What parents do NOT want to see in books for children

On a social media site, someone asked what parents had tired of seeing in children’s books, and the response was overwhelming! Since parents are the primary book-buyers and readers of books for kids, their voices need to be heard and heeded by those of us who write for young readers.

Here’s what parents consistently dislike:

Rhyming books with no sense of rhythm or musicality

Text and illustrations created by AI

Dark pictures and dark-on-dark text

Books about eliminating body wastes

Text scattered around the page instead of moving left to right

Glittery books without interesting content

Fantasy stories with no depth of characters 

Didactic stories that lecture

Books that are hard to read aloud

Dialogue that identifies speakers at the end, instead of up front

Formulaic books that follow the same story patterns

Stereotypes i.e., boys hating school, girls loving it

Stories that bad-mouth parents, teachers, or anyone!

Books that condescend

Books with incorrect information

Books intending to be playful but only confuse a child

Stories spreading fear of wildlife or...

Stories showing wild animals as cuddly friends

Characters with disabilities who have magic powers to compensate

Stories that are boring, sarcastic, unrealistic, or weird

Stories that put-down anything from veggies to ethnic groups

Books written by celebrities who don’t really know kids

Children’s classics retold with changes in the story or characters

 

Did this list include your pet peeves? If not, feel free to add what you don't like to see in books for children in the Comments Section below this post. Thanks.

Mary Harwell Sayler, lover of kids and books for children 

 

 

 

 

Writing for the right age

Lately I’ve been noticing a trend that makes little sense: books for children that aren’t! By that I mean the intended age group has not truly been considered as shown by these common mistakes:

• Subjects that interest older readers but are too complex or multifaceted for young children

• Subjects that interest young children but are too simplistic for older readers

• Word choices that the intended age group of readers cannot read, sound out, or understand

• Vocabulary and compound sentences appropriate for older readers but that confuse or discourage younger readers

• Abstract concepts toddlers and preschoolers cannot begin to grasp

• Nostalgia pieces written for the writer with no present-day child in mind

• Bible stories that thrill older children and teens but scare little kids who first need to hear about God's love

If you have noticed similar or other trends in #kidlit, I hope you’ll comment below and let us know what concerns you have about children’s books. And, if you see something especially kid-appealing and well-done, that would be good to hear about too.

You might also welcome these previous posts:

Keeping Your #KidLit User-Friendly

Poems can put FUN back in funny

Writing Children’s Picture Books

Writing children's poems for actual kids to read

Writing Children’s Stories With No Pink Fairies or Old Fads

Writing Winner Nonfiction for Kids


©2014, Mary Harwell Sayler, poet-author of Beach Songs & Wood Chimes and an e-book for classrooms and creative kids of almost every age, the Poetry Dictionary For Children & For Fun, has helped other poets and writers for many years through critiques, manuscript evaluations, and development of poetry and children’s picture book texts. 
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