We attended a book auction yesterday. Dead book dealer. Probably 8000 volumes were being sold, about half of which were children’s books. Lots and lots of different children’s books.
So, why are there so many children’s books? I mean, it’s not like the ultimate consumers are going to get to kindergarten, compare notes, and say, “What a rip-off! My mommy read me that Exact. Same. Book! Those cheap bastards!”
Of course, I know the answer. It’s a rhetorical question. We all know it’s because monsters from the Land of Dreams need to prepare susceptible and imaginative young minds for the coming invasion.
There are so many children’s books because so many desperate parents make up whatever hare-brained stories they can to get their young terrors to sleep, and upon extended repetition at some point they just want to write those stories down so that they don’t have to repeat themselves again.
(noting that I have a “paper route story” that would make a charming children’s book, of the sort that has a likely market numbered in the dozens, and is thus best suited for print-on-demand)