Much has been said about young people’s unprecedented mental health crisis, particularly over the past two years, and for a good reason. Youngminds.org.uk report that “1 in 6 children aged five to sixteen have a diagnosable mental health problem, ” making up five children in every classroom. It is a poignant figure and one that has risen drastically over the past five years, from 1 in 9 in 2017. Whilst more young people are receiving support, an ever-increasing number are seeking it: the demand outweighs supply.
Enter, then, the latest publishing trend in children’s literature. Children’s books on mental health, emotional well-being and mindfulness are not new, but they have experienced rapid growth across all age brackets over the past few years. The trend is in line with massively increased demand, of which children’s publishers Magic Cat Publishing reported an almost 40% rise since 2021 in sales of books addressing mental health issues for under 10s.
The rise of reported mental health issues amongst young people makes such topics in children’s storytelling more approachable and more necessary than ever. Literature plays an important part in developing more open conversations regarding mental health; for children, this is no less important than for adults. Communicating these themes effectively in children’s literature is, of course, approached differently when the target audience is adults, and for literature directed at younger children, in particular, portraying abstract topics can be challenging.
Whilst some books, such as ‘The Worrysaurus’ by Rachel Bright, depict worries or anxieties metaphorically or as unseen to express their intangibility, others, such as ‘Ruby’s Worry’ by Tom Percival, give them physical form, either in text or illustration, which makes abstract concepts easier to visualise and understand for younger readers. Both books, released in 2019 and 2018, respectively, have been well received by critics and consumers alike, with Percival continuing to write on the theme with the series ‘Big Bright Feelings’, each presenting a child dealing with a complicated emotion.
Animals and fantastical beings anthropomorphised as universally applicable characters are another popular way authors broach the difficult subject matter, as demonstrated in books including ‘The Crocodile Who Didn’t Like Water’ by Gemma Merino and ‘The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions’ by Anna Llenas. This can be seen as a way in which empathy and understanding can be encouraged from young readers whilst not sacrificing the fun or humour that appeals to them on the most basic level within the books.
The way mental well-being is being approached is changing, moving away from more abstract representations of positive and negative feelings to becoming more direct in their presentations of specific mental health issues, whether in a child or parent, such as depression, anxiety, or personality disorders.
But what effect do these books have on children? To what extent are they beneficial, or how much of the ‘trend’ is purely commercial? To speak of a ‘boom’ or ‘trend’ suggests a level of jumping on the bandwagon that, from a commercial point of view, appears to be more sales-minded than genuinely concerned with children’s wellbeing. However, the need for additional support and funding for children’s mental health services has been well-publicised, and all the statistics published indicate that more and more children need these provisions. For younger children especially, if awareness of emotional well-being can be gleaned from books and storytelling, that is surely a positive, particularly when studies show that even the youngest children’s emotional development was stunted due to lockdowns. Whilst no solution for the lack of formal support, books are a powerful tool that can perhaps support the development of emotional awareness and resilience.
Whilst this may be true, there also exists concern from some booksellers that many of these books appeal more to parents than they do to children. According to Rachel Robson, children’s book specialist at Gleebooks, this is evident around Christmas. Last year, many of the bestsellers were “heavy tomes, guides to child wellbeing”, which were not reflective of what children normally chose for themselves. This explains the increased demand as reflected in book sales but says less as to the validity of their presumed positive impact. For parents, such books offer potential openings to conversations they might otherwise find difficult. However, what children are drawn to when choosing books for themselves has not fundamentally changed. According to booksellers interviewed by The Guardian, humour, appealing characters and fun storylines remain priorities, especially for younger age groups.
The belief and hope amongst those in the industry seem to be that, in such a densely saturated market, books which can combine positive messages whilst not losing sight of the priorities of their target market will hold up over time and constitute a small part of much-needed improvements to the emphasis placed on improving and ensuring children’s mental health.
Image Credit: “Children reading on the couch” by San José Public Libary is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0