Author: Alison Leach

Guest Blog: Fidan Meikle

Author of My Name is Zayn

Dear Reader,

Guest Blog: John Condon

Author of We Are Dragons

The Chaos in My Living Room

I have a front row seat to chaos most days.

My son can walk into a perfectly calm room and, within minutes, transform it into something that looks, from the outside, like the aftermath of a small but determined natural disaster. Especially if he has a friend or two around to play. Cushions get redistributed or repurposed. Characters are created. Sound effects are provided. Rules become entirely optional. 

But plenty of fun is had.

The chaos is the whole point, and it’s a fundamental part of his personality. Or, the ongoing development of it.

I thought about this a lot as I was writing We Are Dragons.

Calm Is Not the Only Option

I used to think of picture books as things that should soothe. Wind the day down. Ready a child for sleep or calm. And there is absolutely a place for that kind of book.

But there is also a place for the other kind of story. The loud kind. The kind where things go spectacularly and chaotically wrong and everybody laughs until their belly hurts, with no lesson being learned.

I wasn’t trying to teach the dragons anything in this story. They told me, pretty early in the process, that they were up for fun and adventure and then they took me along for the ride. Just as my son would often do. So I jumped aboard.

The Power of the Belly Laugh

When a child is laughing at a picture book, they aren’t thinking about whether reading is hard. They aren’t wondering if they’re doing it right. They are just in the story. Certainly, this has been the case for my son, who I have read to every day since his birth (and even before that). I’ve read him all kinds of stories, and I have witnessed firsthand how he responds to different types of stories and how he engages with them.

I have seen how chaotic, joyful, anarchic stories can reach him in a way that quieter books sometimes don’t. Humour and mayhem speak to him and draw him in. It makes the page feel like somewhere he wants to be. Like somewhere he recognises.

Children Recognise Themselves in the Chaos

There’s also something deeply relatable about a story where things go gloriously wrong. Children respond to it instinctively because they know it. They’ve been there. The dragons in We Are Dragons aren’t misbehaving in a calculated way. They’re just fully alive, fully in the moment, doing what comes naturally. Making mistakes and moving on. And most importantly, enjoying life.

Every child who has ever been told to sit still or use their quiet voice will recognise that feeling immediately. They will see themselves in those pages. And when children see themselves in books, something clicks.

A Shared Experience

When a parent or teacher reads a chaotic picture book aloud and includes all of the sound effects and the voices, something else happens too. Everyone in the room laughs at the same moment. Everyone points at the same picture. That’s a memory being made. A bond is being formed between a child and the idea that books are a place where good things happen. Where you aren’t being taught a lesson, where you are just allowed to continue being you and enjoying life.

So the next time a picture book causes a bit of a ruckus in your classroom, take it as a very good sign indeed.

Guest Blog: Ned Hartley

Author of Create Your Own Comics

 An Exciting Time for Comics

I’ve been lucky enough to write comics professionally for over two decades, and it’s a fantastically exciting time for comics in the UK.

According to recent figures, sales of comics and graphic novels reached a peak of £20m in 2025 and are still growing. Hilarious series like Bunny vs Monkey and Dog Man top the charts, along with brilliant manga and exciting superhero books. The recent rise in sales is partly due to publishers leaning into formats that work for kids and partly due to the wonderful range of comics on sale right now.

The Power of Comics

When I visit schools to run comics workshops and clubs, I get to see the incredible emotional power of comics on young readers.

In the last few years, I’ve seen a huge boom in the new comics that children bring to school, and the range of different characters that they love and want to tell me about.

A Strong Connection

There’s something immediate and personal about comics that reaches readers in a way that isn’t like any other artform. There’s no barrier between the artist and the reader, there’s nothing to get in the way of the art and story on the page, and that’s why comics can create such a strong emotional connection with the reader.

Lowering the Barrier to Entry

Comics are inherently creative, and the barrier to entry is incredibly low. Any kid can grab a pen and paper straight away and start making their own comics.

Every time I run comics workshops, I’m blown away by the creative ideas that kids come up with, from rapping worms to ninja tomatoes (to give two recent examples).

Unlocking the Power of Storytelling

The book Create Your Own Comics: Everything You Need to Know by Alex Lopez and me is meant to help kids on their journey to making great comics, with tutorials on drawing and page layout, but also how to come up with characters and form a story.

Comics have their own visual language and grammar, and when you understand it you can really unlock the power of clear and exciting storytelling.

Comics As a Medium – Not a Genre

Comics are a medium, not a genre, so we didn’t want to push readers towards telling a particular type of story.

Instead, we wanted to give readers tools and a vocabulary to understand and create the stories that they want to tell. Comics as a medium work just as well for funny strips about talking animals as they do for earth-shatteringly epic superhero showdowns.

Helping Kids Make Comics

There’s been a huge rise recently in the amount of graphic novels on the shelves in bookshops, but there hasn’t been a corresponding rise in books that help kids make comics. While comics can be used as a tool to encourage reluctant readers, they are so much more than that. Comics are a vital form of expression for many kids, and a way to tell stories in a direct and immediate way that they can’t anywhere else.

Hopefully, readers of Create Your Own Comics: Everything You Need to Know will come away with different ways of thinking about comics, but there’s one overriding message to the book – making comics is so much fun!

Guest Blog:  James Davis

Author of Scarlet Defender of the Universe

Humour is the key to engagement

One of the most powerful remedies to the reading crisis is also one of the simplest: stories that make kids laugh.

Humour has always been a secret doorway into reading, but today it may be more essential than ever. Highly illustrated, accessible books that are packed with jokes, visual gags, and playful storytelling offer an irresistible invitation to children who might otherwise feel intimidated, bored, or defeated by reading.

There are few better moments as a parent than when your child is reading and laughing. That’s when you can feel certain you’re not getting it wrong.

Laughter motivates readers

When a child laughs, something important happens: the pressure lifts. Reading stops feeling like work and starts being fun. Humorous stories lower emotional barriers by creating positive associations with books, which is especially crucial for reluctant readers or those who have struggled with more traditional texts.

Laughter rewards effort. It motivates children to turn the page, try another chapter, or pick up another book, all without being nudged or monitored. In a climate where screen time is an ever-present competitor, the joy of a good laugh becomes an effective counterbalance.

Illustrations enrich the experience 

Illustrated books that blend text with dynamic, expressive artwork, like those by the fabulous Dotty Sutton, play a unique role in this effort. The visuals support comprehension, provide context clues, and offer resting points for the eye, making stories more accessible to children with diverse reading abilities.

But highly illustrated books do more than help struggling readers; they enrich the experience for all children. Illustrations amplify the humour, transforming a funny moment into something unforgettable. A well-timed drawing of a character mid-mishap or a scribbled margin joke can turn a simple sentence into a belly laugh. That emotional spark keeps young readers coming back for more.

Accessibility opens doors 

This accessibility is not about “dumbing down” literature. It’s about opening doors. For some readers, these books will be a stepping stone; for others, they may be a home.

I still very much enjoy re-reading the Asterix books I buy my son as presents. Almost a teenager, he is thankfully a voracious reader, but will happily switch between Lord of the Rings and Mr Gum. I would never encourage it to be any other way.

Social elements of reading

Importantly, funny books also foster the social elements of reading. Children share jokes, quote favourite lines, and pass around books that made them giggle. Laughter is contagious; so is enthusiasm.

This is especially powerful when children want to share these moments with the strongest influences in their lives: their parents.

Bridging generational gaps 

My most treasured feedback on Scarlet: Defender of the Universe, was from a family that now uses the term shploink frequently as a verb. ‘Shploink over there and get me an apple, will you?’ ‘Let’s shploink to the shops and pick up some bread.’ I couldn’t have imagined a better outcome.

It’s extremely difficult to create a book that bridges generational gaps and provides something that can genuinely be enjoyed by all. But I was lucky enough to have a great deal of help from people much smarter than I am. I did, however, provide the gags, which is perhaps enough.

Cutting through the noise

In a world of competing distractions, humorous, highly illustrated stories cut through the noise. They create emotional connections and promote comprehension. If we want to nurture lifelong readers, we must give children books that feel like a treat, not a task. Books that meet them with warmth, joy, and a well-placed punchline.

Amid the reading crisis, laughter may be our most potent tool.