A runaway hot air balloon, a parrot in search of a new home, and the dastardly Lou-Ella hot on their heels - Dixie and Percy are Up, Up and Away!
Shirley Hughes (Author)
Shirley Hughes illustrated more than 200 children's books and is
one of the best-loved writers for children, known for her beloved
classics including the Alfie and Annie Rose stories, and
Dogger.
Shirley Hughes was born in West Kirby, near Liverpool, in 1927, and
studied fashion and dress design at Liverpool Art School, before
continuing her studies at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art
in Oxford. She started her career as a freelance illustrator in
London, illustrating other writers' work, including Noel
Streatfeild, Alison Uttley, Ian Seraillier and notably Dorothy
Edwards's My Naughty Little Sister series.
Shirley began to write and draw her own picture books when her
children were young. Her first book - Lucy and Tom's Day - was
published in 1960, and she followed it with, among others, Dogger,
and the Alfie series. Her books include the wordless picture book
Up and Up, collection of rhymes and poems Out and About, and for
the very young The Nursery Collection.
She wrote two novels for older children, Hero on a Bicycle, about a
13-year-old Italian boy during the occupation of Florence, and
Whistling in the Dark, set during the Liverpool Blitz. Her memoir,
A Life Drawing, was published in 2002.
She also collaborated with her daughter, Clara Vulliamy, on the
Dixie O'Day series; which saw Shirley with an illustrator for the
first time with Shirley writing the text and Clara creating the
illustrations.
In 2020 she returned to her much-loved character, Dogger, with a
new story Dogger's Christmas.
Shirley Hughes has won the Other Award, the Eleanor Farjeon Award,
and the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration twice, for Dogger in
1977 and for Ella's Big Chance in 2003. In 2007 Dogger was voted
the public's favourite Greenaway winner of all time. She was Highly
Commended for the Greenaway Medal for The Lion and the Unicorn in
1998. Shirley received an OBE in 1999 for services to Children's
Literature, and a CBE in 2017. She was a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Literature and was the first recipient of BookTrust's
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Shirley died in London in 2022.
Clara Vulliamy (Illustrator)
Clara was born in Notting Hill, and studied at Chelsea School of
Art, The Ruskin in Oxford, and The Royal Academy. She began her
career by doing illustrations in newspapers and magazines, and
started doing books for children when she had children of her own.
Clara lives in Twickenham with her husband and two grown-up
children.
With text and pictures beautifully complementing one another, these
tales of peril and domestic perplexity are a dream to read aloud
and tempting for newly fluent readers to manage on their own.
Established fans will appreciate familiar characters putting in a
cheerful appearance, while those new to the books can revel in the
excitement of a story that stands confidently alone. Meanwhile end
papers complete with chatty questionnaires, maps and games all add
to the satisfying sense of a fully-formed world in miniature.
*Independent Bookshop Week Supplement*
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