Hi,
I am trying to find what publishers are looking for in children's
adventure books. As a child I used to read Enid Blyton...Famous Five,
Five Findouters etc in which a group of children get tangled with
crooks or solve mysteries. Are there similar modern books (Enid Blyton
is 1940-1960 ) of children solving crimes/ mysteries? I read somewhere
editors are looking for 'realistic fiction' (as opposed to Blyton's
'escapist' fiction ). Is this uniformly true? Also how many words
should a children's novel be? Would a modern day Famous Five or
Findouter book sell in today's marketplace?

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Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 05 Oct 2005 08:14 PDT

Dear John, 

This is a very difficult question to answer, because there is no
"recipe" for successful (or, at least, published) children's fiction
(for example, on the number of words required; on the themes; etc.).

If you'd like me to, I could focus my answer on aspects regarding
current trends in children's adventure fiction.

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Clarification of Question by johnman-ga on 05 Oct 2005 08:19 PDT

Hi Politicalguru,
Yes, I would like to know trends in children's adventure fiction as it
applies to crime/ mysteries. I am not interested in other forms of
adventure. Are there any books/ series in which children get involved
with criminals and outsmart them?