Why are there so few children’s books set in the suburbs?

I think on HN a lot of the urbanites think of suburbia as an endless sea of cookie-cutter houses on nondescript, seemingly identical streets. Nothing but houses for as far as you can see.

That certainly exists in some places, I'm sure. But some of us grew up in places like Portland, Oregon, which is essentially one big suburban city (sure, there is an urban core, but it's tiny). Lots of single family houses, but lots of retail, industrial, and office space intermixed. Very walkable in most areas.

I think a lot of the break down of suburban discussion happens because of this. There's a pretty wide range of perception based on different life experience.

I agree that stories involving houses tend to portray single family homes. I can't think of any that actually portray that house in a suburban setting (the premise of the article). I'm sure they are out there, but none come to mind for me.

Then the question is really, so what if the settings are not suburban? I didn't really see an answer to that in the article, so I guess they were just trying to point out that there may be fewer topics for childhood adventures set in suburban areas.

It doesn't help that the author acknowledges that there are in fact numerous kids' books set in suburbs, he just doesn't like them very much. :D

How come kids are totally disinterested in cars? Oh wait, they're not disinterested in cars. There's a popular series of movies called Cars, and kids' toys include endless variations of cars like remote controlled cars and collections of miniature cars. When playing, kids will happily make vroom vroom noises and simulate car jumps and stunts and crashes, but I have never seen children's play involving the scenario of walking to a restaurant instead of driving there.

On a more practical and aesthetic level, drawing cobblestone streets, cozy neighborhood stores, hand carved sandstone facade apartment buildings, etc is a lot more glamourous than drawing tract suburban housing, so I can see the appeal of it aesthetically. Also from what I've read about some of these authors, they were city people as well, so they just drew what they knew. The migration of the middle class to the suburbs didn't happen until many of these authors were well retired, so if kids are reading the more classic books, they'll see a bit more city life than usual and almost exclusively NYC where so many budding creatives had access to NYC's incredible publishing industry.

Lastly, kids can't drive. So if you want a kid having an adventure where he meets various storekeeps, neighbors out running errands, friends, pet stores, schools, etc then a walkable city makes the most sense. Walkable areas are just more communal and neighborly than suburban life as well. Its more realistic if a kid goes on an adventure in a city than in the suburbs were the only practical way around is being driven around. Bikes, less so, when the nearest store is 5+ miles away and there's no bike lanes. I also imagine parents are more comfortable with books not encouraging little kids to ride bikes in the street. As a parent, my recollection is that a lot of the books exist in a weird nebulous middle ground unless they outright take place in NYC or London or Paris for narrative reasons. Kids can walk through a urban downtown area with stores and neighbors but also end up in big suburban houses on big suburban streets in the same book and without taking a bus or a cab between either. So its probably hard to really divide this into city vs suburban if we want to be fair about it. Authors will do whatever fits their narrative. The walkable city is appealing but so is the big home, so why not have both?

Look at Calvin and Hobbes for a good example of a great deal of memorable stuff happening in a clearly suburban setting. A lot of primary/secondary school geared books, especially those geared towards girls, are set in suburban neighborhoods and schools.

Outside of American culture, you can see a lot of suburban themed stories. For example, many school-themed mangas happen in suburbs.

The Brazilian comic Monica's gang is another good example of stories happening primarily with kids hanging around a suburban neighborhood.

I don't get this hate at suburbs either, unless it's by 30-somethings that love their city lives but now want kids and are trying to convince everyone that the city is the best place. If you think that, that's fine, plenty want space and open air.

There does seem to be an issue with American suburbs though. Every suburb in the UK I can think of has pavements down the side of every road, has a primary school within walking distance, a secondary school in biking distance, a bus stop within half a mile. Indeed there are specific limits like "distance to supermarket", "distance to postbox", etc which come into the planning process.

We also have a National Planning Policy Framework, which states things like

give priority to pedestrian and cycle movements, and have access to high quality public transport facilities

and

create safe and secure layouts which minimise conflicts between traffic and cyclists or pedestrians, avoiding street clutter and where appropriate establishing home zones

New developments have to provide appropriate public open space in them, the larger the development, the more space, but as a rule of thumb a development of 400 houses will have a large multi use game area (basket ball, 5-a-side soccer, etc), playground, and an acre of two of informal green space, far more than in a city or town centre.

There's nothing wrong with suburbs, just how they are implemented.

But I for damn sure also wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't rode my bike to my friends' houses to trade floppy disks or watch Schwarzenegger films, or sneaked out to the mall to meet folks, or hung out at the neighborhood strip-mall comic shop and picked up various CCGs and RPGs.

Your idea of a suburb and mine are apparently quite different. I live my entire life here. Buying food, going to work, going out to eat, going to concerts, meeting friends, etc. Why would I only eat & sleep here? Hell, if anything, it's the downtown core that gets quiet at night as all the businesses shut down and along with them about half the restaurants.

1) That childrens stories aren't set in the suburbs

2) That suburbs aren't generally walkable

3) That suburbs aren't interesting

Are you sure it’s a kids book?!