Michael Rosen condemns UK education system's 'fear of laughter'
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Version 0 of 1. Announcing the winners of this years Laugh Out Loud awards for the funniest children’s books, Rosen took aim at the ‘oppressive’ solemnity of today’s schools In an “oppressive” education system, children need the release of humour to make the world less frightening, according to the former children’s laureate Michael Rosen. Revealing the winners of the Laugh Out Loud awards, which celebrate the year’s funniest children’s books, Rosen said that when he is performing his comic poems such as Chocolate Cake and No Breathing in Class, children “will look at their teachers, as if to say, ‘Are we allowed to laugh. Is it permitted?’ “Of course we want kids to learn and be serious, but there is too much of it, and humour offers a break,” said Rosen. “That’s not teacher-knocking; teachers are welcoming writers like me into schools. But the education system is overloaded with ‘knowledge’ and testing. Children find it oppressive.” The dismissal of humour as unimportant dates back to the Reformation, said Rosen, “when they thought the only way you could be virtuous was to be modest and serious, so humour was pushed aside, seen as frivolous … even dangerous. And that seeps through into education today, so there’s a slight fear of subversiveness or laughter, as well as a dismissal of it. And for some of us, humour is a means of survival.” Known as the Lollies, the Laugh Out Loud awards were set up by Scholastic in 2015 following the closure of the Roald Dahl Funny prize, an award launched in 2008 by Rosen when he was laureate “because funny books often get overlooked when it comes to prizes”. As the prizes were announced Scholastic pointed to research findings that nearly 63% of children aged between six and 17 chose “books that make me laugh” to read for pleasure. Judges headed by Rosen picked out this year’s shortlists, with children then voting for the winners. “The prize is unique in that winners are selected by children themselves, and as such hold up a mirror for what they are looking for in books and what they really want to read,” said Rosen. More than 17,000 children voted in this year’s awards, Michelle Robinson and Tor Freeman’s Ten Fat Sausages winning the best picture book category, David Walliams and Tony Ross’s further tales of terrible youth, The World’s Worst Children 3, taking the six to eight-year-olds category and Joshua Seigal and Tim Wesson’s collection of poems, I Bet I Can Make You Laugh, winning the nine to 13-year-olds prize. Best picture book shortlistBaby’s First Bank Heist by Jim Whalley, illustrated by Stephen Collins (Bloomsbury)Spyder by Matt Carr (Scholastic)Ten Fat Sausages by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Tor Freeman (Andersen Press)You’re Called What?! by Kes Gray, illustrated by Nikki Dyson (Macmillan)Best book for six to eight year olds shortlistBad Nana: Older Not Wiser by Sophy Henn (HarperCollins)The Legend of Kevin by Philip Reeve, illustrated by Sarah McIntyre (OUP)The Nothing to See Here Hotel by Steven Butler, illustrated by Steven Lenton (Simon & Schuster)World’s Worst Children 3 by David Walliams, illustrated by Tony Ross (HarperCollins)Best book for nine to thirteen year olds shortlistI Bet I Can Make You Laugh by Joshua Seigal, illustrated by Tim Wesson (Bloomsbury)I Swapped My Brother on the Internet by Jo Simmons, illustrated by Nathan Reed (Bloomsbury)Kid Normal and the Rogue Heroes by Greg James and Chris Smith, illustrated by Erica Salcedo (Bloomsbury)Planet Stan by Elaine Wickson, illustrated by Chris Judge (OUP) |