LONDON — British writer Allan Ahlberg, author of more than 150 children\u2019s books including classics like \u201cEat Peach Pear Plum\u201d and \u201cThe Jolly Postman,\u201d has died, his publisher said Friday. He was 87.<\/p>\n
Penguin Random House said Ahlberg died on Tuesday. It did not give a cause of death.<\/p>\n
Ahlberg\u2019s books introduced generations of young children to reading through simple rhymes, sharp observation and gentle humor. Many were co-created with his illustrator wife Janet Ahlberg, who died in 1994.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeepo!\u201d (1981) gave a baby\u2019s-eye-view of the world and was interactive in a delightfully analogue way, with peep-holes in the pages to spy the next scenes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Jolly Postman\u201d (1986) was even more inventive, incorporating postcards and letters in envelopes for children to engage with while they followed a letter-carrier delivering mail to fairy tale characters. Penguin Random House said it \u201cpushed at the boundaries of what it is possible for a book to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahlberg also wrote books of jokes, including \u201cThe Ha Ha Bonk Book,\u201d and poetry for primary school-age children, including \u201cPlease Mrs. Butler\u201d and \u201cHeard it in the Playground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in 1938 and raised by adoptive parents in a working-class home in OIdbury, central England, Ahlberg worked as a \u201cpostman, plumber\u2019s mate and grave digger,\u201d according to his publisher, before becoming a teacher. He met Janet at teacher training college and the couple\u2019s first book, \u201cHere are the Brick Street Boys,\u201d was published in 1975.<\/p>\n
Then came \u201d\u2019Burglar Bill\u201d in 1977, about a burglar who steals a baby, and \u201cEat Peach Pear Plum\u201d in 1978, with its pages of intricately drawn nursery-rhyme characters. It won Janet the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration, one of the most prestigious awards in children\u2019s publishing. \u201cThe Jolly Christmas Postman\u201d won the same prize in 1991.<\/p>\n
After Janet died of cancer aged just 50, Ahlberg worked with illustrators including Raymond Briggs and his daughter, Jessica Ahlberg.<\/p>\n
For adults, he wrote a tribute to his wife, \u201cJanet\u2019s Last Book,\u201d and two autobiographies: \u201cThe Boyhood of Burglar Bill\u201d and \u201cThe Bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francesca Dow, head of children\u2019s literature at Penguin Random House, said Ahlberg\u2019s books have been described as \u201cmini masterpieces.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew that making it perfect for children matters, and above all that the very best stories for children last forever,\u201d Dow said. \u201cAllan\u2019s are some of the very best \u2013 true classics, which will be loved by children and families for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahlberg is survived by his second wife, Vanessa Clarke, his daughter and two stepdaughters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON — British writer Allan Ahlberg, author of more than 150 children\u2019s books including classics like \u201cEat Peach…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[71966,347,1022,36029,435,71965,171,57,67,132,68,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-114491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-71966","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-books-and-literature","12":"tag-celebrity","13":"tag-childrens-entertainment","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114962438891822763","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}