children’s literature

The magic of carefully crafted words

19 October 2024 9:00 am

A collection of essays, poems and fiction – ‘offcuts’ of a lifetime spent ‘working with a pen’ – marks Alan Garner’s 90th year

Letters: Britain doesn’t have a ‘two-tier’ policing problem

17 August 2024 9:00 am

Less is more Sir: While I wholeheartedly agree with Toby Young’s observation that ‘more censorship would make things worse, not…

The fiasco of Operation Yewtree: C4's The Accused – National Treasures on Trial reviewed

27 August 2022 9:00 am

At 4.38 a.m., one morning in October 2013, the radio presenter Paul Gambaccini was understandably asleep when the doorbell rang.…

Jauntily naive: illustration from Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins)

A survey of this year’s children’s books sets the cat among the pigeons

2 December 2017 9:00 am

Back in 1990, Roald Dahl wrote a book called The Minpins, which was illustrated by Patrick Benson, a very good…

Illustration by Arthur Rackham for Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle

Do myths and folklore damage children’s brains?

4 June 2016 9:00 am

Children’s fantasy literature has never been just one thing. Animal fables, folk and fairy tales were not originally intended for…