It's the 20th Anniversary of the Waterstones Children's Laureateship, in partnership with Booktrust and Walker Books are publishing this very special book to celebrate the talents of Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson, Anthony Browne, Malorie Blackman, Chris Riddell and Lauren Child. So yep, a "who's who" of just about all our favourite book folk then, so you just know this is going to be good!
Children's Laureates are the perfect ambassadors for children's literature, and have each spent their years working in conjunction with Book Trust and other organisations to promote and enhance children's literary experiences in each case.
This beautiful gift anthology marks twenty wonderful years of the Laureateship, with some wonderful anecdotes from each of the laureates from their time in the chair, to stories, poems and pictures by all ten former honourees. 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 imaginations soar.
50p from every copy sold goes to Booktrust.
Sum this book up in a sentence: A fantastic collection of inspirational stories, poems and illustrations from some of the mightiest talents working in kid lit today.
"Flights of Fancy" by various authors and artists, is out now published by Walker Books (kindly supplied for review).