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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Ella Creamer and Lucy Knight

‘It’s quite galling’: children’s authors frustrated by rise in celebrity-penned titles

Keira Knightley
Keira Knightley’s debut children’s book, I Love You Just the Same ,is due to be published next October. Photograph: Kristina Bumphrey/Shutterstock

“A modern classic by Keira Knightley” reads the provisional cover of the actor’s debut children’s book, I Love You Just the Same. Set to be published next October, the 80-page volume, written and illustrated by Knightley, is about a girl navigating the changing dynamics that come with the arrival of a sibling.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star is the latest in a long list of celebrities to have turned to writing children’s books. McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter have been hovering at the top of the bestseller chart since the publication last month of their latest book The Dinosaur that Pooped Halloween!. Earlier in the year, David Walliams dominated with his newest book Astrochimp. The entertainer has sold 25m copies of his children’s titles in the UK alone, according to Nielsen BookData.

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