Jenny Nimmo (born 15 January 1944) is a British author of children's books, including fantasy and adventure novels,

chapter books A chapter book is a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10. Unlike picture books for beginning readers, a chapter book tells the story primarily through prose rather than pictures. Unlike books for advanced readers, ...

, and picture books. Born in England, she has lived mostly in Wales for 40 years. She is probably best known for two series of fantasy novels: ''

The Magician Trilogy ''The Magician Trilogy'' is a series of three children's fantasy novels by the British author Jenny Nimmo, first published by Methuen 1986 to 1989. It is sometimes called the Snow Spider trilogy or series after the first book and ''The Snow Spi ...

'' (1986–1989), contemporary stories rooted in Welsh myth, and '' Children of the Red King'' (2002–2010), featuring schoolchildren endowed with magical powers. ''The Snow Spider'', first of the Magician books, won the second annual

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and ...

and the 1987

Tir na n-Og Award The Tir na n-Og Awards (abbreviated TnaO) are a set of annual children's literary awards in Wales from 1976. They are presented by the Books Council of Wales to the best books published during the preceding calendar year in each of three awards ca ...

as the year's best originally English-language book with an authentic Welsh background. ''The Stone Mouse'' was highly commended for the 1993 Carnegie Medal. Several others of hers have been shortlisted for children's book awards.

Biography

Jenny Nimmo was born in Windsor, England. She was an only child, and her father died when she was five. She was a voracious reader as a child, which led her to write her own stories to share with friends. After working for a time in theatre, Nimmo spent several years with the BBC, partly on adapting other writers' stories for television, including 40 episodes (eight "stories") for ''

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' is a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the first story was the fair ...

'' readings. Her first book, ''The Bronze Trumpeter'', began life as a television script. It was published by

Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

in January 1975. That year, Nimmo married David Wynn Millward, a Welsh artist and illustrator. Their two daughters and one son were born between 1975 and 1980. She currently lives in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, sharing her time between writing and helping her husband with a summer art school. Millward is the writer or illustrator of a few published books himself, including four collaborations with Nimmo (1994–2000, marked ‡ below). Nimmo and their younger daughter Gwen Millward have collaborated on one picture book written by Jenny and illustrated by Gwen, ''The Beasties'' (

Egmont UK Egmont may refer to: * Egmont Group, a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark * Egmond family (often spelled "Egmont"), an influential Dutch family, lords of the town of Egmond ** Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522–1568), the bes ...

, 2010). Gwen's first published book as both writer and illustrator was ''Bear and Bird'' (Egmont, September 2012).

Writer

Charlie Bone and the Red King

Her best-known work may be '' Children of the Red King'', also known as the Charlie Bone series or Red King series, in which Charlie Bone's magical talent embroils him in the sinister intrigues of his new school. By 2006 ''Charlie Bone'' titles had been published in nine foreign-language editions. Translations into eleven other languages were in progress."Welcome to the Charlie Bone Page"
Jenny Nimmo's Official Website. Copyright 2006. Retrieved 15 June 2012. Originally it was the Red King Quintet after which Nimmo contracted for a new trilogy."New Charlie Bone trilogy for Egmont". ''The Bookseller'' 29 July 2005, p. 15. Retrieved 22 January 2006 via

InfoTrac InfoTrac is a family of full-text databases of content from academic journals and general magazines, of which the majority are targeted to the English-speaking North American market. As is typical of online proprietary databases, various forms ...

. The story climaxes in the fifth book and again in the eighth. Recently there is a new ''Red King'' series.

Publications

Non-fiction

*''An Interview with Jenny Nimmo'' by Wendy Cooling (London: Mammoth Books, 1999, )

Short stories

*"Centuries of Stories" *"Sisters" *"Take Your Knee Off My Heart" *"The Animals' Bedtime Story" *"Your Late Dad"

Picture books

*''The Bears Will Get You'' (1990) *''The Starlight Cloak'' (1990) *''The Witches and the Singing Mice'' (1993) *''Gwion and the Witch'' ( Gwasg Gomer Legends from Wales, 1996) *''Branwen'' (Gomer Legends from Wales, 1997) *''Esmeralda and the Children Next Door'' (1999) *''The Strongest Girl in the World'' (2001) *''Something Wonderful'' (2001) *''Pig on a Swing'' (2003) *''The Beasties'' (2010), illustrated by Nimmo's daughter Gwen Millward"The beasties"
(first edition).

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

. Retrieved 18 October 2012.

Chapter books

;Box Boys *''The Box Boys and the Bonfire Cat'' (1999) *''The Box Boys and the Dog in the Mist'' (1999) *''The Box Boys and the Fairground Ride'' (1999) *''The Box Boys and the Magic Shell'' (1999) ;Delilah *''Delilah and the Dogspell'' (1991) *''Delilah and the Dishwasher Dogs'' (1993) *''Delilah Alone'' (1995) ;Other illustrated books *''Tatty Apple'' (1984) *''The Red Secret'' (1989) *''Jupiter Boots'' (1990) *''The Stone Mouse'' (1993) *''The Breadwitch'' (1993) *''Wilfred's Wolf'' (1994) ‡ *''Ronnie and the Giant Millipede'' (1995) *''Granny Grimm's Gruesome Glasses'' (1995) ‡ *''The Witch's Tears'' (1996) *''The Alien on the 99th Floor'' (1996) *''Hot Dog, Cool Cat'' (1997) ‡ *''Seth and the Strangers'' (1997) *''

The Owl Tree The Owl Tree is a 1997 children's novella by Jenny Nimmo. The story is about a boy, Joe, who tries to save an owl tree which his grandmother Granny Diamond is fond of and her neighbor, Mr Rock, who intends to cut down as it is too tall and blockin ...

'' (1997) *''The Dragon's Child'' (1997) *''The Dog Star'' (1999) *''Toby in the Dark'' (1999) *''Ill Will, Well Nell'' (2000) ‡ *''The Bodigulpa'' (2001) *''Tom and the Pterosaur'' (2001) *''Beak and Whisker'' (2002) *''Matty Mouse'' (2003) *''The Night of the Unicorn'' (2003) *''Invisible Vinnie'' (2003)

Novels

;''Children of the Red King'' There are eight books in the series, all first published by Egmont Press in British trade paperback editions with cover art by David Wyatt. #''Midnight for Charlie Bone'' (2002) #''The Time Twister'' (2003) #''The Blue Boa'' (2004) #''The Castle of Mirrors'' (2005) #''Charlie Bone and the Hidden King'' (2006) #''Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf'' (2007) #''Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock'' (2008) #''Charlie Bone and the Red Knight'' (2009) Five volumes have variant titles in the United States. ;''Chronicles of the Red King'' #''The Secret Kingdom'' (2011) #''The Stones of Ravenglass'' (2012) #''Leopards' Gold'' (Egmont, August 2013, ) (ISFDB). Retrieved 26 April 2012. ;’ Novels linked to the ‘Children of the Red King’ Series’ #‘’Henry and the Guardians of the Lost’’ (2016) #‘’Gabriel and the Phantom Sleepers’’ (2018) ;''The Magician Trilogy'' In Britain this series has been published in one volume entitled ''The Snow Spider Trilogy''. #‘’The Snow Spider'' (1986) #''Emlyn's Moon'' (1987); first US title, ''Orchard of the Crescent Moon'' #''The Chestnut Soldier'' (1989) ;Other novels *''The Bronze Trumpeter'' (Angus & Robertson, 1975) *''Ultramarine'' (1990) *''Rainbow and Mr Zed'' (1992), sequel to ''Ultramarine'' *''Griffin's Castle'' (1994) *''The Rinaldi Ring'' (1999) *''Milo's Wolves'' (2001) ‡ Four 55- to 64-page books are illustrated by Nimmo's husband David Wynn Millward (1994 to 2000)."Millward, David Wynn"
WorldCat. Retrieved 16 December 2012.

Adaptations

''The Snow Spider'' and its sequels were adapted for television by the screenwriter Julia Jones, as three miniseries that HTV aired 1989 to 1991. The series introduced Osian Roberts as Gwyn Griffiths with Siân Phillips as grandmother Nain Griffiths, Robert Blythe and

Sharon Morgan Sharon Morgan (born 29 August 1949) is a Welsh actress of stage and screen, currently based in Cardiff. She was brought up in the village of Llandyfaelog. She is best known for her work within the Welsh film and television industries and has b ...

as his parents, and Gareth Thomas as Mr. Llewellyn.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Jenny Nimmo at Internet Book ListJenny Nimmo at Fantastic Fiction
—with many cover images
Jenny Nimmo at Random House Australia
—bibliog. data including cover images for RHA editions * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nimmo, Jenny 1944 births British children's writers Welsh fantasy writers People from Windsor, Berkshire Living people