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Children's Writing selection including "Mrs Scrooge", "The Princess Blankets"

This is a ‘bundle’ of publications to represent some of Carol Ann Duffy’s extensive work in writing for children. Throughout her career, Duffy has produced new work for children alongside her books of poems for adults. Her public prominence, and the great popularity of her work with young audiences has played a key role in the revival of writing and publishing for children in the last twenty years, as reflected in Danny Boyle’s celebration of British culture in the Olympic opening ceremony. Duffy’s extensive work in schools, and her creation and curation of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival at MMU, form a rich body of research in practice into writing for children, and this is brought to fruition in her own recent publications for younger readers. In particular, her work has re-presented classic folk tales and myths for contemporary children, at a time when curriculum changes and multi-media homes mean such myths are no longer common currency. ‘Mrs Scrooge’ continued the retelling of familiar and mythic stories from new female perspectives she embarked upon in ‘The World’s Wife’. It was commissioned for the Guardian review in Christmas 2008 and subsequently published as an illustrated children’s book (Picador 2009). The Princess’ Blankets, illustrated by Catherine Hyde and published by Candlewick Press in 2009, takes this continuing research into the tropes and symbols of fairy tale and legend to a new level, creating a new myth from the remnants of a well-worn one - the beleaguered or cursed princess. In this story, a cold princess, who can never feel warmth no matter how many blankets she wears (including blankets of ocean, forest, mountain and earth, is finally healed by a young musician whose kisses lead her to shed the blankets, one by one, and find true warmth in love.