"The exceptional talents behind some of the nation’s best-loved books – from The Gruffalo to The BFG, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt to the Charlie and Lola series – the Children’s Laureates are the perfect ambassadors for children’s literature.
It’s been twenty wonderful years of the Laureateship and now all ten former honourees have banded together to celebrate the only way they know how: through stories, poems and pictures . Among others, Quentin Blake tells the stories behind his pictures of weird and wonderful beasts, Michael Morpurgo draws on childhood memories for a moving wartime tale and Michael Rosen plays with language and shapes in his witty, read-aloud poems. Each contribution is designed to inspire children to create their own work and is accompanied by a note from the authors – rare insights from the finest talent in the world of children’s books.
Above all else, Flights of Fancy celebrates the Laureateship’s most important achievement: encouraging children to let their imagination soar.
2017. 2018 Chris Riddell
2017, 2018 Quentin Blake
2018 Anne Fine
2018 Michael Morpurgo
2018 Jacqueline Wilson
2018 Michael Rosen
2010 Anthony Browne
2013, 2018 Julia Donaldson
2018 Malorie Blackman
1999, 2018 Lauren Child"
"A celebration of love from the author of Ottoline, Poems to Fall in Love With sees Chris Riddell select his very favourite classic and modern poems about love.
This beautiful collection explores love in all its guises, from silent admiration through passion to tearful resignation. These poems speak of the universal experiences of the heart.
Poems to Fall in Love With features famous poems, old and new, and a few surprises. Classic verses sit alongside the modern to create the ultimate collection. Includes poems from Neil Gaiman, Nikita Gill, Carol Ann Duffy, E. E. Cummings, Shakespeare, Leonard Cohen, Derek Walcott, Hollie McNish, Kae Tempest, John Betjeman and Roger McGough and many more.
Enjoy more poetry with Chris's Poems to Live Your Life By, one of the Bookseller's best poetry books of the last twenty-five years."
"The Kingdom of Thrynne is a place where fairy tales don’t behave, and magic can be found in unexpected places. But magic brings danger to Zam, Phoebe and Bathsheba, because it is forbidden. Now, the future of magic itself is under threat from powerful enemies: those who fear it and, worse, those who want to use it for their own ends. What can three ordinary children do to protect it?
In Guardians of Magic the award-winning, 2015-2017 UK Children's Laureate Chris Riddell weaves together a quest in which three ordinary children, with extraordinary gifts, come together to defeat the enemies who threaten the mysterious cloud horses. This is the first title in The Cloud Horse Chronicles series."
"Once Upon a Wild Wood is a richly imagined story packed full of familiar fairy tale characters as you've never heard them before. A fabulously funny adventure, full of warmth and wit - this is Chris Riddell at his best!
Little Green Raincape is on her way to Rapunzel's party, deep in the wild woods. The way is long and dark, but Green is a smart girl. Smart enough to turn down apples offered by kindly old ladies and smart enough to turn down travel advice from helpful wolves . . .
Above all, Green is smart enough to solve a wealth of classic fairy tale problems - not least mend a lovelorn beast's broken heart.
Including Red Riding Hood, Thumbelina, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, the Three Bears, the Seven Dwarfs - and many more - Once Upon a Wild Wood is a beautiful adventure for curious young readers."
"In Poems to Live Your Life By, Chris Riddell, former Children's Laureate and political cartoonist for the Observer, has selected his very favourite classic and modern poems about life, death and everything in between.
This beautiful collection includes forty-six poems and is divided into sections covering: musings, youth, family, love, imaginings, nature, war and endings - with famous poems, old and new, and a few surprises. Classic verses from William Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, W. B. Yeats and Christina Rossetti sit alongside poems from Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Carol Ann Duffy, Neil Gaiman and Roger McGough to create a truly enriching, wonderful collection."
"Lord Goth is throwing a music festival at Ghastly-Gorm Hall, with performances from the finest composers in the land. Ada can't wait, but it's quite distracting when her grandmother is trying to find her father a fashionable new wife, there's a faun living in her wardrobe and Maltravers is up to his old tricks. Ada must make sure everything goes to plan… and luckily help is at hand from a very interesting house guest."
"Ottoline is back! Ottoline and the Purple Fox is the fourth fantastical Ottoline adventure from 2015-2017 Children's Laureate and author of the Goth Girl books, Chris Riddell.
Ottoline and Mr Munroe love puzzles, clues and mysteries. One day, they meet an enigmatic purple fox, who offers to take them on a night-time urban safari. The fox shows them all the hidden animals of the city and Ottoline makes notes on them in her field notebook. Mr Munroe is making notes too - on the anonymous poems he finds stuck to lampposts on their journey . . .
Who is the secretive poet, and how can Mr Monroe and Ottoline help them mend their broken heart?
Ottoline and the Purple Fox is read by actress and comedian Ronni Ancona."
"People are flocking to Ghastly-Gorm Hall to compete in Lord Goth's Literary Dog Show. The judges are in place and the contestants are all ready to win. But there's something strange going on at Ghastly-Gorm - mysterious footprints, howls in the night and some suspiciously chewed shoes. Can Ada, the Attic Club and their new friends the Vicarage sisters work out what's going on before the next full moon?'"
"A brilliantly funny robot adventure from award-winning author Chris Riddell, creator of Once Upon a Wild Wood. Read by the broadcaster, actor and narrator of Hey Duggee, Alexander Armstrong.
Wendel is a very clever mouse - but not a very tidy one. If his inventions go wrong, Wendel just throws them away and starts again. So when Clunk, his robot assistant, fills the sock drawer with cups and saucers and makes tea in a Wellington boot, Wendel throws him on the scrapheap and makes himself a new assistant: the Wendelbot. But he gets more than he bargained for, and soon Wendel finds himself on the scrapheap! Can he win back his workshop from the mighty Wendelbot? Let the robot battle commence!
With Chris Riddell's characteristic verve and brilliance, Wendel and the Robots is a wonderfully funny, action-packed story full of surprises and extraordinary inventions, and with a subtle environmental message."
