PRIZES to win! PROMOTIONS
Michael Rosen is one of the most popular authors for children; his bestselling titles published by Walker Books include We're Going on a Bear Hunt, A Great Big Cuddle and Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. A popular radio broadcaster, distinguished critic and academic, and multi-award-winning poet, Michael was appointed the Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009, and is now Professor of Children's Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. Benjamin Phillips is an illustrator and artist whose artwork for the graphic novel Alte Zachen won him the 2024 V&A Illustration for Children Award and was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration 2023. In the same year he was a featured artist at Bologna's Children Bookfair and in 2022 he was a selected artist for Brewers Towner International Prize. He lives in Hastings.
A perfectly pitched Holocaust story […] These are not easy subjects to tackle in a book aimed at readers as young as six. But Benjamin Phillips’s illustrations cleverly evoke the privations of life in the camp, without focusing on the brutality. The text is similarly careful, with much of the emphasis on the internal […] there is no anger, and no grand prose. Instead, the emphasis is on the human capacity for renewal. * The Telegraph * [] a powerful piece of art where words and pictures work together to inform readers aged 7+ about the horrors of the Holocaust. * Editor’s Choice, The Bookseller * [This] tells the story with a freedom in the drawing but a precise sense of place – a Parisian street, with its characteristic architecture, shutters, arched doorways, shop fronts, cobbles and gas lamp (an ironic, ominous detail?)[…] Phillips conveys the gravity of this moment by such small hints, and what is not shown […] It is an illustration which, in its quietness and detail, demonstrates the banality of evil. Using understatement in images can be a very effective way of making fear tolerable – as [this] demonstrates. * Books for Keeps, Nicolette Jones * a wonderfully powerful story to highlight the courage, resilience and survival instincts of Jews during the second world war. Michael Rosen has waved his magical touch at the story with carefully chosen words to allow children of all ages to access the text [...] skilful illustrations by Benjamin Phillips add additional interest and detail to add depth to the text. The muted colour palette carefully ensures that the nature of the subject matter is respected at all times. * Reading Zone *
