2014: The Kids’ Literary
Year in Review

It’s been a big year for children’s literature – a really big year. And now that we’re looking 2015 in the eye, it’s the perfect time to take a look back at the stories, authors, and moments that made 2014 so memorable.

It was a huge year for YA, no doubt about it. John Green’s, The Fault in Our Stars, earned him a profile in The New Yorker and took our breath away on the big screen. If that wasn’t enough Shailene Woodley, you can watch her in the adaptation of Veronica Roth’s Divergent, which also made the leap from the page to the screen. Turns out, Stephen Colbert was right, “a YA novel is just a regular novel people actually read” and then see at the movies. Which is why, here at Brightly, we encourage parents to indulge their inner teen and add YA to their reading lists.

The Giver made it to theaters this past summer, and Jeff Bridges and author Lois Lowry sat down on Charlie Rose to talk about the challenges they faced to bring The Giver to the screen. Apparently, banned books make for a hard sell in Hollywood.

Directors didn’t forget about books for younger readers this year either. Favorite classics like Paddington and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day were also released on film, just in time for the holidays. Kids will enjoy the over the top antics of both films, although I’ll admit I miss the simplicity of the original stories.

The Giving Tree’s 50^th anniversary prompted discussions of what the book is really about and whether we actually like it. Is it a happy book about generosity or a sad and slightly disturbing tale of a needy tree and a selfish boy? Go read the debate in The New York Times and see where you fall.

Grown-ups paid a lot of attention to kid’s books in 2014, with Aimee Bender’s piece in The New York Times encouraging writers to look to Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon as a writing tool, not just a story for the toddler crowd. Who knew a moon could be so instructional?

Go The F**k To Sleep, got a friend this year, with Adam Mansbach and Owen Brozman’s sequel, You Have to F**king Eat. If you liked Samuel L. Jackson reading the original, you can’t miss Bryan Cranston reading this newest ode to parental frustration and it’s free on Audible. Mansbach has also apologized for starting a potty-mouth book trend.

B.J. Novak will leave you in stitches as he reads The Book With No Pictures to a group of hysterical children. There are no bad words here, just a lot of funny ones. If you missed it, watch it tonight with your kids, or better yet, buy a copy and read it to them yourselves.

Remember Reading Rainbow with LeVar Burton? Well, this year, Burton decided to bring Reading Rainbow back – and he used Kickstarter to do it. Setting a goal of $1,000,000, Burton met his goal in ELEVEN HOURS and then surpassed it – raising over $5 million dollars to help create and maintain a library of interactive books and video field trips for classrooms in need.

The American Academy of Pediatrics also emphasized the importance of reading, releasing new guidelines that encouraged parents to read to their children every day, make books available to their children, and cut down on screen time. Citing long-term benefits including improved school readiness, greater graduation rates, and stronger parent-child relationships, the AAP made reading a priority for its patients and their families.

In short, it was a wonderful, fabulous, excellent, really good year for books. Here’s hoping 2015 is even more amazing.