] (2020). Books by and/or about black, Indigenous and people of colour (all years). https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/literature-resources/ccbc-diversity-statistics/books-by-and-or-about-poc-2018/
Harvey, E. (2015). 5 Trends Affecting Children’s Literature. Book Business: Your Source for Publishing Intelligence. https://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/what-we-learned-from-the-top-trends-in-childrens-literature-webinar/
Short, K. (2018). What’s Trending in Children’s Literature and Why it Matters. Language Arts, 95(5), 287-298.