Janet Ahlberg (1944–1994)
Author of Each Peach Pear Plum
About the Author
Janet Ahlberg was born in Huddersfield, England in 1944 and brought up in Leicester. Originally trained as a teacher in Sunderland from 1963 to 1966, Ahlberg was encouraged to paint and draw. She decided that keeping charge of a class was very hard work so she decided to develop her artistic show more ability and went to study graphic design at Leicester Polytechnic for three years. She met and married Allan Ahlberg and began to illustrate books for children, first with Night published in 1972, and then with The Brick Street Boys series, written by her husband. Since then, she and Allan Ahlberg have worked together successfully. Another series, also written by Allan Ahlberg, is Happy Families, published by Puffin Books. In 1978, Ahlberg was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for Each Peach, Pear, Plum. Ahlberg is a two time winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal having won again in 1991for The Jolly Christmas Postman. She was awarded the Kurt Maschler Awards in 1986 for The Jolly Postman: or Other People's Letters, whoch sold over a million copies worlwide. Sadly Janet Ahlberg died in 1994 at the age of 50 after suffering from cancer (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: With husband Allan and daughter Jessica (1989)
Series
Works by Janet Ahlberg
Each Peach Pear Plum (Video) — Author — 2 copies
The bear that nobody wanted 1 copy
Que Ossos Curiosos! 1 copy
BANGDITI! 1 copy
Associated Works
Cricket Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 10, June 1978 — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Hall, Janet (birth name)
- Birthdate
- 1944-10-21
- Date of death
- 1994-11-15
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Sunderland Technical College
- Occupations
- illustrator
- Awards and honors
- Kate Greenaway Medal (1978)
- Relationships
- Ahlberg, Allan (husband)
Ahlberg, Jessica (daughter) - Short biography
- Janet Ahlberg (1944-1994) was a British children's book illustrator, and the co-creator, together with her husband Allan Ahlberg, of the best-selling Jolly Postman series. Born as Janet Hall in Yorkshire in 1944, she studied at Sunderland Technical College, where she met Ahlberg. The two married in 1969, and began to work together, publishing their first co-venture - The Old Joke Book - in 1976. She won the 1978 Kate Greenaway Medal from the British Library Association - an award recognizing the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject - for Each Peach Pear Plum.
Janet Ahlberg died of breast cancer in 1994, at the age of fifty, having produced many beloved and bestselling books. Her daughter with Allan Ahlberg - Jessica Ahlberg - is also a children's book creator. - Cause of death
- breast cancer
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Yorkshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK
- Place of death
- Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
Humorous children's book about traps for worms in Name that Book (September 2015)
Reviews
"If you meet a witch, / Don't scream and run; / Whatever she does / It's only in fun..." So begins the rhyming text of this miniature fold-out paper-chain picture-book about witches. The poem—one verse per fold-out panel—advises the young reader not to panic at a witch's various shenanigans, unless of course, she speaks of being hungry. The fold-outs themselves are all witch-shaped, and depict various magical practitioners in a number of different actions, each corresponding to the verse show more with which they are paired.
That prolific and beloved British author/illustrator team, Janet and Allan Ahlberg, who were also a married couple, and who produced many popular picture-books over the course of their partnership, from their Jolly Postman series to their Kate Greenaway Medal-winning Each Peach Pear Plum, created the Daisychains series of fold-out paper-chain picture-books between 1983 and 1985. Which Witch?, published in 1983, is one of around nine titles in the series (all now quite difficult to find), and came to my attention during one of my periodic searches for new (or new to me) witchy picture-books—a particular pet project of mine. I am very glad to have tracked it down, as it is a fun little novelty item, with an entertaining poem that would make for a good read-aloud, and appealing artwork on the witch-shaped pages. I would love to see this one either reprinted or remade as a full-sized picture-book, although the latter seems unlikely to happen, given Janet Ahlberg's death in 1994. In any case, this is one I would recommend (if one can obtain it) to fans of the Ahlbergs, and to young people who enjoy witchy fare and/or unusual picture-book formats. show less
That prolific and beloved British author/illustrator team, Janet and Allan Ahlberg, who were also a married couple, and who produced many popular picture-books over the course of their partnership, from their Jolly Postman series to their Kate Greenaway Medal-winning Each Peach Pear Plum, created the Daisychains series of fold-out paper-chain picture-books between 1983 and 1985. Which Witch?, published in 1983, is one of around nine titles in the series (all now quite difficult to find), and came to my attention during one of my periodic searches for new (or new to me) witchy picture-books—a particular pet project of mine. I am very glad to have tracked it down, as it is a fun little novelty item, with an entertaining poem that would make for a good read-aloud, and appealing artwork on the witch-shaped pages. I would love to see this one either reprinted or remade as a full-sized picture-book, although the latter seems unlikely to happen, given Janet Ahlberg's death in 1994. In any case, this is one I would recommend (if one can obtain it) to fans of the Ahlbergs, and to young people who enjoy witchy fare and/or unusual picture-book formats. show less
The eponymous Burglar Bill lives a solitary life of crime in this picture-book from Janet and Allan Ahlberg, robbing homes at night and returning to his own domicile - entirely kitted out with ill-gotten goods - to sleep during the day. Then one night he discovers a cardboard box at one of the homes he is burgling, and thinking it might come in handy, brings it home with him. Imagine his surprise when it contains a baby! Now Burglar Bill has an entirely new occupation: child minder. Soon he show more also has a lady love, in the form of Burglar Betty, leading to some surprising changes in all of their lives...
Originally published in 1977, and recommended to me by an online friend, Burglar Bill is only the second picture-book I have read from Janet and Allan Ahlberg, following upon their classic Each Peach Pear Plum. I found it quite amusing, with its blithe acceptance of Burglar Bill's crime sprees, and its tale of lifestyle reformation. The artwork was likewise appealing, with plenty of fun little details to examine. It's interesting to note that a number of online reviews criticize the fact that Bill and Betty were never punished for their transgressions, leading me to wonder whether this issue has ever caused the book to be challenged, when it comes to inclusion in school and public library collections. I note that many American libraries in WorldCat have it in their collection, so perhaps the eventual reformation of the characters was enough for it to pass muster. I also wonder whether the satirical poem Burglar Bill, included in F. Anstey's 1888 Burglar Bill, and Other Pieces for the Use of the Young Reciter, might have been an inspiration for the Ahlbergs. After all, that poem - perhaps meant to mock sentimental stories like Frances Hodgson's Burnett's Editha's Burglar - also dealt with a burglar and his transformative encounter with an innocent child.
Whatever the case might be, this is one I enjoyed, and that I would recommend to picture-book readers who enjoy humorous and somewhat quirky stories. show less
Originally published in 1977, and recommended to me by an online friend, Burglar Bill is only the second picture-book I have read from Janet and Allan Ahlberg, following upon their classic Each Peach Pear Plum. I found it quite amusing, with its blithe acceptance of Burglar Bill's crime sprees, and its tale of lifestyle reformation. The artwork was likewise appealing, with plenty of fun little details to examine. It's interesting to note that a number of online reviews criticize the fact that Bill and Betty were never punished for their transgressions, leading me to wonder whether this issue has ever caused the book to be challenged, when it comes to inclusion in school and public library collections. I note that many American libraries in WorldCat have it in their collection, so perhaps the eventual reformation of the characters was enough for it to pass muster. I also wonder whether the satirical poem Burglar Bill, included in F. Anstey's 1888 Burglar Bill, and Other Pieces for the Use of the Young Reciter, might have been an inspiration for the Ahlbergs. After all, that poem - perhaps meant to mock sentimental stories like Frances Hodgson's Burnett's Editha's Burglar - also dealt with a burglar and his transformative encounter with an innocent child.
Whatever the case might be, this is one I enjoyed, and that I would recommend to picture-book readers who enjoy humorous and somewhat quirky stories. show less
Made on an assembly line, the bear fails inspection and lands in the reject bin--a calamity that, ironically, is more difficult for him to endure since it's a result of his supercilious expression: a mouth stitch gone awry and a misplaced eye affect his character as much as they do his visage. As a catalogue of the mistreatment of his species, what follows rivals Oliver Twist or Black Beauty. Liberated by a cleaning woman who takes him to her rambunctious children, the bear is snubbed by the show more other toys and alternately neglected and abused (in pungently realistic detail, but at least being a toy spares him physical pain); hauled by a rag-and-bone man to a paper factory, which he escapes when an executive uses him as a shoe buffer; mauled by a dog; treated with consideration, for the first time, at a toy hospital where his new eye gives him a kindlier mien; given to a mechanical-minded tot who first ignores him and then leaves him behind when evacuated during WW II; bombed; and, at last, rescued by a nice boy who mends him again and gives him to his loving little sister. Ahlberg confides all this in the informal manner of a parent who happens to be a gifted storyteller, leavening whimsy with sturdy doses of common sense and the sometimes grim reality with delightful humor. Meanwhile, the bear has become wiser as well as humbler, and fully deserves his long-awaited happiness. Janet Ahlberg's delicately precise drawings, tucked here and there in the text, add a fine sense of place and an amusing visual slant. show less
Love of language and literature works best as a daisy chain, down the generations. Some of the best picture books have a similar structure, with repetition, rhyme, and rhythm as cues. This is such a book.
First, I read this to my child, pausing before pointing out the next character, who would be hiding in the picture somewhere.
Then I would read, but stop before saying the last words on each page, allowing my child to jump in with the next name.
"Each Peach Pear Plum, I spy Tom Thumb"
"Tom show more Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard
Mother Hubbard..., I spy..."
My child learned to read the book: pretend reading (memory), then properly.
The whole book is a daisy chain of names familiar from fairy tales and nursery rhymes, creating a story that includes Robin Hood, Baby Bunting, the Three Bears, a Wicked Witch, and Cinderella.
This remains one of a few special books we both know off by heart, more than twenty years later.
Pass it on
Another daisy chain: it’s a book I’ve given to many friends. They usually say how much they and their child enjoy it. I hope that one day, they and their children will pass it on.
Last week, a friend I gave it to more than ten years ago, and who now lives in Australia, sent me a picture of her younger child with the book, saying her kids still love it. A simple gesture that filled me with joy, and flooded a difficult week with happy memories.
Thanksgiving life lessons
An aunty figure in my youth, had two favourite axioms:
“Send postcards to people when they are alive, not flowers when they are dead.”
and
“Great oaks from little acorns grow.”
My friend sent a virtual postcard.
And a love of reading nurtures our acorns into saplings and on to mighty oaks.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US. I am thankful for those who nurtured me, and for the privilege of nurturing others. show less
First, I read this to my child, pausing before pointing out the next character, who would be hiding in the picture somewhere.
Then I would read, but stop before saying the last words on each page, allowing my child to jump in with the next name.
"Each Peach Pear Plum, I spy Tom Thumb"
"Tom show more Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard
Mother Hubbard..., I spy..."
My child learned to read the book: pretend reading (memory), then properly.
The whole book is a daisy chain of names familiar from fairy tales and nursery rhymes, creating a story that includes Robin Hood, Baby Bunting, the Three Bears, a Wicked Witch, and Cinderella.
This remains one of a few special books we both know off by heart, more than twenty years later.
Pass it on
Another daisy chain: it’s a book I’ve given to many friends. They usually say how much they and their child enjoy it. I hope that one day, they and their children will pass it on.
Last week, a friend I gave it to more than ten years ago, and who now lives in Australia, sent me a picture of her younger child with the book, saying her kids still love it. A simple gesture that filled me with joy, and flooded a difficult week with happy memories.
Thanksgiving life lessons
An aunty figure in my youth, had two favourite axioms:
“Send postcards to people when they are alive, not flowers when they are dead.”
and
“Great oaks from little acorns grow.”
My friend sent a virtual postcard.
And a love of reading nurtures our acorns into saplings and on to mighty oaks.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US. I am thankful for those who nurtured me, and for the privilege of nurturing others. show less
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