Contemporary Children's Literature Topics
- One the themes in children's literature that can be found with increasing frequency is multiculturalism. Children become aware of racial stereotypes at a relatively early age. As a result, many classrooms are incorporating stories that deal with multiculturalism as part of their curriculum. These books not only cover issues of prejudice, but they also tend to have protagonists who see themselves as "the other," portraying how they learned to accept both themselves and people who are not like them.
- Stories about children with same-sex parents can be found on bookshelves, unlike several decades ago. Often, these stories are meant to help prevent a child with gay parents from feeling alienated. They show the reader that there are other children who have two mothers or two fathers. Gay characters can also be found more often in children's literature, sometimes in familiar fairy tale formats, but with two people of the same sex.
- Children's literature has become bolder in approaching difficult historical concepts, such as slavery. The children read narratives that help bring to light the conditions of slavery and the context it occurred in. This often occurs as part of a classroom curriculum in which teachers build a lesson around it and are ready to answer the questions young children may have. The increasing presence of children's books about slavery exhibits publishers' willingness to approach subjects previously thought to be taboo for young readers.
- Children's literature continues to be a means of education for young readers. Stories are given by parents, teachers and religious institutions that reflect the themes that they hope the child will develop themselves. Many children stories end with a moral, teaching them how to properly socialize and interact in the world. For this type of children's literature, it is often equally or more important that the story promote good behavior, healthy decisions or a faith in a particular religion, rather than be entertaining.