The pick of the Puffins

As the publisher celebrates its 70th anniversary, authors such as Jacqueline Wilson, Andy Stanton and Jenny Valentine tell us which is their favourite Puffin and why
  
  


Puffin: The Family from One End Street
Jacqueline Wilson: I first read The Family from One End Street when I was nine and it made a profound impression on me. I was an avid reader, but this was the first time I'd read about a poor family with problems. Mrs Ruggles is a washerwoman, Mr Ruggles is a dustman – and they have seven children. I felt like the eighth. I wrote my first 'novel' (all of 20 pages long) shortly afterwards and it's embarrassingly clear that Eve Garnett was a great influence! I've read it many times since, and it stands the test of time. Of course it's dated, but charmingly so. Modern children will find the freedoms of the Ruggles kids absolutely astonishing. They're all beautifully characterised, and each chapter is a mini story in itself, stylishly and succinctly told. If boys could only see past the pink cover I'm sure they'd enjoy it as much as girls. It's a warm-hearted, gentle, frequently funny story, that steers clear of sentiment and stereotyping.
Illustration: Puffin Books Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Puffin: The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog
Andy Stanton: Look, funny books for kids sometimes get a bad press, everyone knows that. They’re 'not educational'. They’re 'silly'. They’re 'something-else-disparaging-in-quotation-marks'. Well, OK. But you don’t hear these criticisms aimed at funny books for adults, do you? No, when it comes to grown-ups, it's all right. It's all 'a comic tour de force' this, and 'hilarious, yet ultimately moving' that. So why the qualms about letting our children enjoy a good laugh too? Not everything has to win the Worthiest Book About Children's Issues award. Surely there should be less high horsery and more fast doggery! And this is why I have chosen The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog, Jeremy Strong’s story about Streaker, 'a rocket on four legs with a woof attached'. Not only is it very funny, but it's exciting, involving, warm and charming into the bargain. And yes, of course it's silly – but that’s very definitely a good thing, no matter what your age.
Illustration: Puffin Books Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Puffin: Charlotte's Web
Jenny Valentine: I remember exactly where I was when I read the infamous first lines of E B White's Charlotte's Web, sitting up in bed, a little too late at night, with the light still on. I was nine. 'Where's Papa going with that axe?' threw me head first into the tender, funny tale of a pig called Wilbur who cheats certain death over and over again thanks to the love of his friends. It's a book about the little guy. Wilbur doesn't feel like much at first. The lambs think he is 'less than nothing'. But when Charlotte calls him 'terrific' and 'radiant' he begins to feel it. In sparkling, crystal clear prose, White takes us into the world of the farmyard, all the sounds and smells and characters of Zuckerman's barn. Above all, it's a book that taught me empathy, that taught me that everyone has feelings we should care about. It's a testament to the power of his writing that he could make a nine-year-old girl weep salt tears about the fate of a spider.
Illustration: Puffin Books Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Puffin: Artemis Fowl
Jason Bradbury: I chose Artemis Fowl as my Puffin of Puffins because it's one of the books that has most impressed me in the last 10 years. Artemis himself is a fascinating collision of opposites, a quite complex character who is at once a dastardly arch-criminal and a likeable and fallible hero. The book itself is equally paradoxical: fairies and cutting-edge gadgetry, who would have thought that would work? Eoin Colfer for one, and judging by the book's phenomenal worldwide success, his vision for a 'Die Hard with Fairies' was spot on. It's also one of about 10 books that I constantly refer to when I'm writing my own books, mainly for Eoin's wicked sense of humour. Funny, edgy, thrilling and gadget-packed (with the odd leprechaun thrown in) – is it any wonder I'm Artemis's champion?
Illustration: Puffin Books Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Puffin: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Marcus Brigstocke: I didn't hesitate when I was asked which of the Puffin books I'd like to champion. It had to be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I grew up reading Roald Dahl and I love his work still. I read Dahl's books to my children with such delight that the stresses of school-night bedtime seem to float away on a magic river of chocolate. As a dyslexic child, quite fearful of reading, Dahl's ability to imagine not just FOR a child but AS a child spoke to me directly and brought the pages of his books to life in my mind, all in the wondrous anarchic shape of Quentin Blake's imagery. I was no Charlie Bucket (probably more of an Augustus Gloop) but when Willy Wonka hands his secrets, his magic and his entire factory to Charlie it makes me grin like I've just found my own golden ticket.
Illustration: Puffin Books Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Puffin: Goodnight Mr Tom
Cathy Cassidy: I first read Goodnight Mr Tom when I was in my early 20s, and fell in love with the story of a gruff old man and a lonely evacuee in wartime Britain. The book kept me hooked from the very start, and was in turn warm, wise, heart-breaking and hopeful. It touched on issues that I had never seen covered in a children's book before, and did so with sensitivity as well as honesty. Goodnight Mr Tom opened my eyes to a world of possibilities ... and I knew that, one day, I too wanted to write about real-life issues and explore the world of feelings, friendship and family. It showed me the power a story can have – to reach out and touch us, to make us feel understood, empowered, less alone. Many of my favourite books are Puffins, but this is the one I love most ... and always will.
Illustration: Puffin Books Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Puffin: Stig of the Dump
Jasper Fforde: The books that we read when young are the ones that stay with us. I was in the first flush of my reading career when Barney and Stig stepped into my imagination, and I don't think they have really been away since. They have settled into the comfy armchairs in the museum of my mind, along with such luminaries as the Cheshire Cat, Reepicheep, Charles Pooter and Simpkin. I found Stig of the Dump tremendously appealing: two lonely people thousands of years apart who could not understand one other, but spoke a common language of friendship. As one grows older the details of books inevitably fade, but the affection always remains. Even to this day I can never pass a pile of rusty scrap in a deserted quarry without wanting to see if there isn't something worth salvaging – or to perhaps catch a glimpse of a caveman in residence.
Illustration: Puffin Books Photograph: guardian.co.uk
 

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