A highly subjective rating of common themes in fiction:

Topic A: ADULT AND CHILD INTERACTION

(Adult) Author Liane Moriarty in BIG LITTLE LIES

From Chapter 13: “Coming!” cried Perry. He banged his fists against his chest like a gorilla and ran after them with his back hunched and his arms swinging, making gorilla noises. The boys went crazy with delighted terror and ran off.

From Chapter 18: They’d both wailed and wailed for Daddy. They didn’t care that he was on the other side of the world. They wanted him. Celeste wanted Perry too. He would have fixed Josh’s sock. He would have found Max’s Lego man … If he’d been here this morning, they would have been early for their first day of school. There would have been laughter in the car, not silence, interspersed by pitiful shudders from the boys.

(Kid) Author Kelly Barnhill in THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON

From Chapter 7: Luna slept deeply. Her breathing was slow and even. The crescent moon birthmark on her forehead glowed a bit. A pink moon. Xan smoothed the child’s black hair away from her face, winding her fingers in the shining curls.

From Chapter 9: Xan waved him off.”You don’t know the half of it,” she said, as Luna went running to the swamp to gather the irises into her arms and drink in the scent. As Luna ran, each footstep blossomed with iridescent flowers. When she waded into the swamp, the reeds twisted themselves into a boat, and she climbed aboard, floating across the deep red of the algae coating the water … “Luna stop,” Xan said, putting a simple blocking spell on the girl. Which should have been easy. And should have lasted at least an hour or two. But the spell ripped from Xan’s belly, making her gasp, and then didn’t even work. Luna broke through the block without a second thought. Xan collapsed onto a chair.