The best new children’s books to buy for Easter 2022
Picture books The death of 94-year-old Shirley Hughes has robbed children’s fiction of one of its most cherished names. While she is best known for stories such…
The rise of the TikTok toddler
As with everyone, pre-schoolers are susceptible to the surge in dopamine – the feel-good chemical produced in the brain – that smartphone apps produce. “The body seeks…
Sonic the Hedgehog 2, review: a bizarre romantic subplot puts the brakes on the Sega hero
One of the biggest surprises of 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog was that a film based on a video-game character known for running very fast through multicoloured fantastical…
Dear Richard Madeley: ‘My father-in-law is attempting to manipulate my teenage daughter’
Dear Richard, My husband and I met 19 years ago and married within six months. We have two children of our own, a boy and a girl;…
Dear Richard Madeley: ‘How can I tell our son to stop having loud sex in our house?’
Dear Richard, My son came home from university with a lovely girl in tow. As we live near where the two of them work, we invited her…
Why Thailand should be your children’s first long-haul holiday
I watched from the deck of our villa on the island of Koh Yao Noi in southern Thailand as the first spark of white light tipped above…
Jacqueline Wilson interview: I avoid some subjects – but children aren’t such innocent little things
She knows she is fortunate that, in her mid-70s, she is still going strong. Her father died of heart and kidney failure in his 50s. “I’ve had…
Exclusive: a new Michael Morpurgo war story for children, inspired by Ukraine
I wasn’t too upset. Most of my school friends had left long ago. Anything was better than living in the basement waiting for the next bomb to…
Carnegie Medal: Children’s book prize shortlist deals with war, death and racism
Britain’s foremost children’s book prize has unveiled a shortlist that covers war, death and racial oppression, suggesting that fiction can help readers to make sense of events…
It isn’t shocking – or radical – for Pixar to tackle puberty
Besides, how can alluding to menstruation through a box full of period products – which Mei’s mother produces in one scene – be inappropriate for young audiences,…
Where to have a family holiday this year with unvaccinated children
Egypt Fully vaccinated arrivals face no further rules for entry to Egypt while unvaccinated over-12s can enter with a proof of a negative PCR test taken within…
In her children’s books, Shirley Hughes captured the magic of the ordinary
My elder girl would insist I identify every person in every crowd scene on every page – and then scold me if it differed from the previous…
Shirley Hughes tribute: ‘If you’ve read Dogger, you can probably relax about other literature’
Just in case you don’t know, this is the story of Dogger: Dave loses his beloved toy dog, Dogger. The next day at the school fair, his…
How to talk to children about war
According to Joe Brassington, a primary school teacher and co-author of Bottled, a picture book to help children share their feelings, using the past two years and…
25 best day trips to celebrate the beginning of spring
Ever wondered what to do with watercress? This colourful street party in pretty Alresford, Hampshire, has all the answers. Stallholders at the festival are challenged to come…
Where can I take my children on holiday this year?
Turkey Fully vaccinated travellers do not need to take a test for entry to Turkey, with children aged 11 and under exempt from entry rules. However, arrivals…
Six things the British can teach Danes about parenting
Our surveys on happiness do not historically suggest a land of contented kids, but the Department for Education’s paper this month on children and young people’s wellbeing…
Kate Clanchy: How my memoirs were sullied to suit Twitter’s woke agenda
Perhaps this is a reflection of the sensitivity read’s origins in children’s and young adult fiction. There are good reasons for regulating children’s reading: it is foundational…
My memoirs were sullied to suit Twitter’s woke agenda
Perhaps this is a reflection of the sensitivity read’s origins in children’s and young adult fiction. There are good reasons for regulating children’s reading: it is foundational…
How Tom Hardy made CBeebies Bedtime Stories a star magnet
At 6.50pm on Sunday night, via the medium of television, a major Royal will address the nation. She will not, however, talk about her annus horribilis or…
World’s most expensive drug helps boy but is too late for sister
An 11-year-old boy with a rare genetic condition is now able to live a normal life after being treated with the world’s most expensive drug, which is…
‘Grange Hill would never get made today’
Yet it’s precisely this stealth globalisation of the media landscape that Home believes is the problem. Much of the stuff targeted at children by the streaming giants…
The woke push to cancel fairy tales lets daylight into the magic
Once Upon a Time there was a boy called Jack who traded in his cow for beans in order to demonstrate the merits of agri-entrepreneurship. But a…
Dear Richard: ‘My adult son has turned our home into a war zone’
Dear Richard, Since graduating with a 2:1 in the summer, our 23-year-old son has returned home but has done almost nothing since. He has got into a…
I’ve said no to after school clubs – if my kids get bored, brilliant?
Ssh! Don’t tell the other mums, but I am actively dissuading my kids from after-school clubs. It’s not at all fashionable but I’m actively resisting enrolling my…