Britain's Children's Laureate Scheme has now been running for 14 years. This article asks Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Browne, Michael Rosen and Julia Donaldson for their views on their own experience of taking up this post. It concludes with a discussion of the recurring issues raised by these…

While stories with a depressing message are now common for teenagers, resistance to them remains where smaller children are concerned. But is this more a case of the publishers and providers concerned protecting their own particular image of childhood? This article looks at the case for books that also convey a sense of sadness to infants,…

Claims that although the Harry Potter stories--with their old-fashioned plots, settings, and characterizations--entertain richly, they rarely provoke, question, or inform. Suggests other contemporary writers who are pushing forward are equally exciting. (NH)

Discusses the importance and the effect of pictures and illustrations in children's literature. (RB)

Notes that F.H. Anstey's children's novel "Vice Versa" is unusual for its day (1882) because it attacks Victorian fathers and insensitive boarding school teachers, and points out how cruel children can be to one another when maintaining their own power structures. (JC)

Discusses the children's books written by Noel Streatfield and Arthur Ransome on the basis of their biographies. Concludes that both wrote about middle-class characters who must face adversity.

Reviews trends revealed in children's books that have a school setting. (HOD)

Discusses and assesses the writings and the work of author Arthur Ransome, a writer of children's literature in the 1930s. Argues that Ransome always wrote well, took pains to provide children with adventures that could very nearly have happened, and occasionally "wrote well enough for adults, too." (SR)

Examines the issues in adjudicating disputes between critics and experts over quality in children's literature. Finds that critics look for the best work, and popularity is irrelevant to them, while the "expert" looks for books that define the time that the expert lives in. Explores one critic/expert debate over Katharine Tozer's "Mumfie Marches…