My inspiration: Martin Brown on political cartoonists

The Horrible Histories illustrator Martin Brown didn’t get there from children’s book illustrations, he came from cartoons – and maybe that’s why the Horrible Histories turned out the way they did!

How well do you know the new children’s laureate, Chris Riddell?

Do you know your Goth Girl from your Bandabear? Take our fiendish quiz to find out!

Joe Abercrombie’s top 10 Viking stories

George RR Martin said that Joe Abercrombie’s Shattered Sea trilogy “grabbed me and refused to let go”. Here the fantasy author picks his favourite Viking tales, from Beowulf to Blood Feud

Gary Northfield’s top 10 fun Roman facts

Did you know that without the Romans we wouldn’t have cats in Britain? Just think - no more YouTube cute kitten videos! But...they also introduced cabbage. Find out more fun facts about the Romans from Julius Zebra author Gary Northfield

What are the best children’s books on the second world war?

To mark the 70th anniversary of VE Day, children’s authors including Shirley Hughes, Michael Morpurgo, SF Said, Piers Torday and Katherine Rundell, together with children’s books site members, share their favourite books set in or about the second world war

Which children’s books sum up the decade they were published?

Brandon Robshaw (AKA the dad in Back in Time for Dinner) picks out the children’s books from the 1950s to the 2000s that seem to sum up each decade

Why is children’s poetry so invisible?

Chrissie Gittins says it’s time to get confident about children’s poetry, children love it – so publishers, bookshops and libraries should stop hiding it and start celebrating

Sample delights from the CLPE poetry award 2015 shortlist

Looking for great children’s poetry? Check out the brilliant collections that have been shortlisted for this year’s Centre for Literacy in Primary Education prize and sample some of the poems – plus find out how to get involved in the poetry award shadowing scheme

Cece Bell: I wanted to show what it felt like to be the only deaf kid at my school

An interview with the author of a remarkable, Newbery honour-winning, graphic novel El Deafo, based on Cece Bell’s own childhood growing up with hearing problems. The Whiteheath Book Ninjas got to find out why she wrote it

Move over, sexy beasts, and make way for the real literary hero, Gilbert Blythe

The Anne of Green Gables male lead is a unique feminist dreamboat whose boots Darcy, Heathcliff and all other rivals in classic novels are unfit to tie

Why writing stories about climate change isn’t fantasy or sci-fi

Piers Torday loved reading end of the world books when he was growing up, and his Last Wild books have been dubbed “cli-fi” but if you think stories showing the effects of climate change are futuristic fantasies, think againRead the first chapter of the final book in the The Last Wild trilogy, The Wild Beyond

What are the best eco books for children and teens?

Authors including David Almond, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Katherine Rundell plus teen site members share the books that made them think more deeply about climate change and environmental themes. Now share yours!

Welcome to our eco-themed week – an overview

All this week we’ll be focusing on one topic - the most important topic in the world: climate change. Find out why, and what’s lined up

Fiction for older children – reviews

Outlandish plots, unlikely friendships and strange conspiracies mark out the best of the current bunch for middle-years youngsters

Growing up I thought Filipinos weren’t allowed to be in books

The western dominated BBC’s greatest children’s books of all time poll for International children’s book day was particularly poignant for author Candy Gourlay, who grew up reading UK/US imports with pink-skinned characters. Now she argues that we’ve all got to get out there and read more diverse books