Congratulations to Cressida Cowell who was announced as the new Children’s Laureate this morning. Cressida has drawn up a very big Children’s Laureate Charter, which highlights a child’s right to enjoy reading, to be creative and to meet authors. It also stresses the importance of having diverse characters in children’s books, protecting our librarians/libraries and protecting our planet!

Cressida has written the How to Train Your Dragon series (which has been adapted for the screen by DreamWorks Animation) and The Wizards of Once series. She has also written a number of picture books including the Emily Brown series. In total, she has sold over 11 million books worldwide in 38 languages.  Recently, Cressida was one of the authors who participated in the Live Lesson during World Book Day, answering questions from pupils throughout the UK. We look forward to hearing more from her over the next two years.