She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book empire – is down a winding staircase, in the cellar of her grand white house in Steyning, West Sussex. Her desk looks out on the street at knee height. “I’m thinking of writing a book about legs,” Donaldson said, as she showed me around the house this summer. Children from the nearby school often wave in at her as they pass. Donaldson is well known in Steyning, due to her frequent signings at the local bookshop. She and her husband, Malcolm, a retired paediatrician, recently bought the local post office to save it from closure. But elsewhere she can walk the pavement without being recognised. “I got a letter the other day for Jacqueline Wilson,” Donaldson told me. “It said: ‘You’re my favourite author!’”If you are not someone who spends much time with young children, you may only be dimly aware of Donaldson’s work – although you will probably be familiar with her most famous creation, the Gruffalo. If you have children, however, you will know her as a cultural juggernaut whose influence among children is perhaps only surpassed by the works of Disney and CBeebies. Donaldson, who is 72, has written more than 210 books: chiefly picture books, but also poetry, plays, a 60-part phonics... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
Far too many times, I’ve been in a bookshop or a school and heard adults persuade a child away from a picture book and encouraged them to read ‘something more appropriate’. There’s a huge notion in this country that picture books are for younger children and a step into ‘proper reading’. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-13 08:06:26 UTC ]
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Puffin has landed a "heart-warming" picture book about a family with two mums, written by Lotte Jeffs and illustrated by Sharon Davey. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-25 21:13:37 UTC ]
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Welbeck Flame has acquired three picture books written by actress and comedian Isla Fisher and illustrated by Paula Bowles. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 08:23:08 UTC ]
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A story for children about families with same-sex parents has been published in Russia as part of a campaign to have the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law repealedA month after a Hungarian bookshop chain was fined for selling a children’s story about a day in the life of a child with same-sex... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-17 14:33:19 UTC ]
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More than 60 bookshops launched in the UK and Ireland in the past 18 months – but who would open one in a pandemic? We asked five to share their stories, while bestselling author Val McDermid remembers the bookshops of her youthWhen I was growing up in a small Scottish town, we had a bookshop... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-15 11:00:06 UTC ]
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The latest picture book from illustrator Oliver Jeffers will hit bookshops later than planned this year because hardbacks are still at sea after the "Ever Given" ship became lodged in the Suez Canal in March. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-09 14:36:13 UTC ]
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Macmillan Children’s Books has acquired a new picture book from illustrator Axel Scheffler and author Franz Wittkamp, a collection of quirky rhymes about cats for pre-schoolers and their families. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-07 03:42:25 UTC ]
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Stacey Abrams will publish Stacey’s Extraordinary Words, a children’s picture book illustrated by Kitt Thomas, on December 28th with HarperCollins Children’s Books imprint Balzer + Bray. Though Abrams has published three bestselling books for adults under her own name, as well as eight romance... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-21 15:41:46 UTC ]
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Colin Kaepernick—the activist quarterback blackballed by the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem at the start of games in protest of police brutality and racial inequality—is releasing a children’s book inspired by a pivotal moment in his childhood. I Color Myself Different, the first... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-16 15:56:17 UTC ]
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Athlete-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick will publish 'I Color Myself Different,' a picture book inspired by his own experiences, in April. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-07-15 15:14:30 UTC ]
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Líra Könyv made to pay £600 for failing to clearly indicate the story featured ‘a family that is different than a normal family’A bookshop chain in Hungary has been fined for selling a children’s story depicting a day in the life of a child with same-sex parents, with officials condemning the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-08 12:09:32 UTC ]
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"She is literally my favourite person in the whole of children’s publishing.” Dapo Adeola is talking about Malorie Blackman, his co-creator on new picture book We’re Going to Find the Monster (published by Puffin in September). His editor Joe Marriott approached Adeola about the project in 2018,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-18 23:17:19 UTC ]
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Jason Reynolds has won the 2021 Carnegie Medal for 'Look Both Ways,' and Sydney Smith has won the 2021 Kate Greenaway Medal for his picture book 'Small in the City.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-06-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Jane Buckley, who won the inaugural Designer of the Year prize at the recent British Book Awards, discusses her recent promotion and the art of pairing writers and illustrators together. I speak to Jane Buckley just after what must have been a pretty good couple of days for her. On 13th May, at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-28 15:18:52 UTC ]
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Her debut picture book is a best seller, but the road to get there wasn’t always easy. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-05-27 09:00:04 UTC ]
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The Bradford Literature Festival will return from 25th June to 4th July with a mix of live and free online events including appearances from Caitlin Moran, A A Dhand, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-17 06:32:50 UTC ]
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Air Miles has been illustrated by his wife Helen Oxenbury and finished by Bill Salaman, friend of the author who died in 2019The final picture book from the late, much-loved children’s author John Burningham – in which “difficult dog” Miles goes on one final journey – has been completed by his... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-05-15 06:00:18 UTC ]
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For her debut picture book Flora Delargy, an author and illustrator from Northern Ireland, decided to tell the lesser-known part of the “Titanic” story, about the brave captain who turned around his ship, “Carpathia”, to rescue survivors from the freezing Atlantic. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-14 12:27:27 UTC ]
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New figures from the Publishers Association show fiction and audiobooks did particularly well, with value of consumer sales up 7% on 2019 despite bookshop closuresFiction sales in 2020 soared by more than £100m for UK publishers, as readers locked down at home made their escape into books, with... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-04-26 23:01:49 UTC ]
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Puffin has picked up Welcome to the World, a “tender and lyrical picture book” from Julia Donaldson and Helen Oxenbury. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-20 03:03:23 UTC ]
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