Trending Novels for Children

According to a recent article by Melissa Wilson and Kathy Short, middle-reader novels are seeing a new trend. Instead of the more classic plot of the home/away/home pattern, the new trend in children\u27s literature is the children are not being supported by adults (who are behaving more like children) or the child is abandoned, and the child must seek to find or create their own home. This is called the postmodern metaplot. This trend was seen in a variety of children\u27s novels described by Wilson and Short, novels which received commendation awarded from adults. My study will compare books given awards by children, (specifically the Maud Hart Lovelace award) to see if the books commended follow this Postmodern trend or if they follow the more classical structure, and what we can accordingly learn about children\u27s tastes in books