A study of microbes for five-year-olds fills a huge gap in the market
Tiny's illustrations by Emily Sutton put one in mind of Judith Kerr Photo: Emily Sutton
The Telegraph - 12 May 2014
I’ve long found it perplexing that non-fiction makes up such a small proportion of what’s published for children, especially given that so many children, especially boys, will tell you that they prefer to read fact books of one kind or another – whether about superheroes or football teams or astronomy. No one would dream of telling an adult that novels offer a better experience than history or biography. So why do we do this with children?
One explanation is that we feel evangelical about the way a good novel holds our attention and want to make sure our children experience this for themselves. We have been led down this alley by publishers, many of whom have stopped producing non-fiction altogether, arguing that now we have so many facts at our fingertips online, there is no market for this in book form.
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