UK YA’s first ever web series based on a book: CJ Daugherty’s Night School

American teen and YA books have been at it for a while, but now UK YA is planning a YouTube takeover! Watch the first webisode of Night School the web series, right here, right now

Personalised books for children shouldn’t have a bad name

I used to think that inserting a particular child’s name into a story was missing the point of imaginative stories. Reader, I was wrong

Defending Zoella: 10 reasons not to hate on Zoe Sugg

It looks like Zoe Sugg’s bestselling super hit Girl Online may have been written with the help of a ghostwriter – but does that even matter? Author Matt Haig makes his case in Zoella’s defence

Baddies in books: The Gruffalo’s double-edged menace

Nigel Pollitt: He’s great to have around when you want to terrify anyone coming after you, but watch out when he gets hungry

My inspiration: Sarwat Chadda on Indian hero, Rama

Rama, hero of the Hindu epic the Ramayana, showed the author of the Ash Mistry trilogy what true heroism is: swords and magic armour aside, it means self-sacrifice, humility and defending the weak

Terry Jones: why fairytales don’t have to be Grimm

Terry Jones found traditional fairy stories too scary to read to his daughter, so he wrote his own. Now, his favourite – Nicobobinus – has been turned into a musical

The Forty Rules of Love – review

Afzii47: 'I really liked the novel and most of it is because of Shams of Tabriz, from his rules of love to his strong personality to his love and belief on god everything was mesmerizing'

Zoe Sugg’s Girl Online is fastest selling book of the year

YouTube star Zoella’s first book sells 78,000 copies in its first week, the highest first week’s sales of a new author ever

My inspiration: Satoshi Kitamura on why he loves Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy and manga

When Satoshi Kitamura came to the UK he was shocked to find reading comics was looked down on, things were very different when he was growing up in Japan...

Jacqueline Woodson responds to Lemony Snicket author’s ‘ignorant’ racist remarks

African American author publishes essay condemning Daniel Handler for ‘making light of a deep and troubled history’

Snow by Walter de la Mare – video

Happy December everyone! Now we are officially allowed to think about Christmas and wintery things – so let’s get in the mood with a very beautiful animation

Love letters to libraries: Michael Morpurgo

The author of War Horse makes a passionate plea for free books for children - and demonstrates their importance with a scene from his novel I Believe in Unicorns, in which a librarian inspires a small boy’s love for books and reading

Treasure Island: Long John Silver is a secret father figure

The National Theatre is putting on Treasure Island for Christmas. Beneath Robert Louis Stevenson’s vivid pirate adventure, it’s really a story about family relationships, says the former poet laureate

Little Women’s unfortunate brothers

Louisa May Alcott’s sequels to the evergreen story of the March sisters, Little Men and Jo’s Boys, lose the original’s vitality and feminist spirit

Jacqueline Woodson: ‘I don’t want anyone to feel invisible’

The children’s author, whose triumph at the National Book awards was marred by a racist gaffe, on swimming against the tide in a white industry and how her own story is entwined with that of America