21st October Ursula Le Guin (1929) Janet Ahlberg (1944 - 1994)

Ursula K. Le Guin is an American writer, known for writing fantasy, science fiction and magical realism. Catwings, a series of four books, is an allegorical text written for younger readers than her other novels. Book 1 begins when a homeless city cat, Mrs Jane Tabby has four kittens who are born with wings. The stories chart the kitten's adventures as they try to survive and ultimately escape poverty.

Janet Ahlberg, wife of writer Allan Ahlberg was an illustrator of his books and others. She won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice, once for Each Peach Pear Plum and then again for The Jolly Christmas Postman which followed on from the success of the earlier The Jolly Postman. In my library she is revered by the children for the ever popular series Funnybones.

5th June Richard Scarry (1919 - 1994) Allan Ahlberg (1938)

American

Richard Scarry began his career

in children's literature

illustrating Little Golden Books in the 1950s. In 1963 he

wrote and illustrated Best Word Book Ever in

a style that became his trademark, so to speak, anthropomorphic animal characters that were busy with the details of everyday life. He is probably best known for his Busytown series of books. His books seem to have undergone a resurgence in popularity in the last five years and a new audience of children is enjoying them with parents who also enjoyed them when they were young.

The British author Allan Ahlberg is also prolific, but he does not illustrate his own books. His late wife Janet illustrated some of his early books, such as Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman which are now classics and his daughter Jessica after illustrating Allan's Half a Pig has become an illustrator in her own right working with authors such as Mary Murphy and Vivian French. At school Jeremiah in the Dark Wood and Ten in a Bed are popular serials and the Funnybones series of books are always on loan from the library.