Children’s Day reading list: 17 books for readers from the very young to those coming of age

Selections across poetry, picture books, novels, and graphic novels for young readers.

Sayari Debnath

· Nov 13, 2022 · 12:30 pm

What did lift-the-flap books look like in the 18th century?

‘Mother Shipton’, an exceptionally rare children’s book, has been acquired by the British Library.

Maddy Smith

· Oct 26, 2022 · 09:30 pm

For young readers: 15 books about the freedom movement and contemporary Indian history

The childhood of Bhimrao Ambedkar reimagined, the ecological history of independent India, a primer on Indian elections, and more.

Sayari Debnath

· Aug 23, 2022 · 05:30 pm

How best-selling writer Enid Blyton created the template for children’s theatre in Britain

‘Noddy’, the story of a wooden boy living in Toyland, was one of Blyton’s huge success stories.

Andrew Maunder, The Conversation

· Dec 26, 2021 · 11:30 pm

In ‘Coral Woman’, 45-year-old Uma Mani takes her first deep dive

Excerpts from the children’s book, based on a film of the same name by Priya Thuvassery.

Lubaina Bandukwala

· Nov 07, 2021 · 12:30 pm

Long before fairies were considered cute, they used to drink blood and kidnap children

Here’s how they came to be associated with childhood.

Sam George, The Conversation

· Nov 04, 2021 · 08:30 am

How ‘Cinderella’ lost its original feminist edge in the hands of men writers

In every incarnation, ‘Cinderella’ has historically been a story about women and for women.

Alexander Sergeant, The Conversation

· Jul 05, 2021 · 05:30 pm

Biggles turns 122: Why those who grew up in the 20th Century can never forget the fictional pilot

Introduced by his author, Captain WE Johns, in 1932, James Bigglesworth was everything a boy would dream of.

Ajay Mankotia

· May 26, 2021 · 05:30 pm

Was the decision to stop publishing six obscure Dr Seuss racist titles an erasure of history?

Media coverage of the controversy has presented it as an attack on free speech and yet another example of cancel culture censorship.

Monica Eileen Patterson, The Conversation

· Apr 19, 2021 · 05:30 pm

Cat in a spat: Why scrapping Dr Seuss books is not cancel culture

On what would have been Dr Seuss’s 117th birthday, plans were announced to halt publishing and licensing six of his books.

Kate Cantrell, The Conversation

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Sharon Bickle, The Conversation

· Mar 07, 2021 · 05:30 pm

When there is so much darkness in the world, should it really be kept out of children’s books?

So long as there is hope, children’s books need not shy away from reality.

Bijal Vachharajani

· Jan 10, 2021 · 12:30 pm

How footballer Marcus Rashford’s book club will bring literature to underprivileged children

The number of children reading every day for pleasure is at its lowest since 2005 in the UK.

Melanie Ramdarshan Bold, The Conversation

· Dec 03, 2020 · 05:30 pm