Warm words

Much like Record Store Day (albeit perhaps not quite to the same extent), it's not really clear that World Book Day fulfils whatever purpose it's supposed to have - unless, of course, that purpose is to cause additional and entirely unwanted costume-related stress to the parents of school-age kids. But it would be fitting if, in schools up and down the country (and beyond), tomorrow's annual celebration of the printed word were to be dedicated to the memory of the late Shirley Hughes.

Hughes' books are quintessentially English, as she herself acknowledged, and now a little dated. Yet they continue to captivate kids, and Dogger in particular found success further afield, translated into 13 different languages. Aside from Quentin Blake, very few other author-illustrators can claim to have created work that has resonated so significantly with such a broad swathe of people - and stayed with them for decades after the initial encounters.

Hughes' secret was (at least in part) a sensitive, intuitive understanding of her young readership - of what they find distressing and what brings them comfort; of the mini-dramas that play out in children's lives and minds every day, of which adults are often brusquely dismissive or entirely ignorant. As Philip Pullman has commented, "Shirley and the characters she's drawn and written about are a great family of witnesses to the power of love and kindness. We could talk for hours - with a multitude of examples - of her mastery of the craft of illustration, of her close and unwavering observation of children as they're busy with all the things that are so important to them, of her sheer technical genius."

Speaking to the Guardian, Pullman continued: "[T]he best tribute to her lifetime of production is the physical state of the books of hers on bedside tables, or crammed into bookshelves, or face-down on the floor under the bed: battered, bent, torn here and there, perhaps chewed a little, scribbled on - these books have been loved almost to destruction." Over the last few years, it's been a pleasure to renew acquaintances with her creations and their stories, and to introduce them to a new generation - and now, after a recent clear-out, it'll be a pleasure to pass the books on for others to enjoy.