Don’t let nostalgia cloud your judgement: Some of the best comic books are actually the newest | culture

TThe 1980s were a great time to write a classic Australian picture book. From the magic of opossums and animals to who sank the boat? There was a huge appetite to see Australia represented for children in a way that had not been done before. Like everyone my age, I grew up with these books and read them to my children.

Forty years on, these books are still beloved – no wonder they top Guardian Australia’s reader poll of the best picture books of all time. But today was created new Local classics – which are gaining increasing importance – are becoming increasingly difficult. The publishing landscape that created and fueled the success of older titles has changed, and the prospect of selling five million copies is now in itself something of a storybook. As Graeme Base said when asked what would happen if you pitched Animalia today: “It would fail – miserably, I think.”

Today’s children’s authors face challenges that their predecessors did not: the proliferation of popular authors, artificial intelligence books, diminishing shelf time, and the disappearance of school librarians. This makes getting new books into young hands a difficult task. A book that takes two years to prepare may spend two weeks in a bookstore before being shelved, facing what publishers call “death by spine.”

Another challenge is the dominance of nostalgia books: classic titles that continue to hold the top spot due largely to the emotional appeal of the person buying the book – an adult. Publishers respond by ensuring that fixed editions and anniversary editions are always available.

This can lead to the idea that ancient books are what children read today; They are of better quality and capture childhood in a way that the newer books do not. This would be a distortion. The standard of Australian children’s books remains world class – just ask any teacher librarian (if you can still find one!).

But what contemporary books do that most older titles do not is that they reflect the world and its values ​​that children currently live in. Consider that page in There’s a Hippo Cake on Our Roof Eating, where a mother struggles with her salad diet—something that is inconsistent with the self-acceptance we aim to reflect for our children today. Think of the tiger who came to tea: having a single-income family patiently waiting for the father to arrive home from work is not the reality for the majority of families.

Books that reflect diverse cultures and different family structures allow young readers to see the fullness of their community in fiction. It also nurtures a child’s natural curiosity and helps him develop greater empathy toward others. Stories like White Sunday, for example, which welcomes us into the home and culture of a Samoan family; “Come to My House,” which explores deafness and disability; and Under the Love Umbrella, which represents different family structures, including LGBTQIA+ families.

Older titles like Rainbow Serpent have been crucial to the representation of Indigenous culture over the decades, but other examples from the period are thin on the ground. Meanwhile, there are many contemporary First Nations authors—such as Curly Saunders, Greg Dries, and Trevor Fourmel—who are generously sharing their culture and stories with young readers today.

Modern children’s novels also play a unique role in helping children solve difficult social and environmental issues and creating a space for them to explore safely. My book, Room on Our Rock, is inspired by the ongoing global humanitarian refugee crisis – an issue that may be difficult for young children, but will remain a part of the world in which they grow up. Fiction allows them to build resilience and critical thinking, while allegory allows them to take what they want from the story.

Writers and illustrators want to help children connect with the world around them and see themselves in these books — but reaching a market drawn by nostalgia is an uphill battle.

To create the next generation of lifelong readers, we need to strengthen our local creative industry and encourage new, established classics of the era. Next time we go to a library, we should ask: What’s new? What do children read today? If we didn’t make more shelf space next to our older titles, we might wonder: Who sank the boat?

• Kate Temple has written over 40 children’s books including the Ben Chicken series. A Room on Our Rock, written by Kate and Jules Temple, and illustrated by Terry Rose Baynton, competes in The Australian Guardian’s poll to determine the best children’s picture book in Australia. The poll is open for voting until Thursday morning, with the winner to be announced on Friday