Children’s books are growing up.
We’re buying more of them. According to the NPD Group, sales of children’s and young adult fiction and nonfiction are up 17% this year, compared to 2019′s pre-pandemic benchmark.
And there isn’t just more children’s literature in bookstores, school libraries, and on our little ones’ bookshelves. Today’s tomes — especially picture books — feature mature content. Children’s book authors are examining complicated emotions like fear, anger, and jealousy. They are confronting harsh realities like mental illness, sickness, and death. And many of the characters are diverse, featuring LGBTQ personalities and people of all shapes, sizes, races, and backgrounds, as well as people with disabilities.
“There was a time when we wanted to keep children sheltered from these issues; that time is now behind us,” said Naren Aryal , CEO and publisher of Northern Virginia-based children’s imprint Mascot Books. “But we are learning as a society that it’s better to talk about these things that have gone unspoken in the past.”
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