Latest news with #childrenBooks
The Independent
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
From Sherlock Holmes to Poirot, Bridget Phillipson reveals the books which inspired her to read growing up
Trying to get to the bottom of the mysteries by some of Britain's greatest detective fiction writers helped foster Bridget Phillipson 's love for reading, she has revealed. Writing for The Independent, the education secretary told how she could not get enough of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books or the mysteries in Agatha Christie's Hercules Poirot. It comes as Ms Phillipson announced that next year will be the National Year of Reading in the UK to encourage a love of books among children. 'Reading doesn't have to be serious, it just has to be real. When I wasn't engrossed in Sherlock Holmes, I was gripped by Hercules Poirot. I didn't think of those books as 'good for me', I just couldn't wait to find out who did it. That's the point. Reading should be joyful,' she writes. 'Some books have stayed with me throughout my life. As a young adult, Wuthering Heights showed me that literature could be wild, passionate, and unsettling, while Zadie Smith's Swing Time reminds me how identity and friendship can be both complicated and compelling.' Now, like many parents, she is rediscovering her love for reading with her children, inbetween ministerial boxes. She writes: 'As a parent, I get to rediscover the joy of reading all over again with my own children. We've laughed together over The Gruffalo and been swept up in the adventures of Tracy Beaker. Those shared stories become part of our family language, a reference point, a comfort, a spark for conversation.' Apart from the enjoyment and cultural benefits of reading, Ms Phillipson is also all too aware that forming it as a habit can have a huge impact on the life expectations of children when the grow up. 'Children who read regularly do better in school, have broader vocabularies, and even experience improved mental health and wellbeing. And yet, in recent years, the number of children reading for pleasure has fallen. In fact, only one in three children say they enjoy reading. 'It's a decline that rings alarm bells loud and clear. And it's on every one of us to help turn it around – government, schools and parents alike. And as both the Secretary of State for Education and a parent of two young children, I know I have the responsibility to lead by example.' But she noted that if 'children are to love books we need to show them we love books too.' There are concerns that book reading is going out of fashion because of the rise of electronic alternatives with phones and tablets. But Ms Phillipson said: 'In an age of distractions, where screen time is rising and attention spans are shrinking, we need to make a conscious choice. The truth is, children still love stories, that hasn't changed. But we must make space for those stories to be heard.' She added: 'The National Year of Reading is about support, and opportunities. We're working with the National Literacy Trust to help schools, libraries and community groups get more reading into daily life. 'Reading is the key that unlocks every subject. You can't excel in science, history, or even maths without the ability to read and understand complex ideas. But even more than that, reading builds empathy. It allows children to step into someone else's shoes, to understand different experiences, and to imagine different futures.'
Wall Street Journal
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
Children's Books: ‘Everyday Bean' by Stephanie Graegin
Stephanie Graegin uses observant lines of text and affectionate, detailed illustrations to tell 10 short stories about a tiny hedgehog named Bean in 'Everyday Bean.' Most of the tales in this humane and beguiling collection for children ages 3-7 run no longer than a handful of lines over three or four pages. In one, Bean has great success in spooking other forest creatures by pretending to be a ghost: 'I'm much better at this than I expected,' she thinks. She is looking forward to making her grandmother jump, too, but day turns to night and still Grandma (who is also a hedgehog) has not emerged from the house. Bean eventually shouts her hope that the old lady will come outside. 'Absolutely not!' Grandma shouts from inside. 'There's a ghost out there!' A ghost figures in the cavalcade of horribles summoned at bedtime in the humorous rhyming pages of Huw Aaron's 'Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob.' In most respects, this lullaby for readers ages 4-8 runs according to type, with a parent ushering a child through the stages of evening ritual—teeth-brushing, bath-taking, pajama-donning—and saying tender things at tuck-in and lights-out. The difference is that the protagonists here are heaps of green slime (with googly eyes and cheery smiles) and the characters the narrator enlists are not winsome animals or cute human children but creepy creatures such as minotaurs, mummies and vampires. 'Closed is the Cyclops's glowering eye. / Steady is the Brain's gentle throb,' we read. 'Settled and snoring is the Beast of the Moor. / Shush now, my horrible Blob.' It will not be to every parent's taste for an author to make light of demons and evil, as Mr. Aaron briefly does here, but the less finicky are likely to relish this entertaining variation on an old nursery staple. A stormy confrontation leads to domestic bliss in 'The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate,' a revival of Joy Cowley's 1984 text with new illustrations by Miho Satake. The fierce little woman, as we see her, is a redhead who lives in a house at the end of a jetty. During the day she knits and plays bagpipes. At night she enjoys listening to 'the sea breathing in and out under her door.' When a wicked pirate asks to be allowed into her home, the fierce little woman refuses to admit him. (In earlier editions, this fellow was haughty, pale and Captain Hook-ish; here he is a brawny sea dog with a dark complexion and a big gold earring.) Only when the pirate confesses his fear of the dark does the woman relent, and in short order the two are married. Happy scenes of the husband and wife later gamboling with their three children ('who are never fierce, and only sometimes wicked') give warmth and charm to this picture book for readers ages 4-6.
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Cressida Cowell Loves to Peruse Recipes Before Bed
In an email interview, the writer and illustrator explained why she's tailored the new book, 'Doom of the Darkwing,' to visually sophisticated children. SCOTT HELLER Can a great book be badly written? What other criteria can overcome bad prose? Reading is like eating, you can have a varied diet and enjoy it all. And 'great' is of course subjective. But a book that stands the test of time is usually one with the perfect words for its audience: 'Middlemarch' and 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' are both exemplars of that in very different ways. What's the last great book you read? 'John & Paul,' by Ian Leslie, a fascinating account of the creative relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. What kind of reader were you as a child? I spent all my summers on an island in Scotland with no television, and I read anything I could get my hands on. Ursula K. Le Guin's 'A Wizard of Earthsea,' anything by Diana Wynne Jones or Tolkien, the 'Oz' books by L. Frank Baum, Lloyd Alexander's 'The Book of Three,' Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Little House on the Prairie' and Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women' were particular favorites. Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book? My mother didn't like me reading Enid Blyton books because she thought they were badly written. I took them all out of the library and read them anyway. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Times
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Marcus Rashford a hit with young readers as JK Rowling loses ground
Jeff Kinney continues to top the charts as the most-read author among schoolchildren in the UK and his Diary of a Wimpy Kid series remains a firm favourite, according to research. However, fresh names are also joining the ranks of most-popular authors: Marcus Rashford's The Breakfast Club Adventures and Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, who wrote the Little People, Big Dreams series, are gaining ground, perhaps reflecting a growing demand for inclusive and relatable stories. Matt Oldfield, an author of non-fiction football books, was also a chart topper among secondary schoolboys. Once dominant during lockdown, the Harry Potter series no longer tops the charts. While still popular among primary school pupils and Year 8 readers, JK Rowling's books have been absent from the most-read lists for several years. This year, The Last Hope by Erin Hunter was the most popular book, alongside George Orwell's Animal Farm. By secondary school, boys' and girls' preferences start to differ. Boys favoured the satire of Animal Farm, while girls chose Holly Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. The Hunger Games appealed widely but, beyond that, boys returned in force to Kinney. The reading habits are revealed in the 2025 What Kids Are Reading report, which draws on data from more than 1.2 million primary and secondary school pupils across the UK and Ireland over an academic year. The research, led by Professor Keith Topping at the University of Dundee and researchers from the National Literacy Trust, shows that today's children are reading more — and with better understanding — than the average British adult. Children using structured reading tools read an average of 20.7 books a year, far outpacing the adult average of three. • Our summer reading guide: 10 terrific books for children Although the total number of books read has dipped slightly, schools are allocating more time to reading in schools, and comprehension levels have improved since last year. Primary school pupils now average 80 per cent on comprehension quizzes — up from 77 per cent last year — and secondary pupils have risen from 69 per cent to 72 per cent, suggesting that secondary pupils were not reading books as carefully as primary pupils. Year 5 pupils are tackling books nearly two years above their age level and have an average comprehension score of 94 per cent. Roald Dahl's grip on the primary-school charts is steady but slipping from the top. He remains the second most-read author in UK primary schools — just behind Kinney — with Matilda, The BFG and Fantastic Mr. Fox continuing to appear across Years 2 to 6. Matilda continues to appear in top-read and favourite lists, especially in primary and international data. The report shows that several literary classics remain part of the school reading landscape. Enid Blyton's Summer Term at Malory Towers features among Year 4 children's favourite books, while Philip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth appears in the Year 7 list. JRR Tolkien's The Two Towers and The Return of the King in the Lord of the Rings trilogy are also popular with Year 7 pupils. Louis Sachar's Holes remains a firm favourite, topping the Year 6 most-read list and appearing across several regional charts. Sachar also ranks sixth in this year's table of most-popular authors among secondary pupils. In contrast, CS Lewis no longer appears in either the most-read or favourite lists, suggesting a continued decline in popularity. Crispin Chatterton, director of education at Renaissance, which produced the report, said: 'This year's What Kids Are Reading report highlights the real progress schools are making in helping children read with greater understanding. It's especially encouraging to see disadvantaged pupils reporting higher enjoyment of reading in school, showing how targeted support can help more children build confidence and enjoyment in reading.'
Times
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Our summer reading guide: 10 terrific books for children
One of my favourite books of the year so far, this is Adrian Mole for the gaming generation. Nathanael Lessore is a rising star and his latest tale, about a wisecracking introvert who suddenly finds popularity through an online alter ego, has had my 11-year-old son in stitches. The whip-smart dialogue really captures the way he and his friends speak. Beneath the jokes, there's real emotional depth to this cautionary tale about balancing your online life with your real one. It also provides youngsters with the added pleasure of explaining — tweensplaining? — all the slang terms to the adults in their lives. A brilliant read for tween boys (and girls) everywhere. Hot Key £8.99 pp320Buy a copy of What Happens Online There's no shortage of children's adventure stories set in ye olde London, but this one stands ragged shoulders above the rest. It's the 1830s and street urchins are vanishing. Strange figures are shadowing the markets and something's lurking in the sewers. No one seems to care apart from Cassia Thorne, a debtor's daughter who scrapes a living selling ballads at Bartholomew Fair. Determined to solve the mystery, she teams up with Teo, an orphan based on the children who really were trafficked from Italy to London to work as street musicians. Their world is made vivid in this sophisticated and exciting adventure, inspired by Dickens's Little Dorrit. & Schuster £7.99 pp336Buy a copy of Deep Dark • Seven books to get kids reading again — Dr Seuss, Wimpy Kid and more Geraldine McCaughrean has been described as 'one of the greatest living children's authors' and this novel — her 170th — is a masterclass in urgent, powerful storytelling. It follows the fates of four young Londoners who forge a close friendship when they make a split decision to avoid evacuation and flee back to the bombed out, rubble-strewn neighbourhood they call home. The world of the Blitz is brought into raw, flaming life. It feels like plunging into one of those black-and-white Pathé film reels and finding everything in colour. Although the setting may be historical, the issues of peace, conflict, forgiveness and revenge are anything but. Brutal, beautiful and £8.99 pp288Buy a copy of Under a Fire-Red Sky The words 'blank verse' and 'baseball' don't float your boat? No matter, because Black Star is wonderful whether you like sport or not. It's not really about baseball at all; it's about being a black 12-year-old girl in 1920s Virginia. In this age of shortened concentration spans, blank verse is the perfect format, distilling big ideas into short and snappy stories that deliver plenty of literary bang for their buck. As always, Kwame Alexander's writing zings with confidence. Come for the quick read, stay for the crash course in the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks and Harlem Renaissance pioneers such as Langston Hughes. 'This ball's on fire, better sound the alarm.'Andersen £14.99 pp384Buy a copy of Black Star • Eight books to get your child excited about reading Another blank verse novel, but this time with a very northern English accent. Nate has just navigated a difficult final year of primary school but now a new world of anxieties and expectations lies ahead. It's called … secondary school. 'Teachers with tans wear new start smiles: Welcome, welcome. This way to the hall. This must be how gladiators felt on their way to the arena.' This is a big-hearted book with moments of lyricism and a little bit of grit. It's honest and relatable but never miserable. A particularly good read for primary school-leavers who are about to take their first flight to secondary £9.99 pp480Buy a copy of The First Year Published just ahead of the Uefa Women's Euros next month, this manual covers 'all the football skills every fan and player needs to know'. Using photographs of the talented young boy and girl players from Oadby Owls, a community club in Leicestershire, each page features how-to tips on different aspects of the game, from perfecting your first touch to placing a shot. Design is the biggest selling point here: the book is light on text and big on photographs and diagrams. According to the author and 'football mum' Katie Daynes, the manual aims to help 'all those parents who spent their weekends supporting grassroots football […] understand and appreciate the game better'.Usborne £7.99 pp104Buy a copy of Football Skills • The 9 best graphic novels for kids – recommended by teachers Osamu Tezuka, the 'godfather of manga', died before he could give one of his beloved characters an ending. Almost 50 years later the baton has been passed to the American writer Samuel Sattin, and the artist duo known as Gurihiru to complete the tale of Unico. And what an enchanting reboot it is. The artwork does justice to the cinematic sweep of Tezuka's work, and the story of a 'brave, young unicorn' lost in time and space, spreading love wherever he goes, while struggling to remember who he is or where he came from, will appeal to a broad range of age groups, from eight upwards. £10.99 pp224Buy a copy of Unico As Dolly Parton said: 'It takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap' — and a lot of clever plotting has gone into this ridiculously escapist thriller. Two teenage girls meet on a train. One is a spoilt brat who is being sent to a Swiss rehab centre as punishment for her wild behaviour. The other is a skint backpacker with her own secrets. They hatch a cunning plan to swap identities. Each steps off the train into the other's life — on the condition they will return to the same spot to swap back in six weeks' time. Cue a cat and mouse game between two supremely scheming frenemies that ricochets around Europe until a very unexpected denouement in the … Isles of Scilly. Preposterous, improbable and lots of £9.99 pp368Buy a copy of The Other Girl • Read more book reviews and interviews — and see what's top of the Sunday Times Bestsellers List Giddy up for a pony story with a twist. Forget Follyfoot and My Friend Flicka, this is a surreal and quirky survival story set in the kind of New Zealand you don't usually see in the tourism adverts. A grieving 12-year-old girl runs away from home with her mother's ashes and her most trusted companion, 'a nuggety little bay' named Tooth. There are criminals, a genuine sense of peril, and themes of grief and family breakdown. And did I mention the horse talks? Tender but never twee, it's an indie movie just waiting to happen. I loved £7.99 pp220Buy a copy of Ride North The Notwitches is a triumph of nonsense. There's no message. There's no big 'ishoo'. It is a celebration of silliness for silliness's sake, and hallelujah for that. (For all the hand-wringing over the reading for pleasure crisis, it's often forgotten that books like this make reading fun in the first place.) Gary Panton earned his comedy stripes writing for The Beano, Hey Duggee and Bluey so knows a thing or two about entertaining little ones. His first children's book features a young girl called Melanda who runs away from her three horrid aunts. It revolves almost entirely around the increasingly surreal conversations with the gnomes, mermaids and sleepy rock monsters she meets along the way. Well, I say mermaids; these ones are reversed: 'Top half of fish. Bottom half of a lady.' They run around on the sand, 'Sounding their siren call, 'hiya!'' Cheeky and refreshing, with an old-fashioned dose of House £7.99 pp304Buy a copy of The Notwitches
