Lit News: Why Cressida Cowell Becoming A New Children’s Laureate Is Well-Deserved
Back in 2011, I picked up a DVD, that featured a boy flying a dragon. That DVD led to an obsession with a fandom. And that fandom led to finding a book series that I didn’t realize would change my life for the better. I started reading each book and taking inspiration from the words. The author even hugged me at a book signing when she came to Florida.
Cressida Cowell has become the Waterstones’ Trust Children’s Literature Laureate, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. That is the equivalent of becoming a laureate in the United States. The position is given out once every two years to an author with outstanding achievements, and so that they can promote the world of books further. Cressida has released a to-do list about what she hopes to accomplish with the position.
Am I excited? Absolutely. She deserves this honor, and not just because she made young adults like me happy. Cressida Cowell is a remarkable children’s author. She completed the twelve-book How to Train Your Dragon series and is currently releasing books for The Wizards of Once, which opens with talking about genocide and colonization. You know, for kids!
In all seriousness, Wizards of Once is great. The books are about a disobedient Wizard boy named Xar who has no magic, and a Warrior princess named Wish who does have powers. They end up having to team up when Xar’s disobedience and wishes to become magical end up bringing back an old enemy. The book does not shy away from having to face the consequences of our actions, as children and as adults. It also shows that magic has its price, whether you already have it or not.
Her first series also talked about consequences, war, and having to make peace. Cressida Cowell deceives the readers in the first How to Train Your Dragon books. She created a world with disobedient dragons and poop jokes so that we would ignore when the larger beasts would swallow Hiccup Horrendous Haddock alive, or try various means of killing him. Soon malevolent humans would follow that line of thinking and try to kill Hiccup, who uncovered tragedy within his family. The movies and spinoff shows went in a different direction but still won our hearts.
I appreciate children’s authors that acknowledge life isn’t fair while instilling a sense that fairness can happen. Terrible things happen in both books, as well as grave injustices. Yet, the heroes’ optimism provides hope that we can maybe change horrific worlds for the better. All we have to do is push against the constant tide of cruelty.
Congratulations, Lady Cowell. You deserve this award. We eagerly await what more your pen can bring.
