Some Rollicking Rs by Lynne Benton

I could find no children's authors whose names begin with Q, so I'll go straight on to the Rs.  And I’ll start with many people’s favourite: 

ARTHUR RANSOME.  Born in 1884, he is best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children’s books about the school holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and the Norfolk Broads.  A tourist industry has grown up around Windermere and Coniston Water, the two lakes he adapted as his fictional lake.  Born in Leeds, he subsequently settled in the Lake District, where in 1929 he wrote Swallows and Amazons, the first book in the series.  It became so popular that he continued to write a further eleven books in the series, the sixth of which, Pigeon Post, won the Carnegie Medal in 1936.  Swallows and Amazons was adapted for TV in 1963 and a sequel in 1984, and two films were made of the original story in 1984 and 2016.  He was awarded the CBE in 1953, and died in 1967.

LYNNE REID BANKS was born in 1929 and has written 45 books for both children and adults, including her best-selling children’s book, The Indian in the Cupboard.  This book alone has sold over 10 million copies and has been successfully adapted as a film.  She wrote four sequels, as well as many other books for children.  In October 2013, she won the J. M. Barrie award for outstanding contribution to children's arts.  She lives in Surrey.

MICHAEL ROSEN is an English children's novelist, rapper, poet, and the author of 140 books. He served as Children’s Laureate from June 2007 to June 2009, and has been a TV presenter and a political columnist.  He has written much humorous verse for children, including Wouldn't You Like to Know, You Tell Me and Quick Let's Get Out of Here.  Possibly his best-known book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, won the overall Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in 1989 and also won the 0-5 years category.  The publisher, Walker Books, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2014 by breaking a Guiness World Record for the 'Largest Reading Lesson’.  He lives in London.

CELIA REES was born in Solihull, and writes mainly for young adults.  She writes across a range of genre from thrillers, including her first novel,  to gothic and has written across a range of genre from thriller to gothic, but she is probably best known for her historical fiction. Witch Child (2000) was shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 2001 (2001) and won the Prix Sorcières in France (2003). The sequel, Sorceress (2002), was shortlisted for the Whitbread (Costa) Children’s Book Award; and Pirates! (2003) was shortlisted for the W.H. Smith Children’s Book Award. Sovay followed in 2008 and The Fool’s Girl in 2010.  Her novels have been translated into 28 languages. Her books for younger readers include The Bailey Game (1994) and the Trap in Time Trilogy (2001/2).

CHRIS RIDDELL is an illustrator and writer of children’s books.  Born in South Africa, he moved to England at the age of one and has lived in the UK ever since.  He has won three Kate Greenaway Medals for his illustrations, and books that he wrote or illustrated have won three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes and have been silver or bronze runners-up four times.  On 9 June 2015 he was appointed the UK Children's Laureate.  Some of his most notable work is The Edge Chronicles (from 1998), a children's book series co-written with Paul Stewart and illustrated by Riddell.  He has also written and illustrated the Ottoline series for younger children, of which the first book, Ottoline and the Yellow Cat (2007), won the final Smarties Prize in age category 6–8 years (the Smarties were discontinued in 2008). It was then followed by Ottoline Goes to School and Ottoline at Sea.

RICK RIORDAN is an American author. He is best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, about a twelve-year-old boy who discovers he is a son of Poseidon. His many books based on Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse mythology have been translated into 42 languages and sold more than 30 million copies in the US.  20th Century Fox has adapted the first two books of his Percy Jackson series as part of a series of films. His books have also inspired related media, such as graphic novels and short story collections.

And finally, of course, (you didn’t think I’d forgotten her, did you?) J.K. ROWLING, the woman who single-handedly raised the profile and status of children’s writers throughout the world.  Her creation, Harry Potter, is as famous in the real world as he is in the book, and the seven books relating his adventures as he grows up at Hogwarts Academy for Wizards from age 11 to age 18 are nothing less than a phenomenon.  The later books are extremely long, but I have yet to hear children complain about having to read 766 pages (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), or having to queue up at midnight at their favourite bookshop to get their hands on the latest book the moment it hit the shelves.  Now that they’ve all been captured on film, their stars are almost as famous as the author herself.   Her own story is as much of a fairy story as her books: like many of us children’s writers, she started with an idea for a book, or in her case a series of books, sat down and wrote the first one.  She was a hard-up single mother, she didn’t come from a dynasty of writers, she wasn’t married to a publisher (like Enid Blyton was), and she didn’t know anyone in the business.  So like we all do she sent her first manuscript out on spec to various publishers, MANY OF WHOM TURNED IT DOWN!!!  (Bet they’ve been kicking themselves ever since!)  Luckily, Bloomsbury took a chance on an unknown author and in 1997 published a short run of 1000 copies of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and then the unbelievable happened: it took off in a way nobody could ever have foreseen.  Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined the unprecedented success her creation would bring her.  She is now the ninth best-selling fiction author of all time, having sold well over 500 million copies of her books, and became the world’s first billionaire author (though she lost this status after giving away much of her earnings to charity, including the one that had supported her when she most needed help.)  However she still remains one of the wealthiest people in the world.  And it all came from a great idea, a talent for writing, a lot of hard work and a large dose of luck.  Well done her!

(This is the Scots edition, but it was the only one with the original cover illustration, so I had to use it!)

Next month it will be time for children's authors whose surnames begin with S.

website: www.lynnebenton.com

Latest book: Danger at Hadrian's Wall (Book 2 of The Britannia Mysteries)