Children's Books/Juvenile Books: research reports

The children’s book market is filled with mixed messages and contradictions. Bestselling series such as Scholastic’s Harry Potter and Little, Brown & Company’s Twilight saga become recognized around the world and spawn movies and tie-in titles, but thousands and thousands of other titles never even come close to the New York Times bestseller list.

The market is also being challenged by the very nature of the youngest generation, which is arguably more connected and ‘wired’ than any other – and far less likely to read books than anyone.

The pressure is on to try to reach children through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and using other online tools to make the content more accessible. But even when all of these things are done and done well, there still isn’t a guarantee the book will ever make it into someone’s hands. To hedge bets and possible change the face of children’s books entirely, some voices are insisting children’s e-books should have links to games, audio files, even video. This leaves publishers, authors and others involved in the industry value chain to wonder: Does technology evolve to accommodate books or do books evolve to accommodate technology? What do kids want to read and do they care whether a book is electronic or print? Should publishers and book retailers like Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million trust parents to steer children toward leisure reading or should a more active role be taken?

As the children’s book industry faces an uncertain future, it is vital to understand each and every issue facing it.