Babette Cole (10 September 1950 – 15 January 2017
) was an English children's writer and illustrator.
Life and career
Cole was born on Jersey in the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
.
She attended the
Canterbury College of Art
The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone Co ...
(now the
University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England.
It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...
) and received first-class BA Honours.
She worked on such children's programmes as ''
Bagpuss
''Bagpuss'' is a British animated children's television series which was made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The series of thirteen episodes was first broadcast from 12 February to 7 May 1974. The title c ...
'' (working with
Oliver Postgate
Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008) was an English Animation, animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes. ''Bagpuss'', ''Pingwings' ...
and
Peter Firmin
Peter Arthur Firmin (11 December 1928 – 1 July 2018) was an English artist and puppet maker. He was the founder of Smallfilms, along with Oliver Postgate. Between them they created a number of popular children's TV programmes, '' The Saga of ...
) and ''
Jackanory
''Jackanory'' was a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in Reading (activity), reading. The programme was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the ...
'' for BBC television.
As a children's writer, Cole created more than 150
picture books
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images.
The ima ...
. Her best-seller ''Doctor Dog'' has been
adapted
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...
as a successful children's cartoon series. Much of her work is earthy comedy, having titles like ''The Smelly Book'', ''The Hairy Book'', ''The Slimy Book'' and ''The Silly Book''.
She spent her time writing, visiting schools and travelling. After a short illness she died on 15 January 2017, aged 66.
Awards
Cole won the
Kurt Maschler Award
The Kurt Maschler Award (1982 to 1999) was a British literary award that annually recognised one "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other." Winning authors and i ...
, or the Emil, for ''Drop Dead'' (Jonathan Cape, 1996), which she wrote and illustrated. The former award from Maschler Publications and
Booktrust annually recognised one British "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other."
She was one of several commended runners-up for the
Kate Greenaway Medal
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Librar ...
, the annual
Library Association
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the United Kingdom.
It was established in 2002 as a merger of th ...
award for illustration in British children's books, for both ''Princess Smartypants'' (1986) and ''Prince Cinders'' (1987).
[
Cole won many other awards for her books:
* ''Nungu and the Hippopotamus'' (1980) — Children's Picture Book of The Year; Children's Books of the Year; Child Study Association of America
* ''The Wind in the Willows Pop-Up Book'' (1983) — New York Public Library Children's Books
* ''Princess Smartypants'' (1986) — British Library Association (BLA)
* ''Prince Cinders'' (1987) — BLA Annabell Fargeon Award
* ''Drop Dead'' (1996) — The British Book Trust
]
See also
Notes
References
;Other sources
* at Tameside
Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, named after the River Tame, Greater Manchester, River Tame, which flows through it, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Greater Manchester, Denton, D ...
Library
Babette Cole
at Puffin Books (inconsistent service)
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Babette
1950 births
2017 deaths
English children's book illustrators
English children's writers
English women children's book illustrators
Writers from the Channel Islands
Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts
English women children's writers
Jersey artists
Jersey writers
20th-century English writers
20th-century English women writers
21st-century English writers
21st-century English women writers