Well, the books do, anyway.  According to an article on Publisher’s Weekly, sales for children’s books (YA included) were up in the month of December.  Also according to the article, it’s proving to be one of the most recession-proof markets in the industry.  Yay!  Kids is reding!

But seriously, why do you think that is?  What is it about children’s books that makes that corner of the market push through a more broadly slumping industry?  What I got from this article was that is was parents that were buying the books.  Or at least adults (I’m assuming).  Could it be the Christmas switch from frivolous toys to more practical and useful books during a tough economic time?  Are the prices better on books as stocking stuffers than anything else?

I think it could be a number of things like the staying power that books have, not to mention the ability to reuse them (how often do toys break? how often do books break? plus you don’t swear up a storm when you step on a book).  Toys can be too easily fads.  What’s cool one day won’t be cool the next and they end up discarded in the toy chest (or under the parents’ foot).  Sure, books can be fads too but it’ll always be a good read no matter when it’s read if you liked it to begin with.

Perhaps it has a lot to do with the economy and the want to shift from unneeded things to something more worthwhile, not to mention books are still one of the cheapest forms of entertainment.  Or, perhaps, more and more parents are realizing the need to push reading more in children.

Whatever it is, I hope it sticks around because rising numbers in children’s literature sales means to much more than revenue.