Library News

Andy Griffiths is the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2026-2027. He is the bestselling author of the humorous Treehouse series which is available for our students. During a recent interview Andy said as a child he liked creating little magazines and comics for the entertainment of his friends and family. Andy thinks all children’s authors, to quote Roald Dahl, ‘have a solid block of childhood within them’ and to quote Morris Gleitzman, ‘the window stays open for children’s writers so that you can go back anytime to enter the mindset of a much younger person.’

 Andy Griffiths believes the real reason children enjoy books is because they know his characters are actors, acting outside the bounds of common sense. He goes on to say that the cathartic benefit of reading and also humour is that you can entertain the most outlandish ideas and not have to do it yourself. We know that humour can work as a ‘stress-buster’ because laughter lowers stress hormones opening up the mind to take in new information and leads to better retention of knowledge. Funny stories often require students to show comprehension skills such as inferencing using clues from the text plus what they already know to figure out something the author did not say directly.

Jennifer Bleakley

Library Manager