Littlest Librarian

Adventures in children's literature

My trip to Judy-land

Of all the authors I’ve been lucky enough to interview over the years, none – not even that impish seer Margaret Atwood, with whom I once conducted an entire conversation in the apt position of supplicant, crouched at her feet for want of a chair – made me quite so giddy as Judy Blume. It’s all to […]

Julia Donaldson and Helen Oxenbury on books to scare and thrill

So here’s the thing. Until my daughter was born, I’d managed to live in total ignorance of the branding juggernaut that is Julia Donaldson. I’d vaguely heard of a creature called the Gruffalo but was wholly unprepared for walking into the books section of a certain high street stationer and finding it blanketed by her. […]