Sound Memes on BookTok

Abstract

Theme: Children's Literature Reviews - How, Where and Who? Ill. Jenny Nyström from Barnkammarens bok, 1882. This article addresses the changing landscape of book reviewing within the field of young adult (YA) literature, particularly in the context of emerging and increasingly ubiquitous digital platforms and platformisation. Starting from the recognition that BookTok – the popular book-related subculture of the even more popular digital video-sharing platform TikTok – is becoming one of the most significant forces within the realm of YA literature at the levels of marketing, sale, and readership, we argue that there is a need to investigate how the affordances of TikTok as a platform are transforming YA literature reviews, particularly given the emerging popularity of YA literature reviews by young people and for young people on TikTok. We argue that hitherto unrecognised and seemingly unimportant modes of meaning-making have become central to the reviewing of YA literature on BookTok, focusing specifically on the way sound is used on and afforded by the platform. Building on the evolving literature on internet memes and specifically sound memes, as well as on Swedish-Finnish scholar Maarit Jaakkola’s work exploring how digital platforms are challenging monopolies which have traditionally characterised literary criticism, this article undertakes an analysis of three BookTok videos and the sounds they employ. The aim in this is to establish how the mimetic and affective properties of sound allows young users to express highly nuanced feelings relating to the books they review, ultimately pushing at the boundaries of what constitute valid and valuable practices for reviewing YA literature.

Keywords

• reviewtainment
• platforms
• affordances
• aural turn
• children’s and YA literature
• children’s literature reviews