Jake Hayes

Drama on 4 - The Goblin King and Me - BBC Sounds A story about a real-life encounter with David Bowie, marking ten years since his passing.

I highly recommend this drama by @paulmagrs.bsky.social which puts a magical spin on a true story about an encounter with David Bowie in the 1980s: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Pick up a Puffin with 25% off (along with everything else) in the #TygertaleVintage January sale.

www.etsy.com/uk/shop/tyge...

#ukkidlit #booksky

The best in the business

And it's now on the list, thanks to you x

The 100 Best Children’s Books of the 21st Century In September the Guardian published the 100 books of the 21st Century. It contained only five children’s books, two of which were published in the year 2000 – wrong century – and featur…

And if you're looking for new children's books,
@tygertale.bsky.social has just updated his crowd-sourced list of the Best Children's Books of the 21st Century. It's a wonderful list that shows this really is a golden age - just have a look!
tygertale.com/2025/11/28/t...

I just watched the author read it on YouTube - brilliance! Will pick up a copy when I see one.

Don't Trust Fish looks like my perfect picture book!

The 100 Best Children’s Books of the 21st Century In September the Guardian published the 100 books of the 21st Century. It contained only five children’s books, two of which were published in the year 2000 – wrong century – and featur…

When there’s an article about reading, the author often focuses on the C20th as if they too don’t understand the link between not reading and not feeling represented. Thankfully, @tygertale.bsky.social put this list together

Tell me what you agree/disagree with

tygertale.com/2025/11/28/t...

I'm looking for the best children's books of the 21st century. There are so many amazing graphic novels, fantasy, historical, picture books, contemporary, non-fiction and funny books that didn't make my original crowd sourced list - please tell me yours! tygertale.com/2019/10/09/t... #kidlituk

Rosemary Sandberg – From the Puffin Club to Picture Lions Last week saw the 50th anniversary of the hugely influential Puffin Club, the children’s book group that brought a generation of readers together with each other and their favourite authors. By coi…

Sad to hear about the passing of Rosemary Sandberg, co-founder of the Puffin Club with Kaye Webb and later editor of Collins' rival to Puffin, Lions and Picture Lions.

I interviewed Rosemary about her fascinating career in 2017, you can read the piece here:

tygertale.com/2017/03/28/r...

The pressure to publish more and faster was one of the most frustrating things about working in publishing. If I could say ONE thing to the publishing industry about how to make things better, it would be this: do not publish anything you are not going to support well with marketing.

Tom's Midnight Garden

Yes please

A lovely illustration ❤️

Katherine Rundell · Why children’s books? Children’s books, to a great extent because they are written for those who cannot participate in the market, can offer...

‘Children’s writing is by far the work I find hardest, because it has its own urgent imperatives, and its own laws, and those laws are both the laws of writing and the laws of childhood: laws that must be taken seriously.’

Katherine Rundell:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Simon & Schuster imprint will no longer ask authors to obtain blurbs for their books Publisher says expecting authors, agents and editors to secure blurbs can create ‘an incestuous and unmeritocratic literary ecosystem that often rewards connections over talent’

'A stunning, life-changing piece of journalism, walking the liminal space between memoir and reportage in prose of glistening clarity.'

jonronson.substack.com/p/a-conversa...

Really interesting reading. I was shocked by how this story was ignored last year (and the story itself, obvs).

Yes, it's about a government sanctioned retreat where kids are reprogrammed as a cure for the 'unhappiness epidemic'. Think the author's a mental health nurse, so it's familiar territory but with a really interesting angle.

Months ago, I meant to send a list of books to @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social @restispolitics.bsky.social and @sueatkins.bsky.social for children and teens that look overtly or otherwise at politics and regimes. I lost that list, so am curating recs that inform + champion critical thinking. Pls add.

Happy Head by Josh Silver is great on this, like a psychological Hunger Games.

It's from 2 hours 48 in on BBC Sounds. Pretty poor discussion, I agree.

Pick up a Picture Puffin with 25% off (along with everything else) in the #TygertaleVintage January sale.

tygertale.etsy.com

Sniffup!

I'm having a little January sale in the #TygertaleVintage children's bookshop. 25% off everything (including hundreds of Puffin books) until Monday.

Spotera!

tygertale.etsy.com

Entering my black and white era

Sniffup!

I'm having a little January sale in the #TygertaleVintage children's bookshop. 25% off everything (including hundreds of Puffin books) until Monday.

Spotera!

tygertale.etsy.com

Some very happy news! Delighted that my children’s novel THE UNTAMEABLES, illustrated by @reenamakwana.bsky.social has been long listed for the Branford Boase Award, especially as it also recognises editor extraordinaire Emma Dai’an Wright @theemmapress.bsky.social

Illustrated by Ellie Sandall our 2024 BSU MA Anthology cover: Inkland

My BSU MA for Writing for Young People 2024 cohort revealed our cover for our Inkland Anthology. Cover art and design is by illustrator Ellie Sandall and is utterly gorgeous 🤩

More on our IG. #MAWfYP #MAWYP #ukkidlit #kidlituk

Hurrah, a story that remembers that teenage boys exist People Like Stars by Patrice Lawrence, a former winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, features three teenagers connected by one big secret

The Times children's book of the week is... 'People Like Stars' by Patrice Lawrence.
A mystery that respects the emotional intelligence of teenage boys.

@lawrencepatrice.bsky.social
www.thetimes.com/article/1602...

Actual pro tip: the best way to break into any creative profession is by helping to support and advance other creators. Your peers are not your adversaries. They are your support group.