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Non-Absentee Parents in KidLit: A Defense

June 1, 2020 by AJ Vanderhorst 3 Comments

Fictional parents. Fictional kids. Never the two shall meet.

At least, as a compulsive reader of kids’ books, it often seems this way.

I’d love to see stats, compiled by someone else, of course, breaking down this pattern with decades of book data. What percentage of child protagonists are orphans? What percentage are latchkey kids? How many live with relatives who just happen to be blind and deaf? (Kidding…sort of.)

With no research other than reading widely, I’d say those categories account for a big majority of titles. If I had to slap a number on it, I’d say upwards of 85 percent in middle grade (generally written for ages eight and up). 

The benefits of this strategy are obvious. Kids read to explore, to push boundaries, to learn about the world and themselves. That happens easier when there are no fictional parents ruining the adventure. Avoid that stranger. Don’t wave that sword around. Be home in half an hour.

Total plot-killers. 

It’s also obvious how this trend in fiction mirrors and speaks to reality. Broken homes are everywhere. Kids grow up with parent-shaped vacuums. Many of us feel this personally. 

In addition, and more significant for authors, it’s a heckuva lot harder to write a story with an intact family. Parents are complicated creatures. They can be tough to write. Consider the complexity of Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird. Invite parents into your story and you have to define the relationships. Craft motivations. Create dynamics. It’s hard work.

With all that said, here are three reasons we need more kidlit parents.

Healthy families are formative. 
Sometimes a vision for what’s possible is as good or better than an acknowledgment of what’s gone. Fictional parents show a trajectory readers may not have considered. I didn’t have that…I wish I did…maybe I could do that…maybe better is possible. 

Good kidlit parents in are rare.
When it comes to fiction, the rule of thumb seems to be, All the good parents are dead. Or they’re about to be. Soon. Artistic integrity calls authors to pursue the mysterious, the magical, the elusive: The silver stag, the forgotten fortress, the relatively likable parents racing through the woods after their kids. What’s so rarely captured ought to be pursued with more energy. 

Wise parents give their kids room for adventure.
Kids need space for quests and battles. That’s why they read. But what if these things aren’t excluded by good parenting? Our imaginations have become warped by helicopter parents and kids who are treated like fashion accessories. 

In a world ruled by the good, the true and the beautiful, parents would let their kids go fight a dragon while Dad and Mom had a long-overdue date.

In an already-but-not-yet world, good parents still give their children room for adventure—climbs, challenges and explorations with real risks and real rewards.

There’s nothing wrong with the orphans and latchkey kids who crowd our bookshelves. But kids’ books need more parents with genuine roles. Rounded characters. People of interest. With lifespans of more than five seconds. 

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AJ Vanderhorst
AJ Vanderhorst
AJ is a husband, dad and lifetime tree climber. His debut middle grade fantasy, The Mostly Invisible Boy, explores a world of secret societies, Hyena Toads and monster control. Visit him online at ajvanderhorst.com.
AJ Vanderhorst
Latest posts by AJ Vanderhorst (see all)
  • Non-Absentee Parents in KidLit: A Defense - June 1, 2020
  • Invisibility and How to Overcome It - March 9, 2020

Filed Under: Faith & Vision, Fostering Imagination, Parenting

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Comments

  1. Kathleen Shumate says

    June 2, 2020 at 9:00 pm

    Thanks for the wonderful words! I’ve noticed the same things about stories for kids (as well as adults). Writing a family is much more complex than creating a couple of lone ranger kids. I read something from Orson Scott Card once where he said that when you have just 2 people, there’s only 1 relationship. When you have 3, there is each relationship between 2 individuals, as well as all 3 together. And it increases exponentially. In his book Speaker for the Dead (a favorite of mine when I was younger), he creates a family with a mother and 7 or so children who grow into adulthood. Quite a task!

    I’d love to hear some of your, and other people’s, favorite books that DO include parents and families in a positive way. Anne of Ingleside, The Wingfeather Books, Cristina of Aspen Aisle (by Andrew Case) are a few that pop into my mind!

    Reply
  2. AJ Vanderhorst says

    June 10, 2020 at 10:33 am

    Hey Kathleen! Orson Scott Card explains it so well. I used to read a lot of his stories…I’ll have to track that essay down.

    I’ll take a crack at favorites off the top of my head.

    Observation: The further back you go in literary history, the more commonplace these books are. The more contemporary, the rarer.

    Charlotte’s Web
    Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
    ND Wilson’s 100 Cupboards series
    The Bunnicula series (haha, my kids contributed this one)
    Harry Potter—specifically the Weasley parents
    Little House on the Prairie series, maybe the quintessential “family” books
    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl is interesting in that he often includes parents, sometimes as warm and supportive, sometimes as horrible people. I guess you can only call that fair.)
    A Wrinkle in Time
    Holes
    The Graveyard Book* (I’ll give this one an asterisk because the parents are ghost parents)

    Reply
  3. James D. Witmer says

    June 10, 2020 at 10:46 am

    – S.D. Smith’s Green Ember books, particularly those later in the series
    – Glenn McCarty’s The Misadventured Summer of Tumbleweed Thompson
    – Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous has a great contrast between engaged and un-engaged fathers

    Reply

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