Rarity of Reviews of Australian Children’s Books

I have ‘some more thoughts’ – this time, about the rarity of reviews of children’s books in mainstream media, magazines, and newspapers – the media that most people would consume or have access to. Whilst they may review books, it’s always adult books and often the very literary ones. And whilst any book coverage is awesome, I think a key area is missing – reviews of children’s books.

Now, you may ask why publications and mainstream media should cover children’s books. Well, it’s adults who buy the books for the children in their lives. So, we need to show them what is out there before they take their little readers to the library or bookstore to choose a book. This isn’t some random thought, though. It stemmed from a recent Twitter discussion with Australian children’s book creators, including Emily Gale and Nova Weetman, as well as a few others who are involved in the world of children’s literature in some way. There was a common theme throughout these discussions about the state of children’s literature in Australia – the lack of mainstream reviews. Something Emily said on Twitter/X stick with me – that reviews in mainstream media for children’s literature are rare or non-existent, and so it has fallen to book bloggers or podcasters to fill the void – Your Kid’s Next Read, my website, Sandy at Aussie Kids Books, Losang Zopa, and several other dedicated reviewers who put their heart and soul into promoting children’s books. But this doesn’t always reach the mainstream – not everyone listens to podcasts or reads blogs and they may not look at other book related media. They may only get their book news from mainstream media, and this is where there is a void that needs to be filled.

Whilst people like Clare Millar at the Big Issue aims to include reviews of children’s books, and Good Reading Magazine has pages for children’s books, these are also a bit niche – I have to subscribe to Good Reading, and I’ve only ever seen The Big Issue for sale in capital cities. ArtsHub also reviews middle grade and young adult books from time to time, but again, this is a niche publication that not many people know about, and that deservedly also should be getting more attention than I feel it does. There’s also Books and Publishing, but often a subscription is needed for this, and it’s a very industry-related publication as well. So, the industry publications are doing a brilliant job. I think the people and publications that try are great, but like Emily and Nova and many who contributed to our conversation, I would like to see more – and not just coverage of the popular authors or overseas authors. I want to see coverage of Australian authors, of the books that don’t have a big name behind them or aren’t by a celebrity, who will be bought mostly on name recognition. As a reader, the books that do not fit into the celebrity farty category are not really the ones that speak to me. I will always reach for something like Alice-Miranda, Kate Gordon, Emily Gale, or several other authors whose books have something special about them – something that is relatable but also takes readers away to a new place. When it comes to reviews, these are the books and authors who often rely on book reviewers like me and those mentioned above to give their books the time and attention they need. They are books that I have rarely seen in mainstream media.

I was only able to access a few publications online, and there was an article that triggered our discussion in the Saturday Paper – bemoaning, from what we could tell, the prevalence of fart books and presuming that this is all that is available these days. The author’s stance that we have apparently had nothing besides fart books for so long ignored the fantastic books by authors like Emily Gale, Jacqueline Harvey, Matt Cosgrove, Rory H Mather, and so many more – these are authors that deserve attention, and one of the comments in our Twitter conversation  from Emily was that the article could have had a better article, and the angle is one that I have seen crop up in other discussions with children’s authors and agree with myself. That angle could have been why are celebrity fart books given more attention? Because I walk into some stores, and these are the books that dominate the shelves (thankfully not at my local indie bookstore). They may be popular with some readers but to assume it is all that is out there, or the only books children read is, I think, wrong. There have always been those books that are popular around. If the article was hinting that books have gone downhill in the last twenty years, that didn’t feel like a great angle. Books haven’t gone downhill – there are lots of wonderful ones out there. What has changed is how they are promoted and who is given the attention – often not the books that have something special behind them. When I went to reference this article, it has now been hidden behind a paywall.

And this is why I love seeing the book reviewers and the few publications I was able to access online feature a range of children’s literature, because they seem to go beyond what people always see. Paid or not, we work hard to promote children’s books, and go beyond the farty books. Beyond the celebrity authored books. I have even scoured my local community paper and there’s barely any reviews of children’s books. My community news has covered Book Week 2022 and a book launch of a middle grade book – Being Jimmy Baxter – and scouring their website, I have seen nothing since the July book launch for Jimmy – and I would be very happy to offer my services to write books reviews and about local authors in the children’s literature area for them. New magazine, Coasties Magazine has a great start with a book directory for my local area – I would love to see them do more, and use local writers to help out here. Seeing more reviews in mainstream media that more people access would help show that children’s books are important and diverse, and they are worthy of attention just as much as adult books.

Publishing more reviews in mainstream media won’t take away from books for adults or international authors. In fact, our media should be supporting Australian authors, and I know many of the publications I have do. And we can do both. I do – I focus on Australian books and children’s books but have a mix of fiction and non-fiction, and some adult books as well. It’s not an either or, and there are many people out there who could help mainstream media fill the void to write about children’s literature on a regular basis.