Thursday, March 3, 2022

Shirley Hughes 1927-2022





Wanting your reader or non reader, who may not yet know how to read, to be so excited they want to turn the page ... The importance of picture books is that they give (children) this chance to go through a story, to respond visually, at their own pace long before they can read and if they get that you've got them. I reckon they'll turn into readersShirley Hughes

Do you have a favourite book illustrated by UK illustrator Shirley Hughes. I am certain you will have seen her work - she wrote around fifty books and illustrated a further 200. Kate won Greenaway Medals almost 30 years apart for her illustrations. She also won a BookTrust Lifetime Achievement award in 2015. In 1984 she received the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished services to children and books.


In the US this book was renamed David and Dog (this change of title amazes me)

I am in awe of illustrators such as the wonderful Shirley Hughes who can capture the joy of little children so perfectly. Begin with this site where you can see her artHere is a Pinterest of her art. You can also see her work on her Twitter page. Here is a 2018 interview with Book Bag. Now take a look at these images:






Here is a video where Shirley talks about her book The Christmas Eve Ghost in 2010.

Shirley Hughes is such an astute observer of family life, in particular the family life of very young children. ... While Hughes may have planned to produce a concept book or a story with a specific theme, it is her characters that make her books. Her characters have lives of their own, and distinct personalities. The reader feels that they know them. Her black-pen outlines and watercolour illustrations have such warmth and her stories such humour that they resonate with the children and the adults who are reading them. Kinderbookswitheverything

Read my post about Angel Mae.

Here are some other videos with and about Shirley Hughes:

What do artists do all day? (Part One 15 minutes) Watch this to see the real toy - Dogger and learn more about the Alfie books.  "A book is a wonderful piece of technology ... I want children to learn how to look, how to linger over a picture, and not rush through."

What do artists do all day? (Part Two 13 minutes made in 2016) In this video Shirley talks about the books she made with her daughter Clara



Book Trust interview (22 minutes) "Reading isn't a competition"

Shirley Hughes on creating Picture Books (5 minutes)

Who is Alfie? (3 minutes)

Reading Dogger (2 minutes)












Kirkus Star ReviewA superb historical thriller.




Shirley Hughes did illustrations in the 1950s and 1960s for many famous authors such as Ian Seraillier; Diana Pullein-Thompson; Efrida Vipond; William Mayne; Noel Streatfeild; Ursula Moray Wlliams; and E Nesbitt. Reference: The Telling Line by Douglas Martin, Magpies Magazine 1989. With so many books I cannot list all of them but here are a few highlights in chronological order up to 1989:

1952 cover for the Australian novel World's end was Home by Nan Chauncy

1954 The Bell Family by Noel Streatfeild

1960 Lucy and Tom's Day

1966 Satchkin Patchkin by Helen Morgan

1966 The Faber Book of Nursery Stories (reprinted 2013)


1968 When my Naughty little sister was good by Dorothy Edwards



1972 The First Margaret Mahy Storybook by Margaret Mahy

1973 The Second Margaret Mahy Storybook by Margaret Mahy

1973 Lucy and Tom go to School


1974 Clothes

1975 Helpers

1975 The Third Margaret Mahy Storybook

1976 Lucy and Tom at the seaside

1977 Dogger

1977 It's too frightening for me!

1978 Moving Molly

1979 Up and Up

1980 Babies need books by Dorothy Butler

1980 Here comes Charlie Moon

1980 Over the Moon: A book of Sayings (reprinted 1998)

1981 Alfie gets in first


1981 Lucy and Tom's Christmas

1982 Alfie's Feet

1983 Alfie gives a hand

1983 Sally's secret

1984 An evening at Alfie's

1984 Lucy and Tom's ABC

1985 Bathwater's Hot

1985 Noisy


1986 Another helping of Chips

1986 Two Shoes, New Shoes

1987 Lucy and Tom;s 123

1988 Out and about

1988 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett



Finally here are all the Alfie books in order:

Book 1: Alfie's Feet (1982)
Book 2: Alfie Gives A Hand (1983)
Book 3: An Evening at Alfie's (1984)
Book 4: The Big Alfie and Annie Rose Storybook (1988)
Book 5: Alfie Gets in First (1991)
Book 6: The Big Alfie Out of Doors Storybook (1992)
Book 7: The Alfie Collection (1992)
Book 8: The Alfie Treasury (1994)
Book 9: Rhymes for Annie Rose (1995)
Book 10: Alfie & The Birthday Surprise (1997)
Book 11: All About Alfie (1997)
Book 12: Alfie's Alphabet (1997)
Book 13: Alfie's ABC (1982)
Book 14: Alfie Goes Camping (1999)
Book 15: Alfie's 1 2 3 (1999)
Book 16: Alfie's Numbers (2000)
Book 17: Alfie's Weather (2001)
Book 18: Annie Rose Is My Little Sister (2002)
Book 19: Alfie Wins A Prize (2004)
Book 20: Alfie's World (2006)
Book 21: Alfie and the Big Boys (2007)
Book 22: My Alfie Collection (2011)
Book 23: Alfie's Shop (2013)
Book 24: Alfie's Christmas (2013)
Book 25: Alfie Gets in First ad Other Stories (2015)
Book 26: Alfie & Grandma (2015)
Book 27: Alfie Outdoors (2016)
Book 28: Alfie and Mum (2016)
Book 29: Alfie and His Very Best Friend (2016)
Book 30: Alfie and Dad (2017)
Book 31: Alfie at Nursery School (2018)
Book 32: Alfie on Holiday (2019) 



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