World Literature

The children's literature genre has something to smile about. (Dave Wheeler Studio, For…)

For years, the book industry has been mired in debates about the plight of independent booksellers, the rise of Amazon and the fate of print as it struggles with the relentless march of technology. But doom-and-gloomers forecasting "the end of books" probably haven't strolled through the children's section lately or considered what's coming this season, from picture books through titles for teens.

This fall's offerings span a wide variety of topics and suggest why children's books have turned into the fastest-growing segment of the publishing industry.

The magical spell J.K. Rowling cast over kid lit with "Harry Potter" found new blood with Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" saga and most recently, Suzanne Collins' fight-to-the-death "The Hunger Games, " creating a halo effect for the entire genre that doesn't show any signs of slowing. Last year, overall publisher revenues for children's books were up 12%, to $2.78 billion, and e-books made astounding gains, according to BookStats, a collaboration of the Assn. of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group.

This year is no different. It used to be that when readers finished a groundbreaking series, they struggled to find others with similar appeal. No more. The millions of readers who followed Bella as she pursued supernatural true love or Katniss as she navigated a post-apocalyptic U.S. can now find dozens of bestselling paranormal and dystopian series that will see further installments this fall.

Similarly, in the middle-grade space, Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" has opened up a whole genre of illustrated, humorous, confessional-style bestsellers, which will continue in the coming months.

That's to say nothing of the increasing numbers of celebrities and well-known adult-book authors who are applying their talents to younger readerships this season — including Emma Thompson with a Peter Rabbit picture book and Elizabeth George with her young adult debut — and legions of talented unknowns who are likely to score hits with their children's book debuts, such as Stefan Bachmann and his buzzed-about fairy tale, "The Peculiar, " and Fiona Paul's Renaissance murder-romance, "Venom." In fact, many forthcoming children's books have already been snatched up by movie studios.

The young adult, or YA, category is particularly healthy as a result of blockbuster franchises and strong crossover readership. Many young adult books are read as much by adults as they are by their intended teen audiences.

Scholastic reports that 50% of the readers of "The Hunger Games" are adults. And more than half of the readers of the bestseller "Divergent" by Veronica Roth are at least 25 years old, according to a HarperCollins spokeswoman.

The stigma of adults "reading down" with children's titles is gone, said David Levithan, editorial director of Scholastic Press, which also published the Harry Potter series in the U.S.