TGIF is a meme hosted weekly at GReads! that allows bloggers to answer a book-related question and to recap their reading week!
Question
Bookish Trends: What are some bookish trends you are noticing in the literature world today? Is there a particular trend you’d like to see more of?
Answer
The young adult market is currently experiencing a plethora of paranormal romances focused on vampires, angels, and mermaids–though the mermaid trend seems to have been short-lived. Dystopian works are also popular and retold fairy tales seem to be experiencing a surge in popularity, though I’m not sure if I can really say they’re “trending” since they’ve been a staple on the shelves for years. Stories based around myths tend to be more prevalent in the middle-grade market (Rick Riordan comes to mind), but some young adult authors show inspiration from mythology, as well. Love triangles are prevalent across all genres, presumably because of the success of Twilight.
It seems a bit pointless to say I’d like to see more of a trend since the word itself implies the presence of numerous such books already on the market. However, I never grow tired of retold fairy tales and would happily read them for the rest of my life. Retellings of “Cinderella,” “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Sleeping Beauty” seem to make up the bulk of the genre right now, but authors have an entire mine of lesser-known tales that they can tap to find new inspiration. I’d love to see a retelling of an obscure story help bring the original to the attention of the public.
If I could start a trend, I’d see more middle grade books with stronger parental figures. I assume authors find it easier to make their protagonists orphans or else to have the parents conveniently kidnapped or somehow removed since otherwise the parents should be keeping their children out of the type of trouble that makes interesting plots. (In fact, the children might have to lie to their parents or exhibit some other unsavory behavior in order to go on any adventures.) However, I find the lack of responsible guardians generally disturbing. Books such as Anne of Green Gables demonstrate that children will cause mischief no matter who is watching them. Books such as Gregor the Overlander illustrate that adventure can happen to someone doing something as innocent as laundry. There really is no reason creative authors cannot have their child protagonists experience danger and have a strong parental figure.
Week Recap
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Top Ten Tuesday
Wither by Laudren DeStefano
Princess Penny by Michael Mullin (Saturday)
And check out our Tolkien Reading Day event beginning today!
Pages Unbound | Book Reviews & Discussions 
I like that idea. Retold fairy tales. Those are fascinating. And oh, Anne of Green Gables, that brings me back to some good times. Loved those ebooks and movies. Thanks for stopping by.
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Anne of Green Gables is one of those childhood books that grows with you. Every time I read it, I love it even more. And Megan Follows completely became Anne for me. I didn’t know it could be done!
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I love your take on this – and yes, I too would love to see more books where the parents make a strong family unit.
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I don’t want to sound too pessimistic because I have seen a few books that have cleverly gotten around the missing parent element. 100 Cupboards has the protagonist spend time with his caring aunt and uncle while Gregor the Overland makes it clear that Gregor’s mother cares about him, but must be absent a lot because she’s trying to feed her family. In both cases, the protagonist got into trouble, but he ultimately had someone who cared for him and who could try to help. However, the bulk of middle grade books don’t seem overly concerned with portraying whole families.
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What a great answer! I think there were many discussions about Adult Urban Fantasy and how “Rape is the New Dead Parents” which is quite disturbing as it is, but in Young Adult novels I can’t help but hope that there’ll be more authors who won’t take the easy way out anymore.
I know that in some stories it’s necessary to have crappy or dead parents/legal guardians, because the protagonists’ personalities depend on that, but there are many stories where I don’t see the point except to, as you’ve said, make the protagonists be able to do what they have to without being “bad role models”.
Patricia // My FF
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I hadn’t heard that before, but I don’t read adult urban fantasy. I can definitely believe it, though.
There are definitely some stories where the whole premise lies on the fact that the protagonist has no parents. I have no objections to them. I do think, however, that the genre as a whole could make an effort to come up with clever ways to include guardians who aren’t neglectful, abusive, or just plain irresponsible. So often children’s stories make it seem as if adults can’t do anything right and it’s up to the children to take care of them. I’d like to see the other side of the picture. Or at least see a book where an adult tried to do the right thing, even if it didn’t work out.
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I totally agree. I would love to see more books with a great set of parents and a family unit that can handle adversity and stick together. With a little family banter mixed in. 🙂
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Yes! While I know that books may be reflecting the lives of many children who live with broken families or with neglectful ones, I do think it is important to show that families can be whole, loving, and caring–even if not traditional.
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Also it would be nice for kids to have a good example to follow.
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That’s very true. Sometimes I think that we’re so concerned with giving readers characters with whom they can relate that we forget we should also be giving them characters whom they can emulate. I find it strange that, at a time when we see so much concern over the morality of books and how they might be affecting young readers, that we’ve forgotten the characters themselves are often one of the most compelling components of the story–and thus among the most likely factors that will influence children. Why aren’t we more focused on providing good role models?
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I love fairy tale retellings! It’s always fun to see people’s different interpretations/spins on the story.
Alison at The Cheap Reader
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I don’t care how many times a tale has been retold. I always like to see what the author has done with it. It gives me a new way to look at the story.
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Yeah, in some of these YA books I do find myself asking “where are the parents?” – especially if it’s not a dystopian/post-apocalyptic setting and more of a contemporary setting. It would be nice to see more strong parental figures, but at the same time, it’s nice to see YA protags on their own, as individual beings apart from their parents. I guess you could say I’m a bit split on that one. :3
Thanks for visiting my TGIF this week!
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I guess I’ve never felt that young adults or even children aren’t individuals simply because they’re close to their parents. In fact, they’re probably more likely to imitate their siblings or their peers than they are their parents. Plus, young adults are typically in that stage where they don’t want to be attached to the people who raised them. They’re exploring and questioning their world already, and, should they have a serious question, they often go to their friends for the answers. So I think it’s completely plausible to have a story with caring, concerned parents and still have the child protagonist feel the need to do their own thing.
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There really are a lot of retellings right now, aren’t there? While I do enjoy them, a little variety on the market is always a good thing!
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I appreciate variety, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to pick up a book and know exactly where it’s going. Plus, it’s easy to put a spin on retellings–simply choose a lesser-known tale!
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