Picture books for children reviews – lessons in kindness

A gentle introduction to the refugee crisis – plus tales of big hair and a baby bandit

The Swish of the Curtain: an anarchic children’s classic rises again

Pamela Brown’s madcap 1941 tale of stagestruck children inspired the likes of Dame Maggie Smith and Eileen Atkins to start acting. Now it’s stepping back into the limelight

Children’s and teens roundup: the best new picture books and novels

Dogs and jungle animals for young ones, politics and mysteries for older readers

Sexist Little Miss books? Bedtime reading is always a gender minefield

The row over stereotyping in the world of Little Miss Bossy and Little Miss Shy ignores the prejudice found in many children’s classics

The Lifters by Dave Eggers review – a strong first children’s book

The plot may not be very original, but Dave Eggers can’t write a boring sentence - kids will love this tale of dark underground forces

Teenage books round-up: feminism and fairy tales

A vivid history of the suffragettes and a new version of The Little Mermaid are among this month’s standouts

Michael Morpurgo: My family fought for peace, not for Brexit

The War Horse author remembers the uncles who inspired his latest book, In the Mouth of the Wolf, and who taught him that peace must come before prosperity

Mary and the Witch’s Flower review – charming Japanese children’s adventure

A little girl takes a magical broomstick ride to a school for witches in this appealing animation from the director of When Marnie Was There

Domestic dramas are crowding out adventures, warn children’s book prize judges

Entries for this year’s Branford Boase prize show a preponderance of inward-looking family stories at the expense of more outward-bound storytelling, say judges

David Almond on Felling: ‘I didn’t want to be a northern writer’

The novelist explains how he returned to the streets of Tyneside in fiction, blending memory and imagination

Children’s and teens roundup: the best new picture books and novels

Novels in verse, rival puffins and what really happened after Humpty Dumpty’s great fall

Vetting for stereotypes: meet publishing’s ‘sensitivity readers’

Publishers hoping to avoid offence are increasingly turning to sensitivity readers. But is this good practice, censorship, or just another way of maintaining privilege?

Virago to publish two new collections by Ballet Shoes author Noel Streatfeild

The forgotten stories, discovered among the late writer’s papers, will be published beginning in November with Christmas Story Collection

Why no stories for rebel children? Don’t divide young readers by gender

Yes, girls need to read more about women like Ada Lovelace, but so do boys. Labelling books by gender only reinforces stereotypes, writes campaigner Tricia Lowther

Good Night Stories for Rebel … Boys? Male versions of bestseller arrive on shelves

After the huge success of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, similar projects for boys are beginning to showcase men like Grayson Perry, Stormzy and Usain Bolt