What do you suppose is at the heart of the dearth of middle school and YA publication? Is it, I wonder, related to how digital the world is becoming, especially for kids? Do they ever read anything these days? What if the Harry Potter series were just appearing? Do they listen to audiobooks?
What do you suppose is at the heart of the dearth of middle school and YA publication? Is it, I wonder, related to how digital the world is becoming, especially for kids? Do they ever read anything these days? What if the Harry Potter series were just appearing? Do they listen to audiobooks?
I think it's a lot of things: the industry became very insular, with editors publishing books that have a passionate fan base (20-30-something women) but narrow overall appeal, especially to actual kids and teens (IMHO); a collapse in attention spans and "time" due to media devices and social media; a collapse in book media, except TikTok; and too many books in general being published.
I was pondering the same question! WhatтАЩs telling to me is that the publisher did say that a graphic novel would sell. It makes me wonder if itтАЩs a consequence of attenuated attention spans in Gen Alpha as the result of digital overstimulation (though other generations arenтАЩt exempt from that consequence of our always-online world as well)! ThatтАЩs my theory, but I could be off-base and am also curious as to what potential explanations could be.
I think that is a huge part of it, yes. Every teacher I know says that kids simply are less able to read and comprehend what they read. We've become a visual society.
I wonder if the loss of reading comprehension could be mainly due to the lack of uninterrupted time to concentrate on anything. Our devices seem to maximize distractability, with their constant pinging notifications and their temptations to multitask.
What do you suppose is at the heart of the dearth of middle school and YA publication? Is it, I wonder, related to how digital the world is becoming, especially for kids? Do they ever read anything these days? What if the Harry Potter series were just appearing? Do they listen to audiobooks?
I think it's a lot of things: the industry became very insular, with editors publishing books that have a passionate fan base (20-30-something women) but narrow overall appeal, especially to actual kids and teens (IMHO); a collapse in attention spans and "time" due to media devices and social media; a collapse in book media, except TikTok; and too many books in general being published.
"... too many books in general being published." Truer words were never spoke.
I was pondering the same question! WhatтАЩs telling to me is that the publisher did say that a graphic novel would sell. It makes me wonder if itтАЩs a consequence of attenuated attention spans in Gen Alpha as the result of digital overstimulation (though other generations arenтАЩt exempt from that consequence of our always-online world as well)! ThatтАЩs my theory, but I could be off-base and am also curious as to what potential explanations could be.
I think that is a huge part of it, yes. Every teacher I know says that kids simply are less able to read and comprehend what they read. We've become a visual society.
I wonder if the loss of reading comprehension could be mainly due to the lack of uninterrupted time to concentrate on anything. Our devices seem to maximize distractability, with their constant pinging notifications and their temptations to multitask.
This is why I love my kindle paperwhite with no internet connection. I think any time you are "online," you attention is scattered.