The Week Junior turns ten, partners on Barnes Children’s Literature Festival

By John Freeman on May 15, 2025

The Week Junior recently celebrated ten years of publication, and has extended its page count, offering conversation starters for its young readers.

For the second year running, The Week Junior are also partnering with Barnes Children’s Literature Festival next month, an event designed to bring children’s books to life, which includes several comic creator guests, including 2000AD and Marvel artist RAMZEE.

A spin-off from The Week, The Week Junior, designed and written by experts to get kids to fall in love with reading and learning, has been helping children aged 8 to 14 make sense of the world for ten years now, empowering young minds to explore, dream, and believe in their potential.

Marking this milestone, The Week Junior, which is published by Future plc, commissioned research into family conversations, to find out how parent-child interactions are changing. The study, which surveyed 2000 British families with children aged between 8-16 years old, found that the great British family dinner – once the heart of household conversation – is now in sharp decline.

The research reveals that mobile phones and hectic schedules are sidelining family conversations at dinner time, while a heavy news agenda makes it even harder for parents to tackle topical discussions with their children around the table.

Screens are increasingly creeping into mealtimes, with over three-quarters (77%) of families admitting to having phones at the table. Over half of children (51%) are actively on their devices while eating, and two-thirds (66%) say they’d actually prefer watching TV or using a screen over having a conversation with a parent.

Dr Elizabeth Kilbey says: “In a world that’s more connected yet increasingly disconnected, dinner time provides a powerful platform for fostering essential conversations and personal understanding. The Week Junior recognises that these moments of shared dialogue are crucial for building strong family bonds and enhancing critical thinking in our children. It’s these simple, daily interactions that can make a significant impact, not just in strengthening family ties but in cultivating a generation equipped to lead empathetically and thoughtfully. Let’s pave the way for a future where every voice is heard, starting right at home.”

Vanessa Harriss, Editor of The Week Junior, adds: “At The Week Junior, we know how imaginative and curious kids are. In our fast-paced daily lives, being able to spend time together as a family can be a challenge – and the digital distractions are ever more insistent.

“As our research shows, quality time spent together over the dinner table is vital for families. Whether it’s chatting about everyday things or discussing what’s going on in the news, these family conversations boost children’s development and their wellbeing.

“That’s why we’re encouraging everyone to talk a little more as families,” she continued. “As part of our tenth anniversary celebrations, The Week Junior is also getting even bigger. With an extra four pages every week, we’ll be including conversation starters for our young readers – because taking time to talk makes everyone feel happier.

“Whatever the topic, once kids understand something, they get a real confidence boost – and learn that their voice matters. But the good news doesn’t stop there – a whole decade of parents have told us that reading The Week Junior sparks brilliantly enjoyable conversations wherever they are – in the car, out on a walk, around the kitchen table.”

• Try The Week Junior: Get your first 10 issues of The Week Junior for £10 plus free Conversation Cues download

Barnes Children’s Literature Festival returns

Barnes Children’s Literature Festival returns to Barnes Pond on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd June with more than 100 inspiring events, workshops (including many from Aardman Animation) and performances for young book fans and their families.

(Links below take you straight to the relevant EventBrite ticket page)

*Barnes Children’s Literature Festival RAMZEE*

There will be plenty of fun for graphic novel and comic fans, from the creator of the hilarious Grimwood series and the Festival’s 2025 poster, Nadia Shireen; the author illustrator of the smash hit Loki series, Louie Stowell; Marvel artist, RAMZEE, offering The Cheat Book Cartoon Workshop; and the BAFTA-award winning, The Brothers McLeod.

*Barnes Children’s Literature Festival Cressida Cowell*

Other guests include manga artist Chie Kutsuwada; The Gruffalo illustrator and regular Festival guest, Axel Scheffler; a Skateboard Drawing Club with Ed Syder; plus bestselling children’s author, David Walliams, who will appear at the festival for the first time; Cressida Cowell, the superstar creator of the How to Train Your Dragon books and Hollywood film series; and the book rapping sensation, MC Grammar, star of Sky Kids’ hit show Wonder Raps.

Festival media partners The Week Junior return with their thought-provoking workshop for young journalists which sold out in ten minutes in 2024, and a brand-new event – The Great Debate – will offer a chance for children to polish their debating skills with advice from the magazine’s journalists.

• Try The Week Junior: Get your first 10 issues of The Week Junior for £10 plus free Conversation Cues download

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.