Issues and Trend in Children's Literature

The trend in children’s literature is an important subject each year. The reputable leaders have to keep up with the latest issues and trends that children would be interested. The predictions given by the reputable leader’s helps schools and libraries keep up with trends and important new children's titles. It is really important to keep up with the latest books so children can be motivated to keep on reading and learning. According to the editors of the Scholastic they have been publishing and distributing award winning books for children for decades, and have become experts at predicting exactly where kids books interest will go next.( Sinek & Almahdi 2013) The current trends in children’s literature are picture books that can continue to represent many themes. Pictures books are for readers who are just learning to read, and will continue to be for young audiences. For older students they will continue to be interested in series of all kinds of genres whether they are fantasy, mystery or science fiction based. (Kennedy 2013) Children literature will always have a wide variety of books that will motivate children to read.

This week I got the chance to interview the librarian at an elementary school. I had a chance to ask her some questions. She has been a librarian for ten years. She really enjoys working at the library. She loves to read books and wants her students to also love books. The interview took place in the school library. The library is a really quite place with lots of books.  The library has tables, chairs for students to come in, and read a book. The library also has computers for students to use. She has posters around the library encouraging students to read. She also has stuff animals around the library that goes with a certain theme. For example she has a book of “The Cat in the Hat,” by Dr.Seuss and she has the stuff animal of the cat in the hat next to the book

Question 1: How do you motivated students to come to your library?

I motivated my students to come to the library by doing book fairs and also offering a prize to the best reader. I really enjoy my job and I love watching students that come to my library and look for a book to read.

Question 2: What is your favorite genre in children’s literature?

My favorite genre is fantasy. I enjoy reading books about fantasy.

Question 3: What is your favorite children’s book?

My favorite children’s book is “The cat in the Hat”

Question 4: What is your favorite children’s book author?

My favorite author is Dr.Seuss. I really enjoy reading all his books.

Question 5: What specific genre of books is checked out the most?

According to the librarian fiction books are the ones that are checkout the most by students.

Question 6: What trend do you see in children literature?

The trend that I see in children literature is that some books are becoming movies and children prefer to watch the movie instead of reading. Reading helps a child to improve their vocabulary and become a better reader.

Question 7:  How does common core affect the library setting?

To be honest Common core does not affect the library setting.

Question 8: What types of books are the most popular in children literature?

The types of books that are the most popular in children literature are picture books. Students like to come in the library to look at picture books especially the young ones who are just learning how to read.

Question 9: What can parents do to encourage their child to read?

Parents can encourage their child by having them read every day at home. Parents can also read aloud to their child. Reading is really important it helps a child to learn new words and become a better reader.

Question 10: How have the internet impact children’s literacy choices?

The internet has impact children literacy choices a lot. Children prefer to look up information in the internet because to them it is faster than looking at a book.

I really enjoy visiting the library and interviewing the librarian. The librarian is a really nice person and you can tell right away that she loves her job. She does anything to help her students who come to her looking for a book to read. She is a role model to her students.

The answers that the librarian gave indicate that reading is really important and parents should encourage their child to keep on reading. According to the librarian the common core does not affect her library setting. Some trends that she has notice is that some books are becoming movies and students prefer to watch the movie instead of reading a book that would help them expand their vocabulary.

Reference

Sinek, S., Almahdi, N. (2013). Scholastic Editors Forecast Top 10 Trends in Children's Books for 2013. Retrieved from:http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/scholastic-editors-forecast-top-10-trends-children-books-2013

Kennedy, E. (2013). Current Trends in Children's Literature. Retrieved from: http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/readingresources/a/Current-Trends-In-Childrens-Literature.htm

Mention books: “The Cat in the Hat.” By Dr. Seuss

Little Critter Favorite Book

Children’s literature offers many different books about poetry, fiction, and nonfiction books.  All children’s books are fun for children and adults to read. One of my favorite books that I read as a child is “I was so Mad,” by Mercer Mayer. This book is for students in grades kindergarten through third grade. This book is about the little critter who is feeling angry the book shows the different situations that make the character mad. Children would love reading this book and finding out what makes the little critter mad. This book is one of my favorite because it talks about being mad. I still have all the collection of the little critter books. This author has so many fun and appropriate books for children about the little critters adventures. The little critter is the character of the story. He is a small furry animal, and he looks like a hamster. Children would enjoy reading his books about the different adventures the little critter goes through, and they would learn at the same time. Children would also enjoy reading these books because in each book the little critter would always have a frog, spider or a mouse character that tend to always follow the little critter along. I would always enjoy finding them in each page. I would really recommend this book to parents. A child would love reading these books about the little critter character, and the words are so easy for children to read. The author’s illustrations are so beautiful and make you smile and laugh on almost every page. Parents and children would enjoy reading each book from this author. I would share this book with my students, and I would read them the story, “I was so Mad.”  After reading this story, students are going to look for more books to read. I would have students do a little activity when we are finish reading the story I would have students draw a picture of what makes them mad or what makes them happy.  I would have students share their picture with the class. After finishing sharing their picture, I would go back to the book and have students look for the frog, spider or mouse character that always follow the little critter around. The little critters books have sold over one hundred and fifty million copies. Mercer Mayer has many books about the little critters that children would enjoy reading.