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'A framework in which to practise things of the heart'

27 July 2015

‘The prize thing was absolutely wonderful. It brings you readers and that's the thing you want with every bone in your body but - how to say this without sounding churlish? - I'm very aware that people will have been saying, "Huh? Really? when it won prizes, so I don't take it as a sign that I've got there yet. I'm still working out how to write books. I need more time...

It's wonderful when adults read my books but the imagined reader for me is always a kid - and usually a kid with big desires who turns to books to find something they need...

It is slightly different for children's books, as to a point we know what we're providing: a framework to practise literacy but also a framework in which to practise things of the heart...

I think it's worth articulating again and again why we value the things that we value because as humans we have short memories and big imaginations. Children's books taught me so much because they gave me access to so many different lives and proved to me that the world was huge and more multiple than I had imagined it. If we keep telling children that, then we might end up with sharp, caring citizens.'

Katherine Rundell, author of Rooftoppers and the forthcoming The Wolf Wilder, in the Bookseller