Coming to England

Floella Benjamin was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1949, and came to England in 1960 as part of the Windrush generation. She has enjoyed a successful career as a children’s presenter, best known for the iconic BBC TV programmes Play School and Play Away, and has also worked as an actress, writer, producer, working peer and an active advocate for the welfare and education of children. Her broadcasting work has been recognized with a Special Lifetime Achievement BAFTA and an OBE. She was appointed a Baroness in the House of Lords in 2010 and a Dame in the 2020 New Year Honours list, and is the Chair of the Windrush Commemoration Committee.Diane Ewen was born in Walsall, in the West Midlands. She has always loved art, and graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a B.A. Honours Degree in Illustration. Diane likes to create illustrations that are hand-drawn in pencil, which she paints in watercolour and acrylics before embellishing them using Photoshop, but she also enjoys working directly on the computer screen to create her characters and designs. Diane loves the fact that the artwork is often the first thing that draws children into a book, and is inspired by the use of vibrant colour, so illustrating the Caribbean scenes of Floella’s childhood was hugely enjoyable for her.

Floella Benjamin’s superb autobiography Coming to England (Macmillan) is condensed for younger children and made still more accessible by Diane Ewen’s lively illustrations. When Floella and her siblings follow her parents from Trinidad to Britain, they hope the Queen will be there to meet them – but their welcome is colder than expected. Gradually, they settle in, until one day Floella really does meet the Queen. Clear and direct, the book conveys some big, challenging ideas with assurance.