Meg Rosoff on finishing Mal Peet’s final book: ‘The collaboration kept me in dialogue with him months after he died’
Meg Rosoff describes the challenges – and joys – of finishing Beck, the final novel by her friend Mal Peet
Teenage fiction reviews – blame games, crimes and wonderment
Questions of guilt and stories of redemption abound in the latest roundup of the best young adult novels
Fiction for older children reviews – half-dead and dead funny
Horrid Henry author Francesca Simon fleshes out her teenage queen of hell, while Frank Cottrell Boyce’s screwball comedy has depth
How the Guardian covered the life of Beatrix Potter
It’s the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter, the author and illustrator who created Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tiggywinkle
Young Adult fiction’s counterfactual attraction to Nazi Germany
Extreme stories loom large in this genre, and the ‘biggest bad’ of the Third Reich holds a powerful fascination for many YA authors – and teen readers
Leslie ‘Dirty Den’ Grantham’s first children’s book – digested read
With Jack Bates and the Wizard’s Spell, the former EastEnders actor fancies his chances as a rival to JK Rowling. John Crace cuts the book down to size
Harry Potter and the curse of middle age: should fictional children ever grow up?
JK Rowling’s beloved characters are taking to the stage as adults in The Cursed Child. But are fans ever ready for their childhood heroes to grow up? Leading authors have their say
Reading Roald Dahl for the first time as an adult – a whizz-bang trip to childhood
Realising that I’d never actually read Roald Dahl’s books, I decided to catch up – and discovered a world of wild wordplay and reassuringly contained terror
Unsquashable squirts: the legacy of Roald Dahl’s girl heroes
The children’s author was a known womaniser and bigot. But in characters such as Matilda or The BFG’s Sophie, he wrote quietly valiant heroines who continue to give solace – even to grown women
Stop pushing the same ‘classic’ books on children and trust modern writing
The BBC’s #LoveToRead poll has produced a thoroughly predictable list, which risks making a wider world of reading a closed book to youngsters
Horrible Histories and Hetty Feather: how kids’ books become TV hits
CBBC series show how to get it right, but with only a few channels interested, success is hard to find
Dr Seuss will see you now
Interactive exhibition explores the world of the children’s author
David Almond’s The Savage, book-to-play – review
Bookgroup Millennium Riot Readers got to see David Almond’s stage adaptation of his book The Savages at the Live Theatre, in Newcastle. Here they tell us all about it
The Incomplete Book of Dragons, by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third by Cressida Cowell – review
Dragonflame: ‘as I am a dragonologist (also known as a dracologist), I find this book very handy!’
Horatio Clare and Penny Thomas win the Branford Boase award
Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot wins the award for first-time children’s authors and their editors