What is the Children's Laureate?
The role of Children's Laureate is awarded once every two years to an eminent writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field. The appointment of a Children's Laureate acknowledges the importance of exceptional children's authors in creating the readers of tomorrow.
Where did the idea come from?
The idea originated from a conversation between (the then) Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes, and children's writer, Michael Morpurgo.
Who selects the Children's Laureate?
Nominations are considered from a wide range of organisations representing librarians, critics, writers and booksellers. This year, children have been able to take part in a competition to nominate the next Children's Laureate.
Abingdon School's nominations
Boys were encouraged to nominate an author in a national competition and Fred Clamp-Gray (2E) came in the top ten of entries. He wrote a witty and persuasive nomination for one of his favourite authors, Caroline Lawrence, including a reference to her visit last year as Joint Abingdon Schools' Annual Author. As well as receiving some books as a prize from Booktrust, who organise the competition, Caroline Lawrence has kindly sent him a signed copy of one of her novels.
Past holders
The illustrator, Quentin Blake, was the first Children's Laureate 1999 - 2001 followed by:
Anne Fine 2001 - 2003
Michael Morpurgo 2003 - 2005
Jacqueline Wilson 2005 - 2007
Michael Rosen 2007 - 2009
Who will the next Children's Laureate be?
In a vote to celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 5 March this year, Abingdon boys voted overwhelmingly for Anthony Horowitz with Robert Muchamore second and Terry Pratchett and JK Rowling a close third.
The wait is over and Anthony Browne has been announced as the next Children’s Laureate. His picture books have become famous for their brilliantly realised, surreal images of gorillas He is the sixth children's author to hold the role, taking over from the poet Michael Rosen.
Browne said that he would use his two-year stint as laureate to focus on the appreciation of picture books, and the reading of both pictures and words.
"Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader's imagination, adding so much to the excitement of reading a book," he said. "Sometimes I hear parents encouraging their children to read what they call proper books (books without pictures), at an earlier and earlier age. This makes me sad, as picture books are perfect for sharing, and not just with the youngest children."
From The Guardian.
