Are We Living In A Golden-Age of Children's Literature?

At around 1.15pm on the 12th of December, I was in a McDonald’s with my son. He had a double cheeseburger meal, six nuggets and a chocolate milkshake. I, however, had nothing at all because I did what I always do and began to pick my way through my son’s food. What can I say? I’m a dad. Now, you may be asking yourself if I have some kind of memory superpower to be able to recall, in such detail, what we ordered nearly two months ago. But I’m afraid that I’m going to have to disappoint you because I don’t. No, the reason I remember it all so clearly is because at about 1.17pm, just as my son started to yell at me to stop stealing his chips, I received a phone call from a slightly flustered Radio 4 producer. She had called to ask if I was available to go on the PM show, that very afternoon, and talk about children’s books. I immediately said “yes”, not only because I love the sound of my own voice but because Evan Davis has been something of a hero of mine ever since the first giddy series of Dragon’s Den (the photo above is one I took of Evan’s back). But I digress. The reason the producer wanted me on the show, and not the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Leader of the Opposition, was because the 12th of December was election day. And the one thing the PM show is not allowed to talk about on election day is the election. Instead, for one glorious afternoon, the PM show was to be made up of questions posed by the listening public and one of the questions was, “are we living in a golden age of children’s literature?”

Now the answer to this might seem to be easy-peasy-cheesy-kneesies. 

“Of course were living in golden age of children’s literature, Matt, you stupid great clod,” I hear you cry. “Sales are up aren’t they? The children’s book market is growing, isn’t it? Kids’ books now make up one out of every three books sold or something like that, don’t they?”

Well, yes, you are right about those excellent points but do sales alone make it a “golden age”? And what exactly is a “golden age” anyway? 

Well, the more I thought about it the more I thought that we are NOT living in a golden age of children’s literature. A silver one, definitely, but not a golden one. 

I think a golden age of children’s literature would better reflect the incredible diversity of this glorious planet we call home. And before you start to smash your computer screen or throw your phone down the nearest toilet whilst screaming “BUT REPRESENTATION IN KIDS’ BOOKS IS GETTING A LOT BETTER, YOU MIDDLE-AGED, MIDDLE CLASS, WHITE MALE BAG OF HORSE PLOPS”. Then I am about to stat you to the MAX! 

A report in 2018 found that only 4% of kids’ books (published in 2017) featured BAME characters and just 1% had a BAME lead. The same imbalance seems true of gender too. In a 2017 study it was found that only 23% of the lead characters in children’s books were female. And whilst 31% of the books had all male characters, only 6% had an all female cast. And then there are the stories of middle-grade books being pulled from shelves for having LGBTQ characters. Remember, these reports and stories all come from the last three years but don’t just take my word for it. Go and have a look at the bookshelves in your kid’s room, or their school library, or your local bookshop.

Now, I know that this lack of representation isn’t confined to the world of children’s books. We live in a society that isn’t fair and if you say it ain’t so then have a read of the fantastic, eye-opening book, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge. But I think that all kids have a right to see their lives reflected in the books they read and when they do then maybe, just maybe, we’ll have ourselves that golden age of children’s literature.

If you’d like to listen then this is me on Radio 4 when no one was allowed to talk about politics. It was a glimpse into a beautiful world.