Children’s authors welcome Ofsted’s move to lighten stress on testing
Writers including Frank Cottrell Boyce and Piers Torday cheer announcement that the schools inspectorate will now reward a broader style of education
Can picture books meet the crisis in children’s mental health?
With more and more children seeking psychological help, Matt Haig is one of a wave of authors trying to reach troubled youngsters with stories
James Patterson says saving libraries is down to readers
Speaking during Libraries Week, the thriller writer, who has donated large sums to fund reading in schools, says ‘it really starts with the people’
Tamora Pierce: ‘Everybody thinks fantasy is so safe. Are you kidding?’
Her tales of female knights have made her a favourite for girl readers since the 80s. She talks about bringing ‘the rawness of reality’ to her fiction
A giant called Labour, a villain called Tory: Keir Hardie’s forgotten fairytales republished
The Labour party founder’s socialist children’s story is being reprinted with almost 50 others written for turn-of-the-century workers’ magazines
Browse a bookshop: Moon Lane Books, south London
Bestsellers and recommended reads from the newest member of the Moon Lane family
Michael Morpurgo on Bradwell-on-Sea: ‘The exhilaration of infinite beauty’
The author recalls spotting skylarks and shouting into the sea wind in the Essex village that became the home of his dreams
Roger Mainwood obituary
Film director and animator who brought Raymond Briggs’s stories to life on screen
And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness review – moral choices in an undersea world
Moby-Dick is reimagined from the whale’s point of view in this lyrical, pacey tale
Matilda at 30: ‘She would have been prime minister for a couple of years by now’
Stand-up comedian, astrophysicist or author: what would Roald Dahl’s book-loving psychic have become? Children’s authors imagine Matilda’s future, alongside new illustrations by Quentin Blake
Matilda, stay young: why seeing Roald Dahl’s hero at 30 is bittersweet
Quentin Blake’s new depictions of Matilda highlight how slow progress is in the real world, writes children’s author Cressida Cowell
Dara Ó Briain: ‘Who do I write science books for? The curious’
It’s tricky knowing where to pitch a book for children – either you overshoot or undershoot, says the comedian and author of Secret Science
How Tracy Beaker turned out: Jacqueline Wilson on the return of her most famous creation
Tracy Beaker is back, as a single mum living on a council estate. The bestselling author talks about ‘grit-fic’, selfie-culture – and what she won’t write about
Children’s and teens roundup: the best new picture books and novels
A return to the jungle, kidnaps in Paris, and a biscuit-loving flying pony
John Cunliffe obituary
Creator of the Postman Pat stories, who depicted a community-spirited but disappearing world