Why and how are children's books innovative? Business owners speak frankly from the perspective of children's needs

Beijing, January 6th (Xinhua) -- As the 2025 Beijing Book Ordering Fair is about to open, children's book publishing expert Gong Xun recently pointed out in an interview that innovation in children's books should start from the needs of children.

Having been deeply involved in the industry for many years, Gong Xun, the chief editor and deputy general manager of Beijing Chuangshi Excellent Culture Co., Ltd., has led the editor in chief to produce over a thousand excellent children's books, ranking among the top sellers of children's books. The hardcover color picture edition gift children's series books polished by her have accurately hit the market gap and quickly set a new benchmark in the industry; The series of classic literary masterpieces created by her are carefully adorned with contemporary children's aesthetic "era costumes" that cater to each classic literary masterpiece, making these century old classics shine with new charm.

In a recent interview, she pointed out that the most direct driving force behind the innovation of children's books is the emphasis placed on children's education by parents and society. In recent years, parents have increasingly focused on their children's reading abilities, especially in the early stages of reading. They hope to cultivate their children's thinking ability, creativity, and emotional cognition through more valuable and inspiring books. Therefore, the innovation of children's books is not only reflected in the diversification of content, but also in the innovation of form and publishing methods.

In terms of publishing methods, the market has responded very quickly to this. More and more children's books on the market are beginning to integrate interactivity, education, and entertainment, and the combination of graphics and text has become more diverse. The emergence of some picture books, 3D books, and AR (augmented reality) books has broken the limitations of traditional paper books, making reading more immersive and interactive. The advancement of digital technology, especially the popularity of smart devices, has enabled many contents that were previously difficult to present in paper books to be presented through multimedia forms.

Gong Xun pointed out that the combination of graphics and text is not only for decorating the layout, but also to help children understand the story plot through visual perception, enhance their imagination, observation ability, and aesthetic sense. In recent years, the application of AR and VR technology has begun to penetrate into the field of children's books. These technologies are not only upgrades in technological means, but also a breakthrough in the entire reading experience. Through mobile phones, tablets, or specific devices, children can see the content in books jump out of paper and enter a virtual 3D world. This cross-border combination not only makes children's reading more vivid and interesting, but also greatly expands the forms of expression and content presentation of children's books.

What is the starting point for various innovations in children's books? Gong Xun frankly stated that the primary consideration for this issue is to start from the needs of the child. Children's needs are very complex, with both their thirst for knowledge and their emotional needs. From elementary school to adolescence, children's interests, comprehension abilities, and cognitive styles are constantly changing. Therefore, when publishers produce children's books, they must have a deep understanding and grasp of the characteristics and needs of children's growth at different stages, and need to combine professional knowledge such as children's education concepts and child psychology. She believes that in the future, the development of children's books will pay more attention to interdisciplinary integration, not only extending literary works, but also possibly involving the combination of art, science, history and other fields, in order to create more book forms and contents that meet the needs of modern children. (End)

Disclaimer: This content is created by Tencent platform creators and does not represent the views or positions of Tencent News or Tencent website.