Is a Barwell-Blyton the next Gove Bible?

 Justin Tomlinson MP, chair of APPG on Libraries, promotes The Summer Reading Challenge yet Gavin Barwell, the MP who chairs the APPG on literacy doesn't, but feels it is his right to tell professional librarians, teachers and parents how ill-equipped they are to choose appropriate texts to engage boys, and to promote reading to improve boys' literacy.

Does Mr. Barwell wish the public to believe that:

• Parents are unqualified to support their own children's reading, even when experienced themselves and supported by extended families, librarians and teachers, unless, of course you are of the same sex as the child.
• Qualified librarians and experienced library staff are nothing more than silly cotton wool-headed bods who knock around libraries over years, stamping a book or two for good measure and know absolutely nothing about books, authors, genres, trends and the like.
• Those teachers who, like librarians, studied all those years for those worthless degrees and followed these up with year upon year of useless experience of  working with the whole gamut of ability ranges and specific needs of a diverse group of children, could not possibly know. Particularly lacking are female teachers it seems, as texts suitable for boys are beyond their comprehension. 

The great self-taught educationalist Mr. Barwell must be so exasperated. What this motley lot fail to see is that they need not worry; one MP has ALL the answers. So Mr. Barwell's view is based on sound research, facts and reasoning? No. It's based on the MP's own experience of reading Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton and Tolkien's, The Hobbit, as a child (did he really?).   

 No need to engage with parents or librarians, teachers and experienced library and school staff. Mr. Barwell knows best!

Shall the next token government initiative be a Barwell-Blyton to accompany a Gove Bible in every school?

What do parents, librarians and teachers know anyway?  Many might recommend reading award winning authors and poets relevant to today, such as,

Janet and Alan Ahlberg 

Philip Ardagh 

Malorie Blackman 

Quentin Blake 

Tony Bradman 

John Boyne
Raymond Briggs 

Anthony Browne
John Burningham
Steve Cole
Eoin Colfer
Andrew Cope
Anne Fine 

Michael Foreman 

Neil Gaiman
Alan Gibbons 

Charlie Higson

Anthony Horowitz 

Eva Ibbotson
Dick King_Smith 

Jeff Kinney 

Andy McNab 

Spike Milligan 

Michael Morpurgo 

Robert Muchamore 

Patrick Ness
Michelle Paver 

Dav Pilkey 

Philip Pullman
Michael Rosen 

Tony Ross 

JK Rowling 

Louis Sachar

Francesca Simon
Justin Somper
Jeremy Strong 

Sue Townsend 

David Walliams 

Ian Whybrow 

Benjamin Zephaniah

But, really, what do we know?

The panacea is a Barwell-Blyton.... 
and, perhaps, lashings of ginger beer all round!