Since the boom of parody books in 2016, publishing companies attempts at keeping the genre relevant have often fallen short and in my opinion, have started to come across as a cash grab. Though parody books had existed before 2016, the inception and popularity of the ‘Ladybirds for Grown-Ups’ list meant that more and more companies were turning towards their older or more traditional backlists and revamping them with contemporary topics.

Can you really call yourself a student if your bookshelf does not contain a copy of ‘How it Works: The Student’, especially if you left for uni during the peak of parody book sales. However, with this genre suddenly being inundated with new titles from all directions, it is not hard to see why the lifespan of the genre is much shorter compared to others. Especially when the premise is to look and find humour in topics such as Brexit and now COVID-19.

By looking at ways to tap into peoples childhoods and subvert it with adult themes, these books work well in being both faithful and unfaithful at the same time. Though parody books can sometimes mock the original text, it is often used as a tool to convey other topics playfully. Sometimes, this can be used to ‘soften the blow’ of the issue in question, which can be important when looking at politics or, in the case or more recent books, pandemics.

When thinking about popular parody books and brands, there are a few series that comes to mind instantly:

• Ladybirds for Grown-Ups - Penguin Random House
• Haynes Explains - Haynes Publishing Group
• Enid Blyton’s ‘Famous Five’ - Quercus These three series and their subversion of the original material meant that adults who had read the original books would get enjoyment out of the new content, and out of their childhood books being twisted to face adult scenarios. By taking current issues and trends such as Gluten Free eating and parenting, adults can see their childhood characters engage in struggles that they are facing themselves along with getting entertainment from the humour that comes from parodying these books with this content.

Despite these types of books being less prevalent now, parody and humour as book genres are still going strong. The number of books available to pre-order on the Waterstones website grows each day, and the already wide variety of topics and formats gets expanded upon.