Lately, I have been thinking a lot about this, not just as an author talking with other writers about book sales, but also through conversations I have had with publishers on my podcast.
Are parents still reading physical books with their kids the way they used to?
I keep coming back to that question because when people talk about children’s publishing right now, the conversation usually centers on the same things. Sales feel harder. Certain categories seem to be shrinking. Imprints are closing. People in the industry are worried. But I do not think all of this starts and ends with publishing.
I think some of it starts much closer to home.
If parents are still the biggest reading role models in a child’s life, then what is happening at home matters. Kids notice what we make time for. They notice what is part of everyday life and what is not. If books are around, if reading aloud happens, if a trip to the library feels normal, that shapes something. But if family life is nonstop, if screens fill every quiet moment, and if books slowly become something extra instead of something regular, children notice that too.
And honestly, I get it. Families are stretched. Parents are tired. Life feels full all the time. I do not think this is about blaming parents. I think it is about being honest that reading now has to compete with a lot more than it used to.
That is part of why physical books matter to me. They ask something different from both children and adults. They ask us to slow down. To sit still long enough to enter a story. To read a page, then another page, without a hundred interruptions. That may sound simple, but right now it does not always feel simple.
I also think about screen time. Not in a dramatic way, and not as if all technology is bad, but in a realistic way. Children are growing up in a world where digital entertainment is constant. Books are no longer competing with just television or the occasional distraction. They are competing with an endless stream of content designed to keep attention moving.
Then there is what educators called the “COVID slide.” I have thought about that a lot too. So many children lost ground during those years, especially in reading, and I do not know that all of those habits fully came back. If reading routines fell apart at home and at school, it makes sense to me that children’s publishing would still be feeling the effects.
And the strain on the publishing side is real. Middle grade has struggled. Picture books feel harder. Imprints have closed. Companies have restructured. I have even heard stories from agents that stuck with me, including one about an agent who moved from picture books into romance because picture book sales had become so difficult. That is anecdotal, of course, but it still says something about the mood people are picking up on.
Baker & Taylor stood out to me too. It was not a publisher, but it was one of the oldest and most important book wholesalers in the country, especially for libraries. So when something like that shuts down, it gets your attention. It feels like one more sign that the industry is under pressure.
Still, I do not think the answer is that kidlit is dying.
I think children still need stories. I think they still respond to stories. But I also think a love of reading has to be nurtured, and maybe that is the part we cannot afford to take for granted.
That is where I keep landing.
Do publishers now have to do more than just publish books? Do they need to help speak to parents too? Do they need to be part of rebuilding a culture where reading aloud is normal, where books are visible in the home, and where raising a reader feels like something worth protecting?
Maybe they do.
And maybe this is not only the job of publishers. Maybe this is where parents, teachers, librarians, authors, and literacy advocates all have to lean in together. Because this conversation is about more than book sales. It is about what kind of habits we are helping shape in children. It is about whether we are raising kids who know how to sit with a story, imagine something bigger than themselves, and think deeply.
That is why I do not walk away from this feeling hopeless.
Concerned, yes. But not hopeless.
Because reading culture can be strengthened again. Families can make room for books again. Parents can read aloud, even if it is only for a few minutes at night. Libraries are still here. Teachers are still putting books into children’s hands. Authors are still writing stories that connect. And maybe what is needed now is not panic, but more intention.
Maybe this is the moment to be louder about reading, to advocate for it, to protect it, and to make it feel normal again for children to grow up with books close by.
I still believe that matters. And I still believe it is worth fighting for.
Scholastic, Kids & Family Reading Report: Reading in the Lives of Children and Parents. This is the source behind the point that parents are children’s primary reading role models and that only a minority of children are frequent readers.
The Nation’s Report Card / NAEP 2024 reading results. This supports the point that national reading scores fell in both 4th and 8th grade and that no state saw reading gains compared with 2022.
NWEA, The COVID-19 Slide: What Summer Learning Loss Can Tell Us. This is the source behind the reference to the term “COVID slide.”
JAMA Network Open (2025), “Screen Time and Standardized Academic Achievement Tests in Elementary School.” This supports the point that higher screen time was associated with lower reading and math achievement.
Circana / Publishers Weekly reporting on middle grade sales declines in 2024. This supports the point that middle grade print sales fell 5% in the first half of 2024, down 1.8 million units.
Publishers Weekly, “B&T Makes Surprise Chapter 11 Filing.” This supports the point that Baker & Taylor closed after running out of funds and filed Chapter 11 in March 2026.
Publishers Weekly, “Layoffs, Moves at Penguin Young Readers as Dial Imprint Shuttered.” This supports the point that Dial Books for Young Readers was closed in March 2026.
Publishers Weekly, “Macmillan Children’s Dissolves Roaring Brook, Forms New Imprint.” This supports the point that Roaring Brook was dissolved as Macmillan reorganized part of its children’s division.
Publishers Weekly, “Print Book Sales Rose Slightly in 2025.” This supports the point that print sales rose slightly overall in 2025 and that children’s fiction rebounded.
