How important is children's literature in the wider culture? Why should the media be interested in it at all?
#CoverKidsBooks talked to some experts about these questions.
We interviewed
Amanda Craig, novelist and children's literature critic for the
New Statesman, and former children's literature critic for The Times and The Independent On Sunday;
Natasha Harding, books columnist for
The Sun;
Daniel Hahn, a writer and translator who has edited
The Oxford Companion To Children's Literature and
The Ultimate Book Guides, and is a former Chair of the
Society Of Authors;
Charlotte Eyre, Children's Editor of
The Bookseller magazine and Chair of the
YA Book Prize; and
Dr Catherine Butler, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at
Cardiff University, specialising in children's literature.
Why are children's books
important?
Amanda Craig: You fall in love with reading through children's
books. They are an art form; they're
fantastically sophisticated artefacts. And
your personality is formed by them. When
you find a great book that speaks to you, you're never the same. These are life-changing experiences and they
should be part of every civilised culture's gift to every child.
Catherine Butler: There are two main
reasons. The first is the intrinsic
quality of many children's books; it's a form that has attracted some of our
best writers. The second is that they
are fundamental in nurturing an interest in reading and in shaping our sense of
language, story and character – all of which are prerequisite to an enjoyment
of literature for adults. In the edifice
of literature, children's books are the cornerstone.
Natasha Harding: My son is a voracious reader, and I've seen how far
ahead he is because of it, on every level.
Equally, I've got friends whose children don't read, and they're not
doing as well. So I think it's important
to try and get the message across about all the wonderful children's books that
are out there.
Charlotte Eyre: If you catch a child with the right book at the right
age, you'll have a reader for life. And Britain
is one of the best countries in the world at children's books. If you look at the classics – Roald Dahl, JK
Rowling – these are loved all over the world.
When Chinese publishers buy children's books from other countries, the
number one country they go to is the UK. It's an amazing cultural product that we
have. It's also a huge part of the books
industry in general: 33% of sales. And
yet there seems to be this attitude of, "Oh, it's just children's books"
– which is totally daft, really.
Daniel Hahn: I don't think people should indiscriminately read
children's books, but I think people who like good books should recognise that
some of the good ones are not in fact written by Jonathan Franzen. I don't understand how you can be interested
in the kind of graphic novel that is sold for adults and not think that Where The Wild Things Are is possibly
the best piece of storytelling you have ever seen, because it says it's for
children and doesn't have many words in it.
"In the edifice of literature, children's books are the cornerstone"
Can children's
literature be literature? Can it be of
interest to adults?
DH: I review them in the same way I would review any piece
of fiction. When the Oxford Companion came out, I kept being
asked, "What makes a good children's book?" And I kept saying, "It's what makes a
good book! It has to have the right
words in it, and they have to be in the right order, and there is nothing more
mysterious than that."
AC: I treat it as seriously as I treat literary fiction or
biography or any other form.
NH: Absolutely it's literature! It's all writing. Actually, I think it's harder to write for
children, because you have to be succinct; you don't have 50 pages to draw your
reader in. And children's books can be
really enjoyable for adults too. I love
reading them myself. I mean, how
phenomenal was Wonder?
Why is media coverage
of children's books important?
CB: Most
children's books are bought by adults, and for this reason alone it's important
that children's books are reviewed and more generally covered in adult media
outlets such as newspapers. Even if
children's books were only read by children – which is assuredly not the case!
– adults would need the resources to be able to choose wisely.
CE: At the moment, only a very few books get talked about,
and all the rest get ignored.
Bookshops
are closing down,
libraries are closing down, so children don't have as many
options there.
A really good newspaper
article can help guide
parents in the right direction.
They can find this stuff online, of course,
but newspapers are read by people who don't know that they're looking for
children's book reviews, and I think that's really crucial.
Children's books need to be talked about
where they're going to reach people who weren't necessarily looking.
DH: I think probably we have the right book for anyone out
there, but how they find it if we only ever review the same few books is
slightly problematic. I think Julia
Donaldson is wonderful, but I don't think she is in fact the only person
writing picture books. With more space,
there's space for more range.
NH: I'm not necessarily saying 7 year olds are reading The
Sun, but their parents might be, their aunts, uncles, grandparents. And as much as there are amazing blogs out
there, would a 70 year old know how to find a blog about books? No, they probably wouldn't. So that's why it has to be in the newspaper,
and as a newspaper, I think we actually have a responsibility to cover
children's books. I don't think we can
go, "Oh well, maybe next week…"
AC: I think the problem with a number of national newspapers
is that they're edited by middle-aged men who have studied history and politics
at university, and they've gone into newspapers because that is their passion,
and the only books they are interested in are history and political biography. Those can be perfectly interesting – but what
this overlooks is that there is a whole huge
audience for newspapers which consists of people who have children or
grandchildren, and people who read the books pages are particularly interested
in finding books for them.
"As a newspaper, I think we actually have a responsibility to cover children's books"
Can you think of an
example of coverage making a difference?
AC: I was always told that when I reviewed a book, it would
go up a lot in sales. I know championing
people like Anthony Horowitz, Cressida Cowell, Michelle Paver made a
difference. I picked up The Hunger Games when nobody else was
touching it. It had a terrible jacket,
and I made it Book Of The Year, and people were slightly embarrassed. They said: "Amanda, are you sure this is
a serious book?" And I said, "Yes! This is it!" That happened
because I kept pushing it. When I get
passionate about a book, I get very determined that as many people as possible
will hear about it. I was one of the
first people to review Harry Potter,
and I was told by JK Rowling's agent that she's got that review stuck to her wall!
NH: I'm always a bit dumbfounded when people say to me, "I've
seen a massive surge in sales," but lots of people have said it.
Holly Smale, who writes
Geek Girl: I was the first journalist to give her an interview, and
she's always said to me it made a massive difference to her career.
Apparently it does really help.
But my thing is, if I make a difference to
one child a week – if one child's book is bought on the back of my page – I
feel like I'm doing something positive.
Our research shows that children's books typically get 3% of newspaper review space, despite accounting for over 30% of the market. How do
you feel about this under-representation?
CE: It just shows that the media haven't moved with the
times.
If you speak to someone like
Barry Cunningham, who was the first editor of
Harry Potter – he famously told JK Rowling not to give up the day
job.
No-one wanted to publish children's
books then, because they thought they weren't selling.
But there've been huge developments.
Business is booming.
The industry is growing every year in terms of
sales.
This year, already, we're 7% up
on the first part of 2015.
So the fact
that the media's still got this idea that it's this small, irrelevant industry –
they just haven't caught up.
NH: It's a real pity that it's so low, because the market is
so vibrant, and there are so many wonderful books out there. You could never say, "I couldn't find a
children's book this week!" I do
think that all the newspapers and the magazines should have some kind of
children's coverage – even if it is just one book a week – but something
regular. I think that's the key: regularity. Because people then look for it.
AC: I feel absolutely outraged and I think they need their
heads examined!
It's heart-breaking,
because every
parent and grandparent and
teacher longs for children to fall in
love with books, and how are they going to do that if they don't know what
books to get?
CB:
I
see an unfortunate tendency on the part of some (perhaps rather insecure)
adults to try to prove their own maturity by actively denigrating literature
for the young. I will take the opportunity
to quote CS Lewis on the subject, from his 1952 essay, On Three Ways of Writing for Children: "When
I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had
been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a
man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up." That nails it, I think.
"Business is booming. The industry is growing every year"
What would you like
to see the media do in order to #CoverKidsBooks?
AC: I would like
to see at least a page every week devoted to children's books. Maybe they
should do it on a different day; don't do it on Saturday, do it on Monday, when
there's no news. Why not? Anything that gets it going, why not? And also think about the people who write
these books. They're really interesting,
they've often got fascinating stories to tell.
They're worthy of being interviewed in their own right.
DH: The thing I'd
most want is for them to treat it the way they treat other things. And do more!
The more the better. And
everywhere. Big TV shows! I would love someone to do a six-part history
of British children's literature: Alice In Wonderland to the present.
CE: It'd be nice
to have a bit more critical coverage. All
industries need healthy criticism. I
also think the media should pay more attention to children's books as a
business. There's the idea that "It's
for children, isn't that sweet?" – whereas actually, there are multi-million
pound businesses behind this, with very well-paid publishers flying all over
the world selling British children's books, because they're one of our finest
cultural exports!
CB: It's
important to acknowledge that there has been some progress. I don't think we'll ever go back to the days
when, for example, children's books were officially ineligible to win the Costa
Book Award. All the same, it would be
nice if they were seriously considered for the Man Booker, too! We all owe it to good books of whatever stripe
to recognize their quality.
#CoverKidsBooks invites you to join in a public conversation about children's books. Leave a comment, write a blog of your own, or tweet about it using the hashtag. Tell us why children's books matter to you, and what you'd like to see the media do to #CoverKidsBooks!
