It is important to understand what children are looking for in a story. While some books are timeless classics, there has been a definite shift in children’s interests in recent years. Understanding the market can help a writer to pinpoint what type of book they hope to create.
Novelty Books
These come in many varieties including scratch and sniff, pop-ups, lift a flap, textures and even those containing jigsaw puzzles.
Stories With Animal Characters
These take the form of stories about animals in their natural environments or animals with human characteristics. Children can identify with a hippo that feels clumsy or a giraffe that feels too tall.
Traditional Fairy Tales
These haven’t lost their appeal over the years and modern stories with a prince, princess and an evil step-mother are still popular with young children.
Comic Strip Stories
Older children love reading comic strips and these can be a good way of enticing reluctant readers to show some interest.
Book Written in Rhyming Verse
Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl were both masters at this form of writing. Children enjoy the humorous verse and the skillful way a story emerges from the words.
Light-hearted Humor
Most children have a good sense of humor and enjoy books with comical events in them. For younger ones, the humor can be slapstick or as subtle as a cute character that pops up in pictures but is never mentioned. Older children like word plays and jokes.
Inspirational Books
These may be based on truth and often tell the story of a child or teen who has battled against great odds and emerged victorious. They are particularly appreciated by children who are facing a similar scenario.
Adventure and Mystery
These appeal to all ages although the level of danger and intrigue is obviously far lower for the young children. Older children enjoy the mystery of figuring out who committed a crime by analyzing the clues.
Teenage Romances
Book stores normally carry a wide range of love stories aimed at teenage girls. They are usually about teens and may be set in a school or at a holiday resort. Sometimes these books are part of a series.
Education and Information
There is a place for non-fiction on children’s bookshelves. Books that present the facts in an interesting, vibrant manner have replaced the dusty tomes of the past and many children enjoy increasing their knowledge by answering quiz questions and following up with internet searches.
There is a huge market in children’s books. Those desiring to write for young readers would do well to spend some time in a library, examining what is on the shelves before deciding what to write.
