Daniel Handler AKA Lemony Snicket: ‘I return to Toni Morrison’s Beloved every five years’
The Unfortunate Events author on getting nightmares from Dr Seuss, Raymond Chandler’s brawny wit and the ghost story he read to tatters
Summer reading: 50 of the best new books to dive into
Fresh debuts, long-awaited sequels, must-read memoirs ... the best new books of the season. Plus our pick of paperbacks and children’s fiction
Pamela Allen on Mr McGee and turning 90: ‘I’ve always known what I’m doing is good’
From Who Sank the Boat? to Alexander’s Outing, Allen’s picture books are beloved. But after losing her husband she’s written a new book to ‘re-establish my sense of worth’
‘Extraordinary’ Joseph Coelho novel wins Carnegie medal for children’s writing
‘Extraordinary’ novel The Boy Lost in the Maze takes prestigious honour while sister prize for illustration goes to Aaron Becker’s wordless The Tree and the River
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
Golden numbers; an intergalactic snail trail; an immersive guide to art; a tale of hope amid poverty; and a girl who can’t lie
Books for a better world: as chosen by Lenny Henry, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Andrew O’Hagan and others
Game-changing books that offer hope, as recommended by speakers at this year’s Hay festival, including Theresa May, Tom Holland, Helen Garner and Jon Ronson
On my radar: Daniel Handler, AKA Lemony Snicket, on his cultural highlights
The US children’s author and novelist on a sublime musical trio, how spices reinvigorated his cooking, an addictive ‘mid-19th century’ BBC panel show and being floored by a new jazz track
More than a quarter of readers of YA are over the age of 28 research shows
Report commissioned by HarperCollins shows that uptake in YA fiction in older readers is due to behavioural changes described as ‘emerging adulthood’ or delaying ‘adult’ life
Swearing, snogging and spying: Cherub’s cool teenage secret agents hit 20
Robert Muchamore’s series of novels about young undercover intelligence operatives with troubled lives shook up the sanitised world of early noughties YA literature
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new chapter books
Lauren Child brings a light touch to big issues, Elle McNicoll explores autism – and a secret society is at work in Paris’s sewers
Martha Mills young writers’ prize open for entries
Philip Pullman will help choose this year’s winners of award set up in memory of the keen young writer who died aged 13 in 2021
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
An ungrammatical egg; a demystifying approach to death; 10 new poets to read aloud; and a stunning gothic mystery
‘She was like an auntie to me’: Lynne Reid Banks remembered by Michael Morpurgo
The astonishing breadth of her writing was a great inspiration – as was she, in her passionate advocacy for children’s books
Elmer and the climate crisis: lost story by David McKee set to be published
The late illustrator’s elephant hero is to star in a new ecological fable after the discovery of a rough manuscript and drawings
Greg James apologises for suggestion a glass eye would make Roald Dahl Twit disgusting
Promotional video for a Twits spin-off book by broadcaster and his colleague Chris Smith is criticised by charity for the blind