'Books Are a Wonderful Piece of Technology'

Shelf Awareness

Shirley Hughes

"In my professional life I think it's getting children, including very little children, to read. Reading isn't a competition. It isn't how many words you can read. What even tiny children can do with a book is make their own personal exploration of a story. I think books are a wonderful piece of technology, I hope they survive. There's never been a time for an ideal childhood, mine certainly wasn't, but I do think that if there's anything wrong with childhood today is that there's too much on offer and everything moves at great speed. What I want children to do is linger, turn the page, see themselves as readers long before they can read."

--Shirley Hughes, in an interview with the Guardian. Hughes was recently honored with the inaugural Booktrust Lifetime Achievement Award