Why waste your time on social media when you could be flicking through picture books?
From histories of opera to compendiums of mosses, they’re beautiful, expertly written and don’t leave you feeling grubby, writes Joel Snape. What’s not to like?
Dog Man: The Musical review – Dav Pilkey’s megastar mutt sniffs out the spotlight in a barking show
A part-canine cop, a villainous cat and a psychokinetic butterflyfish burst into song as the wildly popular children’s books are adapted for the stage
Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
Dogs v bears from Max Porter; a baby adventure; an Irish boarding school murder mystery; and an unsettling YA folk horror
Raymond Briggs’s library goes on sale at his local Oxfam shop
Books belonging to the beloved creator of The Snowman and When the Wind Blows were donated by his estate after his death
The Guardian view on Patrice Lawrence: a children’s laureate for our times
Editorial: The author of the bestselling young-adult novel Orangeboy is ideally suited to address the crisis of teenage masculinity and reading
‘I presumed kids’ books were written by people who were white and dead’: new children’s laureate Patrice Lawrence
The author of Orangeboy, Indigo Donut and Is That Your Mama? plans to use her two-year term to ensure children isolated from reading get involved
Patrice Lawrence chosen as new children’s laureate
Writer of YA novels Orangeboy and Needle takes over from Frank Cottrell-Boyce and plans to highlight how reading can foster connection in fragmented times
The best toys and gifts for seven-year-olds, chosen by parents and kids
Potion kits, walkie-talkies and interactive pets … here are our top picks for seven-year-olds (without a Labubu in sight)
Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
A mouse detective; a fresh take on the Odyssey; a dangerous wish; and the world’s most watched reality TV show
Jane Yolen obituary
Author who wrote more than 400 books for adults and children and was praised for her inventive retellings of fairytales
70 brilliant books for the summer
From dynamite debuts to must-read memoirs and magical children’s fiction, here’s our selection of this year’s hottest holiday reads. Plus leading authors share their favourites
‘Pleasure and invigoration’: Diana Evans wins UK’s Jhalak prose prize
Awards for prose, children’s writing and poetry, for writers of colour in UK and Ireland, come with £1,000
The Guardian view on the UK’s first centre for illustration: visual literacy, and the sheer joy of images, matter
Editorial: A national institution for this overlooked artform shows it is finally getting the recognition it deserves
‘Nothing is too much for a child’: the Norwegian books for kids tackling taboo topics from IVF to incest
In the Nordic country, books covering subjects such as childbirth and sex have become bestsellers among younger readers – and an export hit. Behind their success lies a unique philosophy of childhood learning
‘I am very serious about being silly’: children’s illustrators on the art of storytelling
From The Twits to the Gruffalo… Quentin Blake, Cressida Cowell, Axel Sheffler, Lauren Child and more reveal how they bring children’s books to life