A British Childhood is at once a searing account of our failure to look after the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, and a call to arms to all of us to protect the innocence of childhood.

During his time as Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce visited schools that had been forced to make permanent homes in temporary buildings, where teachers doubled up as social workers, therapists and nutritionists. He talked to children abandoned within the prison system, seen to have forfeited their right to the second chance a good education might provide. He met families shuttled from one hotel room to another as they awaited the outcome of asylum decisions. And he talked to the extraordinary array of people working to change the fortunes of the young people around them.

These encounters prompted him to reflect on his own upbringing in Merseyside, the difference literature made to his early years, and how, during his lifetime, childhood in Britain has been transformed. He shows how the connections we make and the sense of community are so vital to our future adult selves, and how, in the twenty-first century, these connections have become increasingly frayed.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce, UK Children’s Laureate 2024–2026, is a multi-award-winning children’s book author and screenwriter. Millions, his debut children’s novel, won the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal. His other books include Cosmic, Framed, The Astounding Broccoli Boy, Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth, Runaway Robot, Noah’s Gold and The Wonder Brothers. His books have been shortlisted for a multitude of prizes, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children’s Fiction Award, the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award. Along with Danny Boyle, he devised the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics. He lives in Merseyside with his family.