Kids’ books make great story
Melbourne booksellers are capitalising on a boom in children books, with a new speciality bookshop opening this month.
Readings Kids store in Carlton joins The Younger Sun in Yarraville and The Little Bookroom in Carlton in catering solely for young readers.
“We opened our Kids shop for three reasons: children’s books are the big growth area in publishing; we want to help kids connect with stories and reading — these are fundamental to a fulfilling life — and we’d our outgrown the space in the Carlton shop,” Readings managing director Mark Rubbo said.
“We’re so excited about how lovely it looks and how we’ll be able to even better connect kids with books and authors.”
Australian Booksellers Association chief executive officer Joel Becker said kids’ books, as a category, had soared to more than 30 per cent of overall book sales, up from 23-25 per cent five years ago.
“It’s not just Andy Griffiths and JK Rowling influencing sales in kids’ books, or the latest fantasy series; Australia has some of the world’s best kids’ book illustrators such as Graeme Base, Aaron Blabey and children’s laureate Leigh Hobbs; as well as fantastic children’s and YA fiction writers,” Becker said.
He said bookshops were increasingly devoting space to kids’ books and Readings had gone one step further by opening a specialist kids’ bookshop.
“It’s important to remember there are babies being born every day who turn into young readers — hence the ongoing success of books like Possum Magic and Alison Lester’s Magic Beach. These timeless classics just keep selling,” Mr Becker said.
The new vitality in the book industry comes five years after bookselling chain Borders closed its last nine stores in Australia.
At that time Labor’s then small business minister Nick Sherry said bricks-and-mortar bookstores would cease to exist by 2016 because of e-books and online bookstores.
But bookstores have defied his prediction, with new stores opening in Richmond (Avenue Bookstore), Chadstone (Dymocks) and Westfield Doncaster (Readings).
Mr Becker said parents can get ABA’s new Kids’ Reading Guide from November 1 in participating stores or at kidsreadingguide.com.au