8 children’s authors on their comfort reads
Many children’s authors appearing at the Book Festival will have written stories that are remembered by their young readers for decades to come. But what about some of those scribes themselves: what are the children’s books they read as wee ones (or later in life) which had an enormous impact?
Rashmi Sirdeshpande
One of my all-time favourite reads is Please Mrs Butler, a poetry collection by the wonderful Allan Ahlberg. It’s funny, clever, memorable and full of the most fantastic observations about primary school life, little meaningful details that are just so spot on for children and teachers alike. It has a timeless, enduring quality to it too. It still makes me smile and still resonates with readers of all ages. Amazing when you think about it!
5 August, 10.15am, 1pm, 4.30pm.
Nat Luurtsema
I was raised mildly Church Of England but not really. And yet, as an anxious, controlling child, I used to pray all the time and I have NEVER felt more seen than when I read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and realised Margaret and I treated god like a meek friend we could ramble at and never feel obliged to go, ‘anyway, enough about me, how are you? Hair looks nice’. It was like Judy Blume knew me. Self-awareness is important but so cringe.
15 August, 4.30pm.
Harriet Muncaster
One of my absolute favourite books is The Borrowers by Mary Norton because I absolutely adore books about miniature people, and the borrowers’ world is so cosy and heavily detailed. It’s almost as though the author had experienced being a tiny person herself! I find these books absolutely enchanting and they are always a comfort read for me. Plus the nature descriptions, once the borrowers venture into the outdoors, are beautiful too.
16 August, 11.45am.
Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara
My favourite children’s book was Gnomes by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet. I found it under the Christmas tree when I was seven. Filled with maps, diagrams, measurements, habits and extraordinary details, I didn’t read it as a story but as a fact book. There was so much information that I became convinced it couldn’t have been invented. Surely no one could make up that much. It had to be true. Looking back, I think it taught me one of the most magical things a book can do: make the impossible feel real.
16 August, 2pm.
Dean Atta
My favourite children’s book is Julián Is A Mermaid, written and illustrated by Jessica Love. The illustrations are so beautiful: Julián and his grandmother and the other cast of characters are drawn with such love and care. The story of a little black boy being supported by his grandmother to explore his identity and express himself through costume and play speaks strongly to my inner child. I love stories that explore children’s relationships with close and supportive adults beyond their parents, such as aunts, uncles and grandparents. Another wonderful example of this is Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate.
17 August, 11.15am; 18 August, 11.15am.
Anna James
The first time I read Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland I was fascinated and baffled, but it’s a book I’ve come to love and appreciate more every time I go back. Lewis Carroll began a new era of children’s fiction, putting nonsense, wonder and wit at its heart instead of moralising and didacticism. Wonderland and its inhabitants invite readers and writers to return again and again, including myself: Alice With A Why is a novel where I imagined what might happen if Alice’s granddaughter found herself at a very familiar tea party.
23 August, 4.30pm.
Alex Milway
I have to choose Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson. The Moomins hold such a dear place in my heart and this book has everything you could want from a story. In a glistening world of snow-laden trees and frozen seas, there’s comedy and adventure, sadness and hope, not to mention creepy little creatures dancing around bonfires. And then there’s the beautifully perfect illustrations. This is a story to prove you can find love and friendship even in the darkest, loneliest of places.
29 August, 1pm.
Cressida Cowell
As a child, my favourite book was The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones. When I was eight I read it so many times that it fell apart. It made me realise how wonderful books could be, with chemicals that make you fly and magic that is true. When I was nine, I read it aloud to my younger siblings, and they laughed and begged to hear the next chapter. Thirty-five years later, I read it to my own children. The reason I am a children’s book writer is partly that I want the children of today to experience the joy I had as a child. I have never met a child who does not love this book.
30 August, 1.30pm.
All events at Edinburgh Futures Institute.