Favourite Writers
A useful resource for libraries and schools, this is one of two books (the other is about poets) which introduce children to the creators of well known books. Each spread has one page of background information about the writer in question, quotes from one of their books, a photograph of a front cover, a selected bibliography as well as suggestions of other authors to sample. The second page has a photograph of the author with 'Your questions' covering obvious areas such as how they got into writing, inspiration for writing, ambitions, favourite books which they have written and other comments. Writers included are David Almond, Malorie Blackman, Children's Laureate, Anne Fine and former Laureate, Quentin Blakeman, Children's Laureate, Anne Fine and former Laureate, Quentin Blake, Phillip Pullman, Terry Pratchett. Obviously, everyone's favourite writer is different but there are notable omissions, such as Jenny Nimmo and Lesley Howarth. Writers for younger children such as Martin Waddell and Shirley Hughes are overlooked, whilst other well-liked authors such as Jill Murphy, Gillian Cross, Jill Paton Walsh and Michael Foreman get only the briefest of mentions.