Well done Lauren Child for being named as the new Children's Laureate.
As well as her wonderful Charlie and Lola stuff, and her fresh, contemporary illustrations of the classic Pippi Longstocking [is PL really over 70 years old??!!] Lauren has produced many other books, served as the Unesco Artist for Peace, spoken out against Library Closures, and comes across as a genuine, caring woman
She is a truly gifted writer and illustrator. Check out her beautifully designed website here.
Quotes from Lauren
"You have to listen to people first and hear what
they have to say, and particularly children who don't usually have much of a
voice, in order to understand what they have to cope with"
“Another problem is the fact there are so few Asian and
black children on the covers of picture books and on screen. They're not
present enough. And if they don't feel they're represented in a book, or a
film, or a TV programme, then how can they feel an equal part of society?
"That really is important. I see it more and more
because I have a daughter adopted from Mongolia and we're watching all kinds of
programmes and the characters are mainly white Caucasian. It's that look - it's
very often long blonde hair, blue eyes. She's not seeing herself. And very
often, if you do see a child, it's about an issue. It's not about just being a
child."
"There are many children who don't have access to books and they don't have access to books in their schools because a lot of schools don't have libraries. If we value literacy as much as we say we do and as much as we should, then children need that opportunity. So I worry about the haves and have-nots and giving children the opportunity to try things out.
I hope Rosie will have plenty of these books in her library - our family is big on both cycling and recycling!
I think LC is going to do a great job in this new role, and I wish her well.
Please can somebody send a copy of this one to POTUS - I think he can manage to read the long words [nothing as obscure as covfefe]
It's funny. FOW2 and I were never that bothered about Charlie and Lola but she LOVED Clarice Bean.
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