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Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

psyche.co

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Re: Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

#11

Post by mdorazio »

hhggfdss wrote: post #9
giantg2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I was trying to think of what a suburban story would look like. The cities have things like museums or the zoo. The country has natural things to explore. The suburbs are basically a bunch of houses with yards - not a lot of opportunity for childhood adventure stories.

Really? I grew up in a rural area and the suburbs always seemed like fun, you know why? There were other kids! Is this just an illusion? All I ever wanted as a kid was a neighborhood. We had to convince our parents to drive us all over hill and dale if we wanted to see anyone our age.

In the suburbs if you're not old enough to drive your "adventures" mostly consist of meeting at someone's house and doing house things. So yes, there are other kids to interact with, but not much of an environment in which to interact with them.

Re: Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

#13

Post by Jugurtha »

Why do so few events that shape your life or are worthy of mention take place in the suburbs, a place where people mostly sleep/rest?

This reminds me of "liquid networks" from Steven Johnson's book "Where Good Ideas Come From". Here's a talk where he addresses it briefly, timestamped at the moment he starts talking about "liquid network"[0]

Things worth telling mostly happen in cities, or the internet.

- [0]: https://youtu.be/0af00UcTO-c?t=538

Re: Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

#15

Post by giantg2 »

hhggfdss wrote: post #9
giantg2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I was trying to think of what a suburban story would look like. The cities have things like museums or the zoo. The country has natural things to explore. The suburbs are basically a bunch of houses with yards - not a lot of opportunity for childhood adventure stories.

Really? I grew up in a rural area and the suburbs always seemed like fun, you know why? There were other kids! Is this just an illusion? All I ever wanted as a kid was a neighborhood. We had to convince our parents to drive us all over hill and dale if we wanted to see anyone our age.

I guess it depends in the demographics and location. I grew up in both settings.

In the rural area I could ride my bike or walk to friends houses, but there were really only 2 that were in range. There were tons of activity options - bike trails, fishing, exploring the woods, model rockets, etc.

Then in a small town setting, there were more kids, but not as many options for stuff to do. You would need to drive places for many outdoor activities, such as the fishing, mountain biking, model rockets, etc. So the activities were more indoor, which was still stuff I could do rurally, like video games (well rural couldn't do online, just in-person), board games, etc.

Re: Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

#16

Post by notahacker »

lr4444lr wrote: post #6

This just doesn't strike me as true at all. Most of my children's books have very non-descript settings that begin in non-connected single family houses. But regardless of that framing, so many of my kids' books dive into the realm of the protagonist's imagination. This honestly just sounds like another indirect shot taken at suburban life. I get it, internet content writers disproportionately live in the big cities,…

Yeah. I'm not convinced settings for kids books really tell us more about urban planning than they tell us about the the problem with not enough political situations being solved by encounters with handsome princes these days. And I'm pretty sure that well established story tropes predate suburbanism and republicanism is more of a factor in the popularity of certain types of fantastical settings than magic kingdoms full of trolls being more walkable than the cul-de-sacs kids often grow up in.

It doesn't help that the author acknowledges that there are in fact numerous kids' books set in suburbs, he just doesn't like them very much. :D

Re: Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

#17

Post by sidibe »

mdorazio wrote: post #11
hhggfdss wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I grew up in a rural area and the suburbs always seemed like fun, you know why? There were other kids! Is this just an illusion? All I ever wanted as a kid was a neighborhood. We had to convince our parents to drive us all over hill and dale if we wanted to see anyone our age.

In the suburbs if you're not old enough to drive your "adventures" mostly consist of meeting at someone's house and doing house things. So yes, there are other kids to interact with, but not much of an environment in which to interact with them.

Seems like most things kids want to do just require yards or houses and other kids.

Before you can drive I think the main factor for how much fun your environment is (assuming safety and no poverty) is the density of kids your age in the neighborhood.

Re: Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

#18

Post by andylynch »

vmh1928 wrote: post #12

The Dick and Jane books were set in the 'burbs. The suburbs are primarily white, cisgender and bastions of Patriarchy. Children's books that portray a white, cisgender, patriarchal world are not favored by the publishing or educational establishment.

That’s not quite correct - upscale of diversity is seen as an industry issue; creators of children’s books are mostly white and predominantly female. Interesting breakdown from a UK literacy charity: https://www.booktrust.org.uk/globalassets/resources/represen...

Re: Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

#19

Post by jdxcode »

lr4444lr wrote: post #6

This just doesn't strike me as true at all. Most of my children's books have very non-descript settings that begin in non-connected single family houses. But regardless of that framing, so many of my kids' books dive into the realm of the protagonist's imagination. This honestly just sounds like another indirect shot taken at suburban life. I get it, internet content writers disproportionately live in the big cities,…

yeah, I grew up on a farm which is where loads of children books take place. We had to take a car literally everywhere, including our mailbox.
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