Looking
at publishing and usage trends in the field of children’s books over time
helps to forecast future developments.Some
of the following trends are heartening and deserve our support.Others
are more questionable.
A rapid increase in the publication of children’s literature over the past
thirty years (from 2,640 new titles in 1970 to 5,678 new titles in 1995,
as reported in the Bowker Annual Library and Book Trade Almanac, 1997).A
dramatic rise in the number of picture books, along with a significant
increase in the number of heavily illustrated works of nonfiction and highly
commercial television-related spin-offs account for much of this increase
An increase in the use of authentic literature in basal readers.This
trend has improved the quality of reading material for those learning to
read from basals; but some inherent problems, such as the lack of individual
student choice of reading material, remain.
Steadily increasing numbers of multicultural and international books.Our
society’s gradual acceptance of different voices and viewpoints, the increasing
diversity of our school populations, and the rise in international co-publications
(publishers in the United States and abroad sharing initial publishing
costs), account for this trend.
An increase in the publication of historical fiction and biography for
children.Increased use of these
materials across the school curriculum may account, in part, for thisdevelopment
An increase in the amount and complexity of illustration in children’s
books.As illustration becomes a
more dominant feature in children’s books, text is becoming less dominant,
particularly in picture storybooks, beginning readers, transitional books,
and informational books.Readers
are becoming more visually oriented as a result of television and computers,
but perhaps they are reading less.
An increase in the time students spend watching television and playing
video games and a decrease in the time they spend reading.
Fewer full-length novels and more short, high-interest, low-reading-level
novels being written for 10- to 14- year-olds; a steadily increasing market
for the less challenging formula fiction series books (e.g., Goosebumps,
The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins).
A change in the concept of libraries from repositories of books to repositories
of information and a related change in the concept of children’s librarian
from bridge to good literature to media expert.In
schools and libraries this may mean that media specialists will have less
time to guide students and teachers to good books.
Numerous independent children’s book publishers replaced by a few large corporate publishers that are more concerned with their profit margins that literary quality.As a result, more surefire mass-appeal books will be published and fewer more original or more challenging books will be published.