Several children’s literature experts shared “Ten Trends in Children’s Books” in a year-end list for Scholastic.

Books featuring “special-needs protagonists” have increased (such as this year’s winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, Kathryn Erskine‘s Mockingbird). The experts concluded that publishers released “25 to 30 percent fewer picture book titles than they used to” in 2010. Popular kidlit genres in 2010 included dystopian fiction, paranormal romance beyond vampires, and mythology-based fantasy.

Scholastic Book Clubs president Judy Newman gave this quote: “We’ve seen some exciting innovation in children’s publishing in 2010, including new formats and platforms for storytelling that are helping more and more kids become book lovers. At the same time, we’re seeing a rejuvenation of some classic genres, which I think is evidence of the timeless power that stories and characters have on the lives of children.”