Librarians sue Arkansas state over law banning them from giving ‘obscene’ books to children
Move comes as rightwing groups increase pressure to remove books, most written by or about members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new chapter books
A tale of folklore and magic from Angie Thomas, a hidden land of nature’s wonders and a town full of werewolf children are among the highlights this month
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
A concrete garden; a funny, uncompromising portrait of disability; an epic of ancient Greece; and the pick of new YA fiction
Travis Alabanza and Danielle Jawando win 2023 Jhalak prizes for writers of colour
Judges described None of the Above, Alabanza’s memoir about being genderqueer, as ‘desperately important’, and said every teenager should read Jawando’s young adult novel When Our Worlds Collided
Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit story originated in African folktales, expert argues
The unacknowledged debt Potter owed to the Brer Rabbit stories told by enslaved Africans deserves to be recognised, says scholar
Illustrated children’s biography of King Charles hits No 1 on UK book chart
Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara’s book, illustrated by Matt Hunt, is the first of the Little People, Big Dreams series to top the standings
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
A war between fruit and veg; a colourful study of germs; the world’s most badly behaved fairy; a masterful ghost story from the late Marcus Sedgwick; and more
Children read almost 25% more books last year, UK and Ireland study finds
What Kids Are Reading report found communities on sites such as TikTok helped stimulate interest in reading
Calls to ban books hit highest level ever recorded in the US
Demands to censor, most often for gender themes or sexual detail, rose 38% year on year in 2022, with Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe being last year’s ‘most challenged’ title
Kate Saunders obituary
Prize-winning novelist who won the Costa award for Five Children on the Western Front and whose Belfry Witches stories were adapted for TV
Peter Usborne obituary
Publisher whose eponymous company changed the face of children’s nonfiction with its fact-filled illustrated books
Judy Blume forever: the writer who dares to tell girls the plain truth
Remembered fondly by women of a certain age, but still relevant today, the American tween writer’s best-loved heroine is about to hit the big screen
Dogger to the rescue: how my mother’s books brought joy to the children of Ukraine
After the death last year of children’s author Shirley Hughes, her son took hundreds of her books, including the award-winning Dogger, to libraries in Ukraine
Alice Oseman reveals plans for sixth volume of Heartstopper graphic novels
Forthcoming fifth volume of the hit series was planned to be the last but writer says a sixth book will give characters ‘their final moment to shine’
Jill Barklem’s family find the tree that inspired her Brambly Hedge tales
The children’s author was famed for her intricate illustrations and the site in Epping Forest that inspired her – thought lost to storm damage – has been located still standing