With lives dominated by screens, scrolling and expectations of instant gratification, what does it take to persuade a child who is part of Generation Alpha to pick up and read a book in 2024?
Generation Alpha is the demographic cohort of people born between 2010 and 2025. People born in this technology-fuelled period are said to have a shorter attention span than millennials, which means they present a unique challenge for publishers. Creating a book this digital-first generation won’t want to put down requires special storytelling skills.
With National Book Lovers Day rapidly approaching (9 August), we asked some of the authors and illustrators of the titles shortlisted for The Week Junior 2024 Book Awards to provide their tips on creating books that truly captivate young readers.
This shortlist includes Julia Donaldson, Dav Pilkey, and Jamie Smart, who, according to Nielsen BookScan 2024, were among the best-selling children’s authors for the first half of this year.
The winners of the awards, run in collaboration with The Bookseller and partners WHSmith, World Book Day, and LoveReading4Kids, will be announced at a ceremony in London on 30 September.
What does it take for Generation Alpha to read a book?
Katherine Rundell, author of Impossible Creatures: I think the crucial thing for a children’s writer is to salute children’s enormous intelligence, their depth of understanding, and their capacity for love. I hated, as a child, to be condescended to.
Naomi Jones, author of Thunderboots: Spend time with kids, observe how they view the world and remember how it felt to be a child where anything felt possible. I also always keep a notebook to jot down ideas in.
Carrie Sellon, author of Pizza Pete and the Perilous Potions: Write comedy. Funny books are a welcome escape from the chaos of the world and can help children navigate difficult times. They have the power to hook reluctant readers and can be a good way to approach serious issues.
Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records 2024: As a non-fiction editor and writer, I find the best way of engaging kids’ brains is to provide relevant comparisons and frames of reference. For example, the all-time heaviest man weighed the same as 16 average 12-year-old boys!
The average 12-year-old has 60,000 miles of blood vessels and capillaries – enough to wrap around the world two and a half times. The smallest sculpture of a toilet can fit into a single capillary!
Harry Woodgate, illustrator, How to Spaghettify Your Dog: My personal view on how to capture children’s imaginations today is: don’t just write—illustrate. Pictures and words together create magic: They build enthralling, exciting, fantastical worlds; they aid comprehension and build visual literacy; and they have the capacity to engage a wider range of readers than text alone.
Secondly, try to create from a place of critical hope. Acknowledge the many issues young people face today, not with didacticism or despondency but with compassion, reflection, and praxis. The best children’s books are those that remind us of our own agency, potential, and capacity for wonder—regardless of age.
Sital Gorasia Chapman, author of The Bedtime Boat: Think back to when you were a child and remember how you viewed the world. I’m lucky I have three kids, so I watch how they play and interact. I listen to their conversations and the questions they ask—and the sometimes hilarious answers they give each other! I’ve written many stories that have been inspired by a question my daughter has asked me.
Jonathan Emmett, co-author of The Tyrannsaur’s Feathers: Work out which areas of interest both you and the children you know are enthusiastic about and write about them. That way, you’ll be engaged as a writer, and children will be engaged as readers.
Christopher Mackie, author of Cloudlanders: My biggest tip would be to write something you would have loved reading as a child. Don’t go chasing after what’s popular or ‘in’ right now because by the time you finish your story and are looking to get it published, chances are it won’t be trending anymore!
If you have an idea you’re excited about if you lie in bed thinking about it and can’t get it out of your mind, then chances are someone else will find it exciting, too, so get it written down somewhere!
Jeffrey Boakye, author of Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer: Moments of Wonder, need to be caught and held. That’s what books can do. When I create stories, I like to craft scenes where the characters are experiencing wonder in real time because I feel like this translates to the reader. Often, I feel a sense of magic, too, and I try to use my words to bring this feeling to life.
Davina Tijani, author of Yomi and the Fury of Ninki Nanka: There is inspiration everywhere! Look for inspiration from movies, video games, board games, TV shows, comics, graphic novels, poetry, short stories, anime, manga, audio dramas, and plays; the list goes on and on.
Children respond to immersiveness, creativity, and things that spark their curiosity and, ultimately, their imagination. There is so much ingenuity around us, so leaning into these mediums will inspire us in our creative efforts to capture children’s fascination.
Luke Newell, author and co-illustrator of Noodle Juice Rhinoceros Can’t Draw, But You Can!: To capture anyone’s imagination, I think humour is the key to the door… slip your ideas, thoughts, feelings or facts ‘under the radar’… humour disarms and delights. CARTOONS! I sometimes wonder if cartoons, conceptually, are a victim of their own success! Understated, concise, aesthetically ‘modest’, simple at a glance…. this, of course, is their power.
A trojan horse for ideas! I think a well-crafted cartoon beats a 56-episode box set any day. Even if the subject matter is ‘not funny,’ the fundamental template of humour, the re-framing of something anew… ‘this plus this equals this!’ is an express ticket to the middle of someone’s mind.
Again, as above look at, experience WHAT and HOW children are consuming language and stories elsewhere. Linear TV isn’t a thing for them, really. Roblox, YouTube, like it or not TikTok… There’s a lot of DROSS, but same as it ever was eh? Sift out and find what’s engaging them there. We are all swimming in the same river.
Colm Field, author of Kyan Green and the Infinity Racers: I can remember not liking the kids who were perfect in books, like the writer was getting all preachy. The best thing for me was always a child who felt genuinely real, being flung out of this world.
David Wilkerson, illustrator of Kyan Green and the Infinity Racers: Writing the story from the characters’ point of view without any author intrusion. Readers tend to become more invested in the story when they feel like they’re alongside the characters in real-time.
Nazzy Pakpour, author of Please Don’t Bite Me: Insects that Buzz, Bite and Sting: My tip would be to write to your audience’s curiosity because before we can imagine things, we first have to be curious about them.
Jenny McLachlan, author of Stink: Fairy vs Boy: I have a little saying that I try to keep in my mind when I write: give them what they want. I try to remember that my job is to write books children WANT to read, not to write the books adults think they SHOULD read. That’s my starting point, and then I let my imagination run wild.
Owen Davey, author and illustrator of Can I come too?: Reading a book can at once be a deeply personal and fundamentally connecting experience. Your imagination can build beyond the pages whilst your thoughts and feelings can be reflected or validated by the text and imagery you take in.
Rachel Greener, author of Growing Up: An Inclusive Guide to Puberty and Your Changing Body: I mostly write nonfiction for children, so I always consider what I would have wanted to know about a subject as a child. Learning should be an empowering experience, so I try to be as honest as possible with my readers while also inspiring awe and wonder. After all, knowledge is power!
Hannah Gold, author of Finding Bear: I always try to follow my heart because what I’m feeling is often the same as what other people are feeling. Connecting with readers on a deeper level and engaging emotions is quite often the best way to leave a deep and profound impact.
Alex Bellos, co-author of The Football School Encyclopedia: Choose something that kids are interested in – like football – and use it as a springboard. There’s nothing about the world you can’t explain through football – from science to history and from philosophy to zoology. That’s the idea behind Football School.
Ben Lyttleton, co-author of The Football School Encyclopedia: Children have a great sense of humour, so anything that makes them laugh is an excellent way to capture their attention. They also love certain things with a passion, and if you can tap into those things that they care deeply about—whether it’s magic, dolphins, football, or magical dolphins that play football—you will be rewarded with a wonderful response.
Spike Gerrell, illustrator of The Football School Encyclopedia: Be yourself, be genuine, be open.
Chaaya Prabhat, illustrator of Animal Tales from India: Ten Stories from the Panchatantra: As an illustrator, I’ve realised it really helps to think like a child when illustrating a book—they notice every little detail on the page and the things happening in the background. If it is at all possible to add humour to a page through illustration, I’m always happy to because children love it.
A. M. Dassu, author of Kicked Out: Make it feel as real as possible. I do this by doing lots of research and speaking to the people my books are based on, such as refugees and teenagers. I also get lots of feedback from readers. Most of all, don’t hold back and don’t shy away from challenging subjects; children love an honest story they can connect to.
I know this because people often tell me my longest novels have turned children who don’t like reading into readers! It’s all about rooting for a character who faces the biggest struggles and leaving the reader feeling empowered at the end!
Harriet Lynas, illustrator of Welcome to Our Table: A Celebration of What Children Eat Everywhere: Embrace silliness and quirky characters!
Louie Stowell, author of Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Ruling the World: Write without the brakes on. Write for children as equals. Write what makes you feel like you’re getting away with something.
Dave Shelton, author of Monster in the Woods: Trust your audience. Don’t spell everything out. Leave some space for the reader to exercise their imagination in. Kids are smart; don’t treat them otherwise.
Pedro Martín, author of Mexikid: Kids don’t react well to a formula. You need to be as honest as you can when you’re writing for kids. If it’s true to you, it’s true to them.
Philip Reeve, co-author of Adventuremice: Otter Chaos: All you can do is write something that captures your imagination and hopes it captures other people’s, too. And if you write with a friend, as I do with Sarah McIntyre, that doubles your chances, I think!
Sarah Soh, author and illustrator of Juniper Mae: Knight of Tykotech City: Children’s books have such a lasting impression that can stay with you for a lifetime. So take the opportunity to write stories that you would’ve wanted to read as a child.
Launched in 2023, The Week Junior Book Awards were created to celebrate children’s books and honour creative excellence within the industry. The shortlisted books will be shared directly with the award-winning news magazine’s eight to 14-year-old readers and their families via a 12-week promotional campaign.
Retail partner WHSmith is offering the magazine’s readers a voucher for 20% off all Children’s books (excluding education) bought in-store and online this summer.