Children and Young Adult Readers in Morocco

摘要

The development of the publishing industry for children and youngadults is very recent in Morocco. Indeed it was in the 1980s that people became aware of its importance for future generations. The first national publications were mainly in Arabic language, stories were very short, books were of paperback format and the subjects were very much dominated by moral, social and religious didacticism. In the late 1990s, publishers started being more and more concerned with the appearance of the book (size, cover, illustrations, topic, etc.) and there are nowadays two publishers specialized only in children’s books—Yanbow al Kitab and Yomad—who produce books that respond to international norms. They are both very active in promoting reading and especially allowing children from disadvantaged social backgrounds to have access to books, price being a main constraint for those children. But there is still a lack of publishers specialized in children’s books in Morocco (two publishers for the whole country), not enough pleasant reading spaces and no real government policy to allow mass access by making books cheaper.