What The Apprentice candidates got wrong about kids' books
Writing for children is one of the most misunderstood creative challenges.
The Apprentice is crucial viewing in our house. Having grown up in sales roles, I was always told I should go on the show. I could never think of anything worse. I would never have dreamt that one day I’d be invited on as a judge.
When The Apprentice launched in 2005, it felt like a televised job interview with real stakes and real ambition. Two decades later, the show has evolved into something bigger. It’s part business competition, part comedy of errors. A part of British culture.
Of course, the show has changed over the past 20 years but we are still huge fans, and I was overjoyed and slightly terrified when we got the call asking us to appear.
The Apprentice survives and thrives because it balances two opposing forces: genuine entrepreneurial ambition with spectacular, unforgettable failure. Failures that have actually had my children rolling around on the floor over the years. Howling.
We tune in for both. Opportunity. And entertainment. Business lessons. And life lessons. It shows business success is possible yet all the while reminding us how easy it is to get it so terribly wrong.
I am sure many of us have thought: I could have done better than that. Well, in last night’s episode (5th February 2026), for The Bookseller audience, I guarantee it.
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So, this week’s task: create a children’s book for four- to six-year-olds, with audio and a character figurine. Having a front-row seat and observing the candidates’ attempts at creating books for children was an eye-opener. It was certainly entertaining – but it also reminded us of something profound: writing for children is one of the most misunderstood creative challenges. We all know that, of course. Our beloved children’s authors and illustrators are constantly underestimated and undervalued. Although not by us. Obviously.
LoveReading4Kids is a cheerleader of authors and illustrators everywhere. It’s our job to help families and schools across the nation find the right book for their children. The books that will help them fall in love with reading. The books that will transform them into a reader.
Our beloved children’s authors and illustrators are constantly underestimated and undervalued. Although not by us, obviously
Maybe the candidates understood that. Maybe they didn’t. The results certainly didn’t show that. Maybe they were set up to fail. It is bloody great TV after all.
Watching them try to engineer a children’s book in 48 hours exposes truths we already know, and we think it’s worth highlighting here.
Children are emotionally intelligent readers
Kids are a discerning audience. Did you see their faces when they were shown the books, when they were read the stories? Priceless. They spot insincerity instantly. The best children’s books trust their audience. They don’t patronise. They invite them in.
Simplicity is not the same as easy
Children’s books look effortless because they are engineered with extreme care. Created with love. Crafted with attention to every detail: the rhythm, repetition, pacing, page turns, visual storytelling. The characters. The message. The illustrations.
Children deserve respect
There’s a myth that children’s media should be softened or over-explained. Great children’s literature does the opposite. It respects curiosity. It leaves room for imagination.
Books shape identity earlier than we think
Children don’t just read for entertainment. They read to understand themselves. And each other. The characters they meet help them rehearse for life and to experience and understand empathy, courage, fear, kindness, difference, friendship and loss.
Although it was perhaps a bit of a cliché that the boys’ team chose to create a book about poo, kids do love a bit of potty humour. But it must be done well.
Oh, and don’t leave any blank pages!
Reading for pleasure is in crisis. Children are no longer choosing to read. Children’s reading enjoyment has reached the lowest in 20 years, according to the National Literacy Trust’s 2025 research. A decline serious enough that 2026 has been announced as a National Year of Reading.
That context makes this week’s The Apprentice challenge unintentionally poignant.
If we want children to read, we can’t treat books as gimmicks or afterthoughts. The book has to be the event. The experience. The invitation.
They have to choose to read, to find the joy in being a reader. Not because they have to. But because they want to.
LoveReading4Kids is here to shine a light on that. To celebrate it, spotlight it and champion the books that remind children how joyful reading can be. Because helping children choose to read starts with meeting them where they already are. When a book connects with what they already love, reading stops feeling like homework and starts feeling like discovery. Like fun.
In this National Year of Reading, let’s work together to get our kids reading again. And even if The Apprentice candidates didn’t create books for children we necessarily adored, it’s good to get the conversation going. To get people talking about books. And remembering how awesome they can be. And long may that continue.
