Today Scholastic, the leading publisher and distributor of children’s books, released its list of top ten trends in children’s books for 2010, put together by its editors and literature experts.

     So what was hot this year? According to Judy Newman, President of Scholastic Book Clubs, the answer is a great story told differently. “We’ve seen some exciting innovation in children’s publishing in 2010, including new formats and platforms for storytelling that are helping more and more kids become book lovers. At the same time, we’re seeing a rejuvenation of some classic genres, which I think is evidence of the timeless power that stories and characters have on the lives of children.”

     Here’s Scholastic’s list:

     1 ) The expanding Young Adult (YA) audience: More and more adults are reading YA books, as the audience for these stories expands.

     2 ) The year of dystopian fiction: With best-selling series like The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner, readers can’t seem to get enough of fiction that suggests the future may be worse than the present.

     3 ) Mythology-based fantasy: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series set the trend – and now series like The Kane Chronicles, Lost Heroes of Olympus and Goddess Girls are capitalizing.

     4 ) Multimedia series: The 39 Clues, Skeleton Creek and The Search for WondLa are hooking readers with stories that go beyond the printed page and meet kids where they are online or via video.

     5 ) A focus on popular characters – from all media: Kids love to read books about characters they know and recognize from books, movies and television shows. Titles centered around those popular characters (like Fancy Nancy, David Shannon’s “David,” or Toy Story characters) are top sellers.

     6 ) The shift in picture books: Publishers are publishing about 25 to 30 percent fewer picture book titles than they used to as some parents want their kids to read more challenging books at younger ages. The new trend is leading to popular picture book characters such as Pinkalicious, Splat Cat and Brown Bear, Brown Bear showing up in Beginning Reader books.

     7 ) The return to humor: Given the effects of the recession on families, it is nice to see a rise in the humor category, fueled by the success of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Dav Pilkey’s The Adventures of Ook & Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, and popular media characters like SpongeBob, and Phineas & Ferb.

     8 ) The rise of the diary and journal format: The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is the most well-know example of this trend, but the success of Wimpy Kid is leading to popular titles such as Dear Dumb Diary, Dork Diaries, The Popularity Papers, and Big Nate.

     9 ) Special-needs protagonists: There is a growing body of literary fiction with main characters who have special needs, particularly Aspergers Syndrome and Autism. Examples: My Brother Charlie, Marcelo in the Real World, Mockingbird, and Rules.

     10 ) Paranormal romance beyond vampires: The success of titles like Linger and Linger, Beautiful Creatures, Immortal, and Prophesy of the Sisters shows this genre is still uber-popular and continues to expand.

 

     When you get your first award for writing or illustrating, it’s a big deal. A very big deal. A mega big deal. So you can imagine how proud I am that my daughter won her first book award!

     Antonia took second place in the 2010 Wisconsin Association of School Boards’ Write and Illustrate Your Own Picture Book Contest! Her awesome creation, The Mummy Comes Moaning, was judged one of the best among 342 entries state-wide. She competed in the 4th & 5th grade division. Along with a certificate of commendation and a cash award, her book will travel the state to be displayed at the WASB Fall Regional Meetings and the State Education Convention held in Milwaukee in January of 2011.

     Toni put so much thought and time into her project. She had to meet strict requirements and deadlines. She created her book from scratch, hand-binding it herself. She wrote and rewrote her story. She sketched and painted and added various media to creatively illustrate each scene. She devoted many evening and weekend hours to turn in the best book she could. In the end, it was a masterpiece, and she’s incredibly proud to see that work rewarded.

     My husband, Jeff, and I couldn’t be happier for her. Congrats to you, Toni! Well done!

     Children’s and young adult books have been a bright spot for publishing even through the recession, showing growth where other categories have floundered. Naturally, publishers want their customers to enthusiastically buy their products. To do that, the publishers need to know what their customers want.

     A new survey put out by TeenReads and The Book Report Network says teens respondents (who turned out to be overwhelmingly female) are most drawn to series fiction, especially in the romance and fantasy genres. The vampire-lovers out there are smiling so widely their canines are showing. Next comes adventure and mysteries/suspense/thrillers.

     The survey reached out to many geographic areas and populations. The results of the survey are nicely broken down and displayed at Publisher’s Weekly here. It’s good news if, like me, you’re writing a fantasy novel. And it’s great news for the industry and book-lovers everywhere when children’s books are selling well.

     I’ve finished rewriting an earlier manuscript that needed work, and it’s now at the stage of being reviewed by test readers. That’s a bit unnerving because you never know how people will view your work, but it’s also really useful and kind of fun to see their take on certain scenes and twists of plot. Test readers have fresh eyes that, let’s face it, authors lack, as they’ve been living with the project forever.

     I’ve got a simple method. I ask readers to write along the margins whatever pops into their head. If a section made them smile, I ask them to draw a smiley face. If they didn’t understand, put a question mark or ask a question. If a section’s boring, say so! If the readers are simply gripped by the amazing awesomeness of the story, well, congratulations are in order. Yay, me! 🙂 No matter how the comments go, I need honesty here. I need to know what works. So far, my test readers have been great at telling me like it is, which is exactly what I need!

     I found an interesting article about test readers here at the American Book Publishing site. Enjoy, and thanks to all you test readers out there who make good books better!