You've Got to Read This: A Beginner's Guide to Great Writers and the History of Books

An entertaining and fact-filled introduction to literature and writers. A fascinating tour through history, from cave paintings to the present day: all-time greats like Dickens, Shakespeare, Austen, Twain, the Brontes and Orwell; genre favourites like Tolkien, Ian Fleming, Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle. An in-depth but easy-to-read guide to the lives and works of classic authors, plus related topics like story structure, the development of printing, the history of gothic horror, and even the world of comic book superheroes. A wonderfully rich and varied handbook, written by one of the UK's leading children's writers.