Interview: Trend Spotter—A Sneak Peek at 2012's Top Kids' Book
RSSBy Laura Weiss
What are the overall trends in children's and YA books that you're seeing for 2012? Certainly there are more books being published as a series and fewer as stand-alone titles. This is not a new development, but it seems to be a growing trend, particularly for chapter books, fantasies, and mysteries. Picture-book biographies and picture books about real people and events are abundant. More women seem to be featured in this category than in past years. Easy readers continue to be rare. Picture books with chapters, such as the wonderful Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always (Dial) by Tao Nyeu, are more common. What about for older kids? For middle grades, humorous boy-narrated books with short entries or chapters are plentiful. Especially appealing are Planet Tad (HarperCollins) by Tim Carvell, The Amazing Adventures of John Smith, Jr. AKA Houdini (HarperCollins) by Peter Johnson, and Crush (Random) by Gary Paulsen. Any gaps in what you're seeing? One thing I don't feel there are enough of are contemporary books with ethnically and racially diverse casts of characters or main characters who are not white. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (Candlewick) by Frank Cotrell Boyce features a biracial family. The Final Four (Viking) by Paul Volponi follows four basketball players from different backgrounds who are competing in the Final Four college tournament. The main characters of EllRay Jakes Walks the Plank! (Viking) by Sally Warner and The Year of the Book (Houghton Harcourt) by Andrea Cheng are African American and Chinese American respectively. I'm hoping to see more overall diversity in the coming months. What's trending for teens? In YA books, as always, there are lots of orphans, lots of dead parents. There also seem to be a great many unstable/bipolar/neglectful/abusive mothers. That sounds pretty grim. What else is big among teens? Dystopian novels are a continuing trend. After the Snow (Feiwel & Friends) by S. D. Crockett stands out. Paranormal books are everywhere. There are lots of protagonists who are half-mermaid, half-angel, or half-fairy. Memory loss and mistaken identity are big. Another popular theme that I'm seeing is someone, somehow, occupying a body other than his or her original one. The Alchemy of Forever (S & S) by Avery Williams is highly enjoyable. I'm happy to see books such as Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan's Team Human (HarperCollins/HarperTeen) that riff on the paranormal genres. It may be part of an overall trend of reworkings of familiar stories or characters. Bewitching (HarperCollins/HarperTeen) by Alex Finn and Shadows on the Moon (Candlewick) by Zoë Marriott both are based on fairy tales. They're very different but both good reads. Two of our favorites with roots in literature are Kenneth Oppel's Such Wicked Intent: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, Book 2 (S & S) and Jodi Lynn Anderson's Tiger Lily (HarperCollins/HarperTeen), which is a reimagining of the Peter Pan story. What's your favorite YA book? My favorite YA book? One? Even from what I've read so far in 2012, that's hard. I'm going to join many others in proclaiming my love for The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton) by John Green. I'm also a huge fan of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Abrams/Amulet) by Jesse Andrews. It made me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. For younger teens, I love Summer on the Moon (Peachtree) by Adrian Fogelin and Deadly Pink (Houghton Harcourt) by Vivian Vande Velde. Summer on the Moon is more of a "heart" book and Deadly Pink is more a "head" book. Your favorite book for elementary school kids? That's also tough. There are so many different kinds of books! For younger children I am very excited about Creepy Carrots! (S & S) by Aaron Reynolds and Cecil the Pet Glacier (Random/Schwartz & Wade Bks) by Matthea Harvey. For the upper elementary level, The Bell Bandit (Houghton Harcourt) by Jacqueline Davies and A Greyhound of a Girl (Abrams/Amulet) by Roddy Doyle both have characters to root for and love. Are you noticing any shifts in what libraries are requesting, for example, more fantasy/science fiction or more mystery/adventure? Nonfiction is the most requested genre, specifically, science, biographies, and history. We also get many requests for graphic novels and fantasies and, for high schools, historical fiction. This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe.
February 16, 2012
For a preview of the top books coming in 2012—not to mention what trends to look for in kids' and teens' titles—we spoke to Susan Marston, editorial director of Junior Library Guild (JLG), which is owned by SLJ's parent company, Media Source, Inc. Marston routinely gobbles up scores of advanced readers' copies far ahead of when most of us get to see them. Just last month, she and her staff put the finishing touches on JLG's spring 2012 list of 210 titles. SLJ talked to Marston about the hottest trends as JLG rolls out its latest book selections.
