Michael Rosen has been awarded the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen Award — the highest international honour in children's literature. For school librarians and teachers, this is the perfect moment to explore (or rediscover) his extraordinary body of work. This guide covers five essential Rosen titles, teaching notes, curriculum connections, and how to access his books and related video content through SmartSuite and TV4Education.
Who Is Michael Rosen?
Michael Rosen is one of Britain's most beloved and influential figures in children's literature and literacy education. Born in 1946, he has written more than 200 books — spanning picture books, poetry anthologies, memoir, fairy tales, and social commentary. He served as the UK's Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009 and has spent decades advocating for reading, libraries, and the right of every child to access books.
He is, perhaps above everything else, a poet. His work is characterised by a deep respect for the rhythms and sounds of language, an ear for the way children actually speak, and a commitment to addressing difficult emotions with honesty and warmth. He writes about joy, loss, migration, family, memory, and the political — often in the same poem.
He also survived COVID-19 in 2020 after spending 47 days in intensive care, an experience he has written and spoken about with characteristic directness and grace.
What Is the Hans Christian Andersen Award?
The Hans Christian Andersen Award is presented every two years by IBBY — the International Board on Books for Young People — to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children's literature. It is widely regarded as the highest international recognition available in children's books — sometimes called the "Little Nobel Prize" of children's literature.
Previous recipients have included Astrid Lindgren, Maurice Sendak, and Australian author Libby Gleeson. Michael Rosen's 2026 award recognises not only his vast body of published work but his lifelong advocacy for children's literacy, library access, and the role of the arts in education.
For school librarians, an IBBY award win is a powerful hook for author displays, reading events, and classroom connections. Here is how to make the most of it.
Five Essential Michael Rosen Titles for Australian School Libraries
1. We're Going on a Bear Hunt — Early Years and Lower Primary
Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury | Walker Books
This is the book most people think of first when they hear Michael Rosen's name. Published in 1989, it remains one of the best-selling children's picture books of all time. Its rhythmic, cumulative text teaches early readers how language builds suspense and repetition. Its illustrations map a physical journey that early childhood students can participate in bodily — making it ideal for shared reading, drama, and movement activities.
Curriculum connections:
- English (Foundation–Year 2): Phonological awareness, rhyme, repetition, narrative structure
- Drama: Role-play, physical expression, freeze-frame drama
- PDHPE: Gross motor development through movement activities
- Visual Arts: Oxenbury's illustration style as a starting point for children's own artwork
Teaching notes: Ask students to identify the repeating refrain before they see it coming. What does Rosen do to signal a pattern? Then break the pattern deliberately — what happens when you change a word? This is sophisticated literary thinking made accessible to five-year-olds.
TV4Education connection: Search "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" in your TV4Education library for animated adaptations and author readings. Michael Rosen's famous BBC performance of the story is a favourite in early childhood classrooms worldwide.
2. Michael Rosen's Sad Book — Upper Primary, Wellbeing, Grief
Illustrated by Quentin Blake | Walker Books
This is one of the most important books a school library can own. Published in 2004, Sad Book was written after the death of Rosen's son Eddie from meningitis at 18. It is utterly honest about grief — including the things we do to pretend we are not sad, and the way sadness comes back unexpectedly. Quentin Blake's illustrations match Rosen's words with a raw expressiveness that is genuinely remarkable.
Sad Book is used in schools around the world as a resource for student wellbeing, and increasingly in bereavement counselling contexts. It normalises sadness without minimising it. It gives children language for something they often experience but struggle to name.
Curriculum connections:
- PDHPE: Mental health and wellbeing (Years 3–6)
- English: Exploring emotional range in literature; author intent; mood in illustration
- School counselling: A starting point for conversations about grief, loss, and change
Teaching notes: This book works best when read aloud slowly. Give students time after each page. Do not rush to resolution — Rosen deliberately doesn't offer neat closure, and that is the point.
3. The Missing: The True Story of My Family in World War II — Secondary, Memoir, Research
Walker Books
The Missing is Rosen's account of his own family history — specifically the relatives he lost in the Holocaust who were never spoken about during his childhood. As an adult, he traced their stories through records, archives, and family memory, piecing together lives that had been deliberately hidden from grief.
This is a masterclass in historical research, genealogy, and memoir — and it is also a deeply moving account of how memory, silence, and loss travel through families. For secondary students, it models exactly the kind of primary source research and reflective writing that the curriculum asks them to do.
Curriculum connections:
- History (Years 9–10): World War II, the Holocaust, primary and secondary sources
- English (Years 9–12): Memoir, non-fiction narrative, authorial voice
- Research skills: Genealogy, archival research, evaluating sources
- Personal Development: Identity, family, intergenerational memory
TV4Education connection: Search BBC World War II documentary content in your TV4Education library for contextual viewing alongside The Missing. BBC Holocaust remembrance programming provides important historical context.
4. What Is Poetry? The Essential Guide to Reading and Writing Poems — Upper Primary and Secondary
Walker Books
This is the book Michael Rosen was always meant to write — a comprehensive, accessible guide to reading and writing poetry that treats students as genuine literary thinkers. It covers the mechanics of poetry (rhythm, rhyme, imagery, line breaks) but also its purpose: why poetry exists, what it does that prose cannot, and how to approach a poem you do not immediately understand.
Curriculum connections:
- English (Years 5–10): Poetry study, creative writing, literary analysis
- Drama: Performance poetry, spoken word
- ATSI perspectives: The book includes discussion of oral poetry traditions
5. On the Move: Poems About Migration — Cross-Cultural, Identity, Diversity
Walker Books
A powerful poetry anthology that brings together poems about migration, displacement, belonging, and identity. On the Move speaks directly to Australia's culturally diverse student population — many of whom have their own family stories of migration and the complicated emotions of leaving one home and building another.
Curriculum connections:
- English (Years 6–10): Poetry study, cultural perspectives in literature
- HSIE/History: Migration, diaspora, belonging
- Cross-curriculum priority: Intercultural Understanding (ACARA)
- EAL/D students: Particularly resonant for students with personal migration experience
Building a Michael Rosen Collection with SmartSuite and FSI Marketplace
Now is the perfect time to audit your school's Michael Rosen holdings and strengthen the collection.
In SmartSuite, search "Michael Rosen" in the catalogue. You will see all current holdings, their circulation history, and current availability. Use SmartSuite's Global Insights to check which Rosen titles are most borrowed across the network — this tells you where demand is highest.
If your collection is missing key titles, the fastest and most cost-effective way to order them is through ALS Library Services, available via the FSI Marketplace. ALS provides discounted book purchasing for schools using SmartSuite, with SCIS cataloguing records included — meaning new Rosen titles can be added to your catalogue within minutes of arrival.
TV4Education: Author Interviews and Related Video Content
TV4Education includes author interview content and educational programming featuring Michael Rosen. Search "Michael Rosen" in your TV4Education library to find readings, interviews, and BBC educational content connected to his books and poetry.
For We're Going on a Bear Hunt specifically, look for the BBC animated adaptation — a perennial classroom favourite that makes an excellent companion to the shared reading experience.
For Holocaust and WWII content to accompany The Missing, search the TV4Education library for BBC and SBS documentary content — there is a strong catalogue of historically accurate, school-appropriate documentary material available.
