Meet Julia Donaldson Summer reading Books of my life - RNIB

Julia Donaldson interview
Meet Children’s Laureate
Julia Donaldson
After a morning full of children
performing her work at the Cheltenham
Literary Festival, Children’s Laureate
Julia Donaldson found time to speak to
Clare Carson.
Do you consciously try to encourage
children to think that a book is not
just a two dimensional thing?
I think it’s great fun to act out the book
but some children don’t like or aren’t
familiar with the printed page and this
might be way into books for them.
When did you first start writing
children’s books?
I wrote a song called “A squash and a
squeeze” for children’s TV, and then
years later it was turned into a book.
Since then I’ve
been writing
books but I still
write songs and
we never do a
performance
without singing a
song.
With over 15 million copies of The
Gruffalo sold and over 150 books to
your name, are you aware that you
are making a difference in households
with small children?
It’s very gratifying and touching when
people thank you for making bedtime
so enjoyable because I remember vividly
how enjoyable it was sharing a chuckle
or a tear with my own children, and you
can discover so much about them.
Do special duties come with being the
Children’s Laureate?
It’s really a pleasure, not a duty,
spreading the word about reading and
enjoyment of books. There are a few
events in the diary that you have to
do but mainly it’s up to you to bring
something of yourself to the job. In my
case, because I have this background of
music and drama, that’s what I’m aiming
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