It's always fascinating to read *practically* everything
published in Australia for children in a single year, as it makes seeing the
trends that much easier. In the past, we've seen multiple books come out on a
single, somewhat esoteric, topic, and followed themes that crop up in abundance
in a particular year, such as immigration, Australia's colonial history,
various wars, rural life, runaways, fairytale retellings, mental health and so
on (depending on the target audience).
In 2013, some of the trends that have stood out for me so
far include crime novels for teens, children's books featuring vets and pets,
solid science fiction stories (as opposed to dystopian science fiction,
Hunger Games style), narratives which deal with the death of a sibling,
novels featuring a narrator who has a learning difficulty or behaviour issue,
and parallel world tales.
It's quite fun to read two books from different authors and
different publishers that come out on identical topics at around the same time;
for example, in 2011 I did a double take at the arrival of two novels that used
as their focus the cameleers of South Australia who accompanied the explorers
in their journeys, and two picture books that retold the story of Grace, a girl
who helped rescue the passengers and crew of the SS Georgette when it
was wrecked off the coast of Western Australia in 1876 – quite a specific event
to have two books focus on!
While some trends have an obvious source (for example,
stories set in World War I are always popular, but I foresee a huge increase in
these leading up to the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli in 2015), others, like
the example of the Grace books above, seem to have no apparent source – some
sort of mystical vibration in the air that causes two authors to suddenly
decide they want to write books about the exact same thing!
So far this year, the consonance that has most tickled my
fancy is to read two Australian books using Paris as the setting and the fashion
design industry as the focus, in two quite different ways, and for two
different audiences! Which goes to show that although it may seem that there is
nothing new under the sun, that doesn't mean that authors won't continue to
surprise and delight us with their new takes on stories and settings.
What trends have you noticed in children's books recently?
Tehani Wessely
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