Children's Laureate: Cuts are 'outrageous' (UK)

Outgoing Children's Laureate Anthony Browne warned last night that we will "pay the price in the long term" for closing public and school libraries as he urged his successor to do everything to support them. The author and illustrator, whose tenure ends on Tuesday when his replacement is announced at a ceremony in London, said he found it "incredible and outrageous" that libraries were being forced to close. In an open letter to the Waterstone's Children's Laureate 2011-13, he urged: "Do everything you can to support libraries – God knows, they need every bit of help they can get nowadays." His plea comes as councils threaten to axe libraries in response to spending cuts. A recent National Literacy Trust report found one in three young people do not have books of their own. - The Independent