west Africa. Sophie Anderson’s magical The House with Chicken Legs is based on a classic Slavic story and does what it says on the tin: young Marinka dreams of living a normal life but can’t, as her house grows chicken legs and moves her family to a new place. Hilary McKay is a more established author, but diverted from her usual contemporary or fantasy work with the heartfelt, moving The Skylarks’ War, a tale of love and loss in the First World War. Matthew Syed’s You Are Awesome (see
pages 30–33) is the leader of a welcome trend in children’s books: building self-esteem. Ben Brooks and illustrator Quinton Winter’s Stories for Boy Who Dare to be Different falls in this category, telling stories of famous men (Nelson Mandela, Lionel Messi, Daniel Radcliffe) who don’t conform to the tradi- tional view of masculinity. Kate Pankhurst’s Fantastically Great Women Who Made History is perhaps the feminist flipside to
Brooks’ book, as it focuses on women from the past in order to inspire young female readers today. Pankhurst has this in her own DNA: she is a descendant of the great Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst. One of the best picture book duos at the
moment is writer Kes Gray and illustrator Jim Field, who have teamed up for six books in their Oi! series. Their latest, Oi Duck-Billed Platypus!, has their typical inventive, laugh- out-loud rhyme schemes and compelling artwork. Fiona Waters and Frann Preston- Gannon’s I am the Seed That Grew the Tree is arguably the most ambitious book here—an instant classic and a sumptuous 300-page illustrated anthology of poems celebrating the outdoors. A timely title is Politics for Beginners, edited by a team led by Louie Stowell. In our age of turbulence this clear, straightforward book, with spot-on illustration by Kellan Stover, brings a bit of sanity and rock-solid information to the current political discourse. It is aimed at kids, but well-informed adults will learn a thing or two, too.
IN THE LONG, STORIED HISTORY OF KIDS’ LITERATURE IN THE UK, MORE PEOPLE ARE BUYING CHILDREN’S BOOKS THAN EVER
23 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
