In September the Guardian published the 100 books of the 21st Century. It contained only five children’s books, two of which were published in the year 2000 – wrong century – and featured ZERO picture books. Outrage! I was spurred to action and rallied the troops on Twitter. Over 1000 votes and 600 nominated books later and I had what felt like a pretty representative list of the vast range of incredible children’s books published since 2001. Continue reading
We all love an unexpected corpse at Christmas. No one more than Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike series, which has reached the fifth book in its deadly run – Mistletoe and Murder. The Wells and Wong detective agency travel to Cambridge at Christmas where they are there to spend the holidays with … Continue reading
Having found out how author Abi Elphinstone uses map making as a creative aid earlier in the month, I wanted to ask the illustrator of her books, Thomas Flintham about the process of turning a writer’s imagined worlds into a piece of art. Here he talks about his work on the ‘Last Wild’ series by Piers Torday. Continue reading
I’ve loved scary stories since I first learned to say ‘boo’ to a goose, and have done my level best to introduce my kids to the pleasures of a good bit of fear. We like to begin the season’s thrills with a pilgrimage to the village of Lacock and the house where Harry Potter lost … Continue reading
It’s not often that I see my dad avidly reading a children’s book. He usually prefers something with a bit more espionage, or physics. But I came home recently to find him leafing through my copy of J.B.S Haldane’s My Friend Mr Leakey. ‘He was a very well known scientist you know?’ he told me … Continue reading
Apart from the numerous times I climbed through the toilet window, slipped out the school gate, crossed the road, and broke back into my own home, these lines are probably the happiest memory I have from my first years of Primary school. Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s Funnybones was the book that first introduced me to … Continue reading
First a warning: The latest comic book from Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill is definitely not for children. Unless you consider a story featuring an antichrist Harry Potter who keeps his wand hidden in his pants to be kiddie fare. And if you do, I’ll see you in family therapy. Welcome back The League of … Continue reading
