The Portable Door review – Harry Potter-ish YA fantasy carried by hardworking cast
Jeffrey Walker’s adaptation of the young-adult fantasy novel retains its edge thanks to its performances, but gets stuck on the whole door thing
Judy Blume: book banning now much worse in US than in 1980s
Children’s and young adult author of 1970 book Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret says growing intolerance must be challenged
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
A bullying beetle; an Irish myth; the search for a magical beast; and a gripping coming-of-age story set in Ghana
Mary Rayner obituary
Children’s author who devised the adventures of the Pig family and illustrated stories including Dick King-Smith’s The Sheep-Pig
Eric Brown, science fiction author and Guardian critic, dies aged 62
Writers, publishers and agents pay tribute to a warm, generous figure, author of more than 50 books ranging from SFF to crime to children’s literature
Apocalyptic road trip story wins the Waterstones children’s book prize
The Cats We Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail – about a family’s trip across Malaysia during the impending end of the world – wins the older readers category, the overall prize and £5,000
Gunned down and burned by the Nazis: the shocking true story of Bambi
Walt Disney made Bambi a cutesy schmaltzfest for kids. But the original story was a brutal allegory by a Jewish writer who later fled the Nazis. As the character hits 100, we look at the iconic fawn’s extraordinary life
Carnegie medal for writing announces all-female shortlist
Seven authors are in the running for prize celebrating outstanding achievement in children’s writing
Many UK primary schoolchildren ‘drastically’ missing out on poetry
Research in January by Macmillan and CLPE found limited books and lack of teacher support means majority study or hear poetry less than once a week
The world can be overwhelming for children – that’s why I’ve reduced it to 100 people
My book makes daunting statistics easy to understand, opening young people up to different ways of thinking about the world, says children’s writer Jackie McCann
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new chapter books
A pair of historical novels focus on different aspects of the 70s, while gender identity is a theme in an array of strong new adventures
The Guardian view on children’s reading: a gift that should be for all
Editorial: With stressed families less likely to have time and money to spare for books, young readers are losing out. It’s time to boost school libraries
Roald Dahl is the last thing we should worry about on World Book Day
More important than culture-war noise are the multiple threats to British children learning to love books of any kind
‘Why can’t we be the hero?’: George Webster on acting, ambition, romance and big breaks
He is a CBeebies star, a Bafta winner, an author and an ambassador for people with Down’s syndrome. Is there anything George can’t do? Well, there is one thing, says his mother …
Roald Dahl threatened publisher with ‘enormous crocodile’ if they changed his words
Conversation with Francis Bacon emerges amid the row over updating controversial language in the children’s author’s books