Whether anybody noticed (apart from someone from the Faculty who complained about perilous amounts of blu-tak on the wall), I’m genuinely not sure. But it doesn’t matter because it was fun to do and, anyway, there were so many other attractions. There was Michael Rosen’s hilarious rendition of a Key Stage 2 SATs paper and his brilliant exposition of how poetry offers children relief from signifying. There was Clementine's ingenious presentation of “The Seven Facts of Children’s Literature”, where her persuasive arguments in support of axioms as “anyone can write a children’s book” were comically subverted by the displayed cartoons. There was Professor Nikolajeva finally providing a solution to the problem of what to say when you meet someone who says, “Oh, you study children’s literature! Can you recommend a book for my three-year-old nephew?” There were fascinating insights into some of the Masters students’ research. There were the temptations of the fabulous Heffers Children’s bookshop. And, finally, there was what may best be described as a baked essay: Dr Jaques’ exquisitely crafted cupcakes offered a highly provocative critique on metaphors of consumption and the symbolic role of buttercream piping in children’s literature; responses to this significant new direction will doubtless be forthcoming in the usual journals.
