Jan Ormerod (23 September 1946 – 23 January 2013), born Janet Louise Hendry, was an Australian illustrator of children's books. She first came to prominence from her wordless picture book ''Sunshine'' which won the 1982 Mother Goose Award. Her work was noted for its ability to remove clutter to tell a simple story that young children could enjoy, employing flat colours and clean lines. She produced work for more than 50 books throughout her career, including publications by other authors, such as a 1987 edition of J. M. Barrie's ''Peter Pan'' and David Lloyd's retelling of "The Frog Prince". Ormerod began her illustrative career in Britain after moving to England in 1980, but she returned to themes connected to her home country with ''Lizzie Nonsense'' (2004), ''Water Witcher'' (2008) and the award-winning ''Shake a Leg'' (2011) for Aboriginal writer

Boori Monty Pryor Boori Monty Pryor (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian author best known as a storyteller and as the inaugural Australian Children's Laureate (20122013). Early life and family Pryor is descended from the Birri Gubba nation of the Bowen re ...

Career

Janet Louise Hendry was born in 1946, the youngest of four daughters, in the port city of Bunbury in Western Australia. Her childhood was spent following artistic pursuits, drawing inspiration from British schoolgirl annuals and American comics. She studied at art college in Perth, and on graduation she taught art on enrichment courses in secondary schools and later lectured at a teachers' college and art schools. She married Paul Ormerod, a children's librarian, in 1971 and after spending several years moving between Britain and Australia they settled in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

in 1987. Although never planning to start a family, the birth of her first child, Sophie, Ormerod found motherhood a great boon and enjoyed the intimacy of her daughter's company. Sophie's enjoyment in the children's books her father brought home spurred Ormerod into considering illustrating her own books, which resulted in the publication of ''Sunshine'' in 1981. ''Sunshine'' was a wordless book which consisted of a series of panels following a little girl, based on her own daughter, as she wakes and prepares herself for a day at school. It won the 1982 Mother Goose Award for "the most exciting newcomer to British children's book illustration". ''Sunshine'' was also voted Australian Picture Book of the Year. Ormerod followed ''Sunshine'' with ''Moonlight'' (1982), a companion book following the same child as she prepares herself for bed. Many of Ormerod's early work concentrated on family life and in 1985 she started the Jan Ormerod Baby Book series beginning with ''Sleeping'' and ''Dad's Back''. These books explored the relationship between infant and father. These were followed by the Jan Ormerod New Baby Book (1987), this time focusing on a child and her pregnant mother, which mirrored Ormerod's own situation when she was pregnant with her second daughter, Laura. In 1987 she provided illustration for a reissue of J. M. Barrie's ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

'', published by Viking Kestrel in 1988. Despite Ormerod and Paul divorcing in 1989, they remained good friends and Ormerod remained in Cambridge, close to her publisher

Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

. In the 1980s she began a close working relationship with writer David Lloyd, who later became the chairman of Walker, and in 1991 they published a retelling of '' The Frog Prince'' that she illustrated. The 1990s also saw Ormerod working with

Penelope Lively Dame Penelope Margaret Lively (née Low; born 17 March 1933) is a British writer of fiction for both children and adults. Lively has won both the Booker Prize ('' Moon Tiger'', 1987) and the Carnegie Medal for British children's books ('' T ...

on her book ''Two Bears and Joe''. In 2003 she wrote her first book to which she did not lend illustrations; ''If You're Happy And You Know It!'' was illustrated by

Lindsey Gardiner Lindsey may refer to : Places Canada * Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia England * Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 ** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, a ...

, an artist she would work with on three other books over the next ten years. In her later career she began working on several works based around the Australian

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a ...

. Her 2004 book ''Lizzie Nonsense'' was dedicated to the memory of her grandmother and explored a young girl growing up in the Outback during 1890. The book contained illustrations more heavily painted then her usual subdued colours, and was well received winning the

IBBY The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is an international non-profit organization committed to bringing books and children together. The headquarters of the IBBY are located in Basel, Switzerland. IBBY history In 1952, Jella Lepm ...

Honour Award for illustration. In 2008 she produced ''Water Witcher'', another story set in the

Australian bush "The bush" is a term mostly used in the English vernacular of Australia and New Zealand where it is largely synonymous with ''backwoods'' or '' hinterland'', referring to a natural undeveloped area. The fauna and flora contained within this ...

, this time following the story of a small boy during a drought. During one of her last trips to her home country, she met with Aboriginal writer

, who later became the first Australian Children's Laureate. Her drawings of his family dancing led to the two collaborating on the book ''Shake a Leg'', which won the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award for Children's Fiction. Ormerod died of cancer on 23 January 2013. She was 66 and was survived by her two daughters."Jan Ormerod: Jan Ormerod, who has died aged 66, "
'' The Telegraph''. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2014.

Works

*''Sunshine'' (1981) – her first book *''Hairs in the Palm of the Hand'' (Kestrel Books, 1981) by

Jan Mark Jan Mark (22 June 1943 – 16 January 2006) was a British writer best known for children's books. In all she wrote over fifty novels and plays and many anthologised short stories. She won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, ...

– short stories *''Moonlight'' (1982) *''Rhymes Around the Day'' (1983) *''101 Things to Do with a Baby'' (1984) *''Sleeping'' (1985) *''Dad's Back'' (1985) *''Messy Baby'' (1985) *''Our Ollie'' (1986) *''Bend and Stretch'' (1987) *''This Little Nose'' (1987) *''Mum's Home'' (1987) *''Peter Pan'' (1987) by

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

, an edition of ''

Peter and Wendy ''Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' or ''Peter and Wendy'', often known simply as ''Peter Pan'', is a work by J. M. Barrie, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous ...

'' (1911) *''Sleeping'' (1988) *''Reading'' (1988) *''Kitten Day'' (1989) *''The Saucepan Game'' (1989) *''The Frog Prince'' (1991) by David Lloyd, an edition of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

fairy tale *''When We Went to the Zoo'' (1991) *''Midnight Pillow Fight'' (1993) *''Rock-a-Baby'' (1994) *''Goodbye Mousie'' (1994) by Robie Harris *''To Baby with Love, Rhymes for Babies'' (1994) *''Two Bears and Joe'' (1995) by

*''Ms McDonald had a Class'' (1998) *''The Story of Chicken Licken'' (1999) * ''A Twist in the Tail: Animal Stories from Around the World'' (2001) by

Mary Hoffman Mary Lassiter Hoffman (born 1945) is a British writer and critic. She has had over 90 books published whose audiences range from children to adults. One of her best known works is the children's book ''Amazing Grace'', which was a ''New York Ti ...

*''Miss Mouse's Day'' (2001) *''If You're Happy And You Know It!'' (2003), illustrated by

*''Lizzie Nonsense'' (2004) *''Emily and Albert'' (2004) by David Slonim *''When an Elephant Comes to School'' (2005) *''The Buffalo Storm'' (2007) by Katherine Applegate *''Whoosh Around the Mulberry Bush'' (2007), illustrated by Lindsey Gardiner *''Ballet Sisters: The Duckling and the Swan'' (2007) *''Ballet Sisters: The Newest Dancer'' (2008) *''Water Witcher'' (2008) *''Molly and Her Dad'' (2008) by Carol Thompson *''Over in the Clover'' (2009), illustrated by Lindsey Gardiner *''Maudie and Bear'' (Prahan, Victoria: Little Hare, 2010), illustrated by

Freya Blackwood Freya Blackwood (born 1975) is an Australian illustrator and special effects artist. She worked on special effects for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy from 2001 to 2003 and won the Kate Greenaway Medal for British children's book illustration ...

*''Itsy-bitsy Babies'' (Surry Hills, NSW: Little Hare Books, 2010) by

Margaret Wild Margaret Wild (born 1948) is an Australian children's writer. She has written more than 40 books for children. Her work has been published around the world and has won several awards. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Childre ...

, *''Itsy-bitsy Animals'' (Little Hare, 2011) by Margaret Wild, *''The Animal Bop Won't Stop!'' (2011), illustrated by Lindsey Gardiner *''Shake a Leg'' (2011) by

*''The Baby Swap'' (2015), illustrated by Andrew Joyner;

References

External links

*
Jan Ormerod
at Walker Books Australia
Ormerod
at Libraries Australia Authorities, with catalogue search * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ormerod, Jan 1946 births 2013 deaths Australian children's book illustrators Australian children's writers People from Bunbury, Western Australia Writers who illustrated their own writing Deaths from cancer in England Australian women illustrators

Career

Works

See also

References

External links