I was jumping for joy yesterday when I found out that the queen of picture books, Julia Donaldson, has been named the Children’s Laureate in the United Kingdom for 2011-2013.
Presented every two years to a writer or illustrator of children’s books to celebrate outstanding achievement, the award carries a bursary of £15,000.
You’ll probably know Julia as the creator of The Gruffalo, one of the most recognisable characters in the world of children’s books, but she has also written many other books including A squash and a squeeze, Room on the broom, The snail and the whale, and her latest picture book, Cave baby.
Each Children’s Laureate has a particular passion that they focus on during their time, and Julia plans to bring her passion for spoken word, rhyme, song and drama to the fore. ‘With my background in plays and song-writing, I am particularly keen to develop projects which link books with drama and music, and to explore the ways performance can help children enjoy reading and grow in confidence,’ she said on the Children’s Laureate blog.
Julia Donaldson is a brilliant author who will be a wonderful Children’s Laureate. I’ll look forward to seeing what she can achieve.
