Latest news with #childrensbooks
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
British Children's Author Allan Ahlberg Dies at 87
The writer was best known for the books he created with his wife, the late illustrator Janet AhlbergNEED TO KNOW British children's author Allan Ahlberg has died at age 87 The writer was best known for his collaborations with his wife, the late illustrator Janet Ahlberg The couple published over 30 books together, including Peepo! and Each Peach Pear PlumChildren's book author Allan Ahlberg, best known for his celebrated collaborations with his illustrator wife Janet, has died. He was author's death was confirmed by his publisher Penguin Random House, according to the BBC and The Independent. Ahlberg was born in the South London town of Croydon in 1938. As a baby, he was adopted and raised in a working class family in England's West Midlands region. After leaving school, Ahlberg worked a variety of jobs, including as a mailman and a gravedigger. When the superintendent of Oldbury's parks and cemeteries heard that he was an A-level student, he suggested that Ahlberg become a teacher attended the Sunderland Teacher Training College in the 1960s, where he met his wife Janet. 'If I hadn't met Janet there, I might never have been able to become a writer,' Ahlberg told The Independent in 2006. They married in 1969, and worked as a teacher and illustrator respectively, until Janet suggested that Ahlberg should write a story to go with her artwork."It turned out that this was the sort of writing I could do," Ahlberg said in a 2006 interview with The Guardian. 'It was just like having a baby really. You fuss over the book and are very protective. Criticism — 'your baby has a big nose' — hurts ... and you don't begrudge the other parent their genetic input." After a slew of rejections, the couple eventually published early titles including The Old Joke Book (1976) and Burglar Bill and The Vanishment of Thomas Tull, both published in 1977. The Ahlbergs soon became known for their nursery stories, and published numerous celebrated titles in Britain, like Each Peach Pear Plum (1978) and the Funnybones and the Jolly Postman couple also published the beloved 1981 children's book Peepo!, which drew upon Ahlberg's childhood in the West Midlands. ''It interested us to see what fun you could have with a baby's shifting perspective and adapting drawings to fit,'' Ahlberg said of the book to The Sydney Morning Herald in 2011. The birth of the couple's daughter, Jessica, would also inspire later books like The Baby's Catalogue (1982).Throughout their career, the Ahlbergs published over 30 books together, until Janet's death from breast cancer in 1994 at age 50. In 1997, Ahlberg compiled Janet's Last Book in her memory. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest later married Vanessa Clarke, his editor at Walker Books. He would collaborate with more illustrators on future projects, including Bruce Ingman and Raymond Briggs, and also worked with Jessica on titles like Half a Pig (2004) and The Goldilocks Variations (2012). The pair would also collaborate on Ahlberg's 2013 memoir The Bucket: Memories of an Inattentive himself published over 100 books; his final book, Under the Table, was published in the U.S. in 2024. "I'm far from being the best writer in the world, and Janet was very good but she wasn't the greatest illustrator in the world either," Ahlberg recalled to The Guardian in 2011. "But the pair of us were twins in the sense that we both really wanted our books to be good." Read the original article on People
The Guardian
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Allan Ahlberg obituary
The children's writer Allan Ahlberg, who has died aged 87, could turn his hand to most genres, including fiction, poetry, picture books, fairy tales and comic-strip humour. He was the author of more than 150 books, including the hugely popular Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman. Ahlberg had been working as a primary teacher for 10 years when his wife, Janet, an artist, asked him to write a children's story for her to illustrate. Later he described that moment as feeling as if he were a clockwork toy and 'she had turned the key'. Their first book together, Here Are the Brick Street Boys, was published in 1975, and the Ahlbergs went on to become one of the most successful writer/illustrator partnerships in children's literature. A very close couple, they enjoyed an intimacy that also characterised their working lives. One secret of their success lay in the dynamic relationship they created between word and picture; another was their joint ability to view the world as if through the eyes of a child. They shared a gentle, quirky sense of humour that was conveyed with great warmth. When their daughter, Jessica, was born in 1980, her various stages of growing up provided further inspiration for their work. Perhaps the most memorable volume from this period was The Baby's Catalogue (1982), a simple but brilliant idea based on the fact that babies loved spotting other babies in catalogues and magazines. Each Peach Pear Plum (1978) was about as perfect as a picturebook could be, and the deserving winner of their first Kate Greenaway medal, with its simple 'I spy' game and a rhyme based on playground skipping games and nursery rhyme characters. Peepo! (1981) was a book to accompany the familiar 'peek-a-boo' that adults play with babies. The Ahlbergs raised the game a notch or two by adding a hole to literally peep through, running throughout the book, and setting it during the second world war, with fascinating period detail. Ahlberg described the visual aspect of this book as being based on his memories of his own poor, Black Country childhood, in a small house with tin bath and outside privy. 'I am the Peepo baby,' as he put it. He would return to that world in 2013 in the prose and poetry recollections of The Bucket: Memories of an Inattentive Childhood. The Jolly Postman (1986, followed by The Jolly Christmas Postman and The Jolly Pocket Postman) was the Ahlbergs' masterpiece, and the Postman series as a whole their biggest commercial success, winning the couple their second Kate Greenaway medal and the Emil/Kurt Maschler award, with sales of over 6m copies worldwide. Children, teachers and critics alike were mesmerised by the book's originality; this wonderfully playful text changed forever the scope of what picturebooks could aspire to. Although sophisticated paper engineering was nothing new, no one had come up with such imaginative 'props' within a picturebook before. It required active reading from the book's young audience, as it not only demanded physical interaction, but also expected them to draw on knowledge of traditional nursery rhymes and fairy tales. It used the widest and most inventive range of text-types up to that point – from letters, postcards, invitations and catalogues to tiny books, newspapers, recipes and advertisements. While children were delighting in the book, they were simultaneously embracing the wider culture of the society they lived in. Ahlberg's time working in primary schools had given him the opportunity to observe children, and he put this knowledge to good use in all his books, especially his poetry, where one can detect the viewpoint of the benevolent teacher. Please Mrs Butler (1983) was his earliest collection and is still the most popular, though he wrote excellent further volumes, illustrated by Fritz Wegner and Charlotte Voake. His Collected Poems was published in 2008. Born in Croydon, south London, Allan was the son of a single mother. After being adopted by a working-class family – his adoptive parents worked as an office cleaner and a labourer – he grew up in Oldbury, near Birmingham, and, he said, 'scraped' in to the local grammar school. A lifelong supporter of West Bromwich Albion, he initially hoped to play football as a career. He met Janet Hall at teacher training college in Sunderland and they married in 1969. Despite living most of his life elsewhere (for many years near Bath), Ahlberg was always happy to drop into Black Country dialect. He was very proud of the 2011 exhibition of the couple's work at the Public arts centre in Sandwell, near Oldbury, which included children's responses to their books. What's in the Book? (2006), a show for Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books in Newcastle, described the Ahlbergs' working method: 'I do the words (takes me about a day) and Janet does the pictures (takes her about six months). Then we send the words and the pictures to the publisher and the publisher sends us some money. And I get half for my day's work, and Janet gets half for her six months' work: the basis of a happy marriage …' Allan was devastated when Janet died of cancer in 1994, but found a therapeutic way of addressing the terrible loss by putting together a tribute volume as a private publication, Janet's Last Book (1997), based on his personal selection of her work. The Adventures of Bert (2001) and A Bit More Bert (2002) were illustrated by Raymond Briggs, and The Runaway Dinner (2006) and The Pencil (2013) by Bruce Ingman. Jessica went on to become a successful author in her own right, and father and daughter collaborated on several books, including The Goldilocks Variations (2012). In 2014, Ahlberg was set to receive the Booktrust lifetime achievement award, but decided to turn it down because sponsorship came from Amazon. When his fellow authors Philip Pullman and Mark Haddon heard about this, they decided to create an alternative, a compilation of tributes from other writers and illustrators which they called the Shoestring award, in appreciation of the Ahlbergs' work. Ahlberg married for a second time, to Vanessa Clarke, his editor at Walker Books, and became stepfather to her two daughters, Saskia and Johanna. They, and Jessica, survive him. Allan Ahlberg, children's writer, born 5 June 1938; died 29 July 2025 Morag Styles died in January 2025.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Children's author Allan Ahlberg dies aged 87
Beloved author Allan Ahlberg, who wrote the children's classic Funnybones, has died aged 87, his publisher Penguin Random House has confirmed. His career spanned more than five decades, writing 150 books including Woof!, The Jolly Postman and the award-winning Peach Pear Plum. He worked with his late wife Janet – an award-winning illustrator – and the pair went on to sell millions of books around the world. After Janet's death in 1994, he worked with illustrators such as Raymond Briggs and Bruce Ingman. He also produced a series of collaborations with his daughter Jessica including Half a Pig and a set of innovative variations on the tale of Goldilocks. Fellow children's author Michael Rosen described Ahlberg as a "pioneer of great children's literature". In a tribute on X, he said: "You were a pioneer of great children's literature, both in picture books and poetry. "You were clever, funny and wise. My children loved your books. So did and so do I." Francesca Dow, head of children's literature at Penguin Random House, said: "Allan was one of the most extraordinary authors I have had the privilege and pleasure to work with. "His brilliant books – so many of them created with his late wife, Janet, the highly talented illustrator – have been described as 'mini masterpieces'. "Allan's are some of the very best – true classics, which will be loved by children and families for years to come. Dear Allan, we will all miss you enormously." The publishing house put out his last picture book, Under the Table, in 2023. He is survived by his daughter Jessica, his wife Vanessa, and stepdaughters Saskia and Johanna. Ahlberg was born in Croydon in 1938. He was brought up by his adoptive parents in Oldbury, and worked as a postman, plumber and gravedigger. Eventually he trained to become a teacher at Sunderland Teacher Training College. Several of his books won awards or were adapted into children's TV series. The Jolly Postman, which was published in 1991, won the Kurt Maschler Award and has sold over six million copies. Funnybones, about a family of skeletons, was adapted into a children's TV series aired on the BBC in 1992. His book Woof!, about a little boy who turns into a dog, inspired a TV series which ran on ITV between 1989 and 1997. In 2014, Ahlberg made headlines for turning down a lifetime achievement award after he discovered it was sponsored by Amazon.
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Children's author Allan Ahlberg dies aged 87
Allan Ahlberg, the author of the children's classic Funnybones, has died aged 87. Ahlberg was known for creating beloved children's books with his first wife Janet, with their scores of titles including The Jolly Postman, which sold more than six million copies. Publisher Penguin Random House confirmed the death of the author, who enjoyed a 50-year writing career. Colleagues said Ahlberg was still revising the cover art for his books a week before his death. Francesca Dow, director of children's books at the publishing house, hailed him as 'extraordinary' and said his work would be 'loved by children and families for years to come'. Ahlberg had worked as a postman, a plumber's mate and a grave digger before a writing career began unexpectedly after he met Janet Hall, who would become his first wife. She was an illustrator who had become frustrated with the quality of the books she was being sent to work on, and requested that Ahlberg attempt to write something better. That resulted in the 1975 book Here are the Brick Street Boys, which would be the first of many collaborations. These included Funnybones, about a family of skeletons, which was adapted into a children's TV series aired on the BBC. Janet Ahlberg died in 1994, and Mr Ahlberg published several tributes to her, including Janet's Last Book, which included many of the illustrator's previously unseen pictures. In 2014, Ahlberg made headlines for refusing lifetime a achievement award because it was sponsored by Amazon. The author took issue with the company's record on tax, and turned down commendation at the Booktrust Best Book Awards because Booktrust had been supported financially by the tech giant. He said at the time: 'When companies like Amazon cheat – paying 0.1 per cent on billions, pretending it is earning money not in the UK, but in Luxembourg, that's a bad thing. 'We should surely, at the very least, say that it is bad and on no account give it any support or, by association, respectability. The idea that my 'lifetime achievement' should have the Amazon tag attached to it is unacceptable.' Ahlberg later worked with other illustrators, including his daughter, Jessica, who helped create a pop-up version of the Goldilocks tale. He is survived by Jessica, his wife Vanessa, and stepdaughters Saskia and Johanna. Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, the chief executive of the children's publisher Walker Books Group, said of her time working with Mr Ahlberg: 'Allan once told us that when his daughter asked him for a story, she would request 'one straight out of your mouth'. 'Over the years, many at Walker were truly privileged to hear stories straight from Allan's mouth. He was enormously playful in spirit and language and had the ability to make you smile in one sentence. Allan inspired generations of children's writers, inspired all of us who worked with him, and inspired artists to make some of their very best work.' The publishing house put out his last picture book, Under the Table, in 2023.
The Sun
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Beloved children's author who wrote over 150 books dies aged 87 – 30 years after first wife died of cancer
A BELOVED children's author who wrote over 150 books has died aged 87. Allan Ahlberg produced a host of bestselling nursery classics during a stellar career as an author. 1 Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, CEO of Walker Books Group, which published some of his books, said: "He was enormously playful in spirit and language and had the ability to make you smile in one sentence. "Allan inspired generations of children's writers, inspired all of us who worked with him, and inspired artists to make some of their very best work.' He came to writing in his late thirties, when his wife Janet grew tired of illustrating non-fiction and asked him to write a story for her to illustrate. Allan later recalled the moment was "as if she turned a key in my back and I was off". The Ahlbergs went on to produce 37 books together, and Allan also wrote more than 100 others, some in Janet's lifetime, and some since her death from breast cancer in 1994. Their collaborations included such lasting favourites for the very young as Peepo!, The Baby's Catalogue and Each Peach Pear Plum. Following Janet's death Allan worked with illustrators such as Raymond Briggs and Bruce Ingman. His career came full circle in a series of collaborations with his daughter Jessica including Half a Pig and a pop-up set of anarchic variations on the tale of Goldilocks.
