Chris is the ninth Children’s Laureate, inheriting the role from Noughts and Crosses author Malorie Blackman, who presented him with the Laureate medal at a ceremony on Saturday, 9 June. Previous Children's Laureates include Jacqueline Wilson, Quentin Blake, Anthony Browne and Michael Morpurgo - who devised the award with Ted Hughes, then Poet Laureate.

As the new laureate Chris’ focus will be to, use the immediacy and universality of illustration to bring people together and lead them all into the wonderful world of books and reading, whilst championing creativity in schools and beyond.

Chris is well known for his prolific use of labels, literary quotations, puns, and tongue-in-cheek humour loved by both adults and children, so he’s sure to have something fun up his sleeve during his time as Laureate!

To celebrate the announcement Chris created wonderful drawings of previous and current Children's Laureates....

To view these drawings and to read more about Chris, go to http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/news-and-blog/news/101/