Authors' favourite children's books

Published on: 02 November 2016

To celebrate Children's Book Week 2016 we quizzed a host of authors and illustrators - including Cressida Cowell, Nick Butterworth and Tom Percival - about their favourite children's books.

Before their appearances at our Children's Book Week events we asked them 'what was your favourite book as a child?', and here's what they answered...

Cressida Cowell

'The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones was the book that made me love ALL books and want to become a writer one day myself. It was funny and magical, and it contained a wicked stepfather, and a magic chemistry set, with chemicals that could make you fly, or bring your toys to life.'

Nick Butterworth

'Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. This book was the first to transport me to another place and time.'

Jon Mayhew

'Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson. I loved the strange characters and the way Moomintroll felt like a bit of an outsider, which I think we all feel from time to time as we grow up.'

Tom Percival

'The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. There was just so much atmosphere and magic in there. The first time that Will Stanton wakes up to find himself outside of time always takes me back to the feeling of excitement I had as a child, wishing that it could happen to me!'

Clare Foges

'May I Stay? by Harry Allard.'

Al Murphy

'Pre-school: Mr Happy by Roger Hargreaves. And once I could read, George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl.'

Sean Taylor

'My favourite journey as a reader was perhaps first setting out into Moomin Valley, by reading Tove Jansson's Moominsummer Madness.'

Paul Howard

'Arabel's Raven by Joan Aiken, which was the first book in a series about a girl, Arabel, and her pet raven, Mortimer, and their mad adventures together.'