Mal Lewis Jones is a British children's

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

Background

She was born in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a market town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester, England, Worcester. Located north of the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour and east of the River Severn, in th ...

, England, and attended a private school before moving to Kidderminster High School for Girls at eleven. She continued her education at

Warwick University The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a ...

, where she read English and American Literature. Her tutors were

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and feminist, regarded as one of the major voices of the second-wave feminism movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literature, she ...

, Harold Beaver, and Bernard Bergonzi. Lewis Jones' main titles concern ''Cassie at the Ballet School''. The books are published by Hodder Children's Books and by Ravensburger in Germany. There have been many "bind-ups" of the stories where two stories are contained in one edition. The covers of the original books show Sophie Bould and Jessie Jones. Sophie Bould starred alongside

Connie Fisher Connie Fisher (born 17 June 1983) is a British actress, singer and TV presenter, who won the BBC One talent contest '' How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'' On 15 November 2006, she opened to excellent reviews in the part of Maria von Trapp i ...

in ''The Sound of Music''. Lewis Jones has published other dance books including the six titles in the Dance Club series, published by McDonald Young books. She has also adapted ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...

'' by

Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer. He is best remembered for the classic of children's literature ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908). Born in Scotland, he spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in ...

for Hodder and

WHSmith WH Smith plc, trading as WHSmith (also written WH Smith and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son), is a British retailer, with headquarters in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service s ...

. Her strange and mysterious story ''The Grey Pony'' is published by Orion. Mal Lewis Jones is also well known for the series of educational books published by Heinemann, about ''Frisky the Lamb''. These have been very successful and widely used in UK schools and elsewhere. She is also joint co-collator of the classic poetry anthology '' Good Night, Sleep Tight'' (2000), which is a collection of 366 poems, one for every night of the year. It is published by Scholastic and in America by Scholastic Inc. She lives in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

with her husband, Ivan Jones. Their daughter was the illustrator of '' Poppy Cat'', Lara Jones, who died aged 34, in 2010.

Titles of books

*''Cassie at the Ballet School'' *''Ghost at the Ballet School'' *''New Friends at the Ballet School'' *''Trouble at the Ballet School'' *''On Tour with the Ballet School'' *''Stars of the Ballet School'' Lewis Jones has also written and published many poems in anthologies.

References

* ''The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999. Editor Lorna Sage) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis Jones, Mal Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Warwick English children's writers People from Kidderminster Writers from Worcestershire