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Together we have ensured the illustrations in Let’s Play are bold and colourful with plenty of white space in between the characters and objects – this can make the different items easier to recognise, whether by sight or touch or both. – Alex Strick
Little adventures for big imaginations
Reading in the early years lays the foundations for later attainment, it stimulates both curiosity and creativity and shared reading can provide a valuable means for bonding and building secure attachments.
AS part of his time as children’s laureate, Frank Cottrell Boyce has spent time with child psychologist and neuroscientist Professor Sam Wass. In a piece for BookTrust Frank recounted witnessing theory brought vividly to life. “The mum’s read to their babies, and we could see it all – everything we talked about – on the screen. It was beautiful. We saw the baby’s brain activity tune into the activity of its mother, slow down, and synchronise. There it all was – a moment of happiness being inscribed in the child’s synapsis. This wasn’t a cultural thing or an educational thing. This was biological. We saw two minds enter a kind of communion around the story.” Charity, Inclusive Books for Children, has a category in its annual awards for books for babies and toddlers, recognising that this is often the first time that children see themselves reflecting in books. For the three years the award has been running, it’s not been possible to select sufficient titles to create a longlist and the award has had to go straight to shortlist stage. What is it that makes books for babies and toddlers so targeted and special? We speak with Sharon King-Chai and Alexandra Strick about creating diverse and inclusive books for babies and toddlers and the approaches they take to creativity and inclusion. Alex Strick, the winner of this year’s Inclusive
18 PEN&INC.
Books for Children award baby and toddler category for the board book Let’s Play, published by Child’s Play, explains her process. She says: “I work closely with the Child’s Play team, whose illustrators are extremely talented and very experienced in creating perfect artwork to appeal to all young children.” There’s a balance to be found between bold,
Alex Strick. Spring-Summer 2026
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