Nonfiction & Reference Resources for Children

Recent Trends

  • Increased Emphasis on Reading and Literacy - This has resulted in an increased demand for children's books. Authors, illustrators, and publishers can enjoy this boom, but the consumer is required to be more discriminating than ever to assure high quality purchases.

  • Specialty Books - Toy books, board books, game/book combinations, pop-up books, interactive books, etc. provide new media forms which demand special attention in library collections. Books with elaborate paper engineering such as pull-outs, pop-ups, tabs, wheels, and overlays are exceedingly popular.

  • Large Book Stores - Stores with many titles and sections, large children's sections, storytime sessions, and coffee shops. Some have even suggested that these super stores can in some ways take the place of public libraries.

  • Large Publishing Companies - Brought about by mergers and acquisitions, these large companies may well conduct business in new and innovative ways which could have positive and/or negative effects on children's literature.

  • Increased Production of Picture Books - Written for children, young adults, and adults, these lovely books are turning up in large numbers. There is some concern that the production of reading materials for the older child is waning.

  • Status of Children's Literature - Literature for children is being studied in undergraduate and graduate level programs. Literary criticism of children's works is receiving more serious consideration.

  • Use of More Trade Books in Schools as Opposed to Textbooks - The emphasis on whole language and other new trends in education have led to the increased use of many trade books in the classroom. For more on this subject see:
    Nonfiction Resources in the Classroom.

  • More Nonprint Formats - Nonprint formats have been around for some time. Some of the types most often used as nonfiction or reference resources include:

    In the last 10 to 15 years the proliferation of non print resources has led to many new issues:

    • For a list of resources used in the research of information for this web site see:
    Sources of Information & Credits

    Your comments or suggestions are welcome. Send e-mail to:
    Janice Felker at jfelker@visi.net

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