Mini Grey is a British illustrator and writer of

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

, especially picture books for young children. She won the annual

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 ...

from the professional librarians, recognising the year's best-illustrated children's book published in the UK, for '' The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon'', published by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

in 2006.

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 ...

reports from participating libraries that her most widely held work is ''Traction Man is Here'', about the household adventures of a boy's

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...

; published in 2005 by Cape and in the US by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

(Alfred A. Knopf).

Life

Mini Grey was born in a

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

car in Newport, a city in southern

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. She uses only her nickname, after the automobile model. She was raised in

Taplow Taplow is a village and civil parish in the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It sits on the left bank of the River Thames, facing Maidenhead in the neighbouring county of Berkshire, with Cippenham and Burnham to the east. It is th ...

, Buckinghamshire, England. As of 2025 she lives in Oxford with her partner Tony and her adult son.

Career

As a professional school project, Grey created a pop-up version of

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...

. * ''Egg Drop'' (Cape, 2002; Knopf, 2009) �
Egg Drop at WorldCat
: "... Presents the story of the Egg that wanted to fly." : "The egg has always dreamed of being able to fly, but it doesn't really know much about making the dream a reality. The only method that seems guaranteed to work is to get to a very high place and then jump. Not a good idea for an egg." : inspired by Humpty Dumpty * ''The Pea and the Princess'' (Cape, 2003); US title, ''The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-be'' (Knopf, 2003) : 'Once upon a time there was an enchanting fairytale about a prince who was looking for a real princess to be his bride. This is a reworking of the classic fairytale told from the point of view of the pea.' -- : 'The pea gives its own version of what happened in the fairy tale, "The Princess and the Pea", from the time of its birth in the Palace Garden until it helps arrange a royal marriage.' --, first US edition * ''Biscuit Bear'' (Cape, 2004); US title, ''Ginger Bear'' (Knopf, 2007) �
Biscuit Bear/ Ginger Bear at WorldCat
* ''Traction Man'' ** ''Traction Man is Here'' (2005) ** ''Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog'' (2008) ** ''Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey'' (Cape, 2011; Knopf, 2012) : adventures of Traction Man, a boy's action figures, and his sidekick Scrubbing Brush The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (2006; Cape, Knopf) �
The Adventures at WorldCat

Works

As author and illustrator

All these books have been published by

in the UK and by the Random House

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

in the US Where one date is given, the American edition appeared in the same calendar year. * '' Egg Drop'' (2002; US 2009) * ''The Pea and the Princess'' (2003); US title, ''The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-be'' * '' Biscuit Bear'' (2004); US title, ''Ginger Bear'' (2007) * ''Traction Man is Here'' (2005) * '' The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon'' (2006) * ''Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog'' (2008) * ''Three by the Sea'' (2010) * ''Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey'' (2011; 2012) * ''Toys in Space'' (US edition: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013) * ''Hermelin: The Detective Mouse'' (2015) * ''Space Dog'' (2015) * ''The Bad Bunnies' Magic Show'' (2017) * ''The Last Wolf'' (2019) * ''The Greatest Show on Earth'' (2022)

As illustrator

* ''The Crocodile is Coming!'' (2005) * ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1986 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'' (2006), by

Lyn Gardner Lyn Gardner is a British theatre critic, children's writer, and journalist who contributes reviews and articles to ''The Stage'' and '' Stagedoor'' and has written for ''The Guardian''. Theatre critic and educator A graduate in drama and English ...

—400-page fantasy novel * ''The Twin Giants'' (2007), by

Dick King-Smith Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE (27 March 1922 – 4 January 2011), known by his pen name Dick King-Smith, was an English writer of children's books. He is best known for '' The Sheep-Pig'' (1983), which was adapted as the movie '' Babe'' (1995) ...

—a picture book * ''Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion'' (2009) : — movable book edition of the poem by

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc ( ; ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a French-English writer, politician, and historian. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. His Catholic fait ...

(1870–1953) * ''Out of the Woods'' (2010), by Lyn Gardner —350-page sequel to ''Into the Woods'' * ''Pippi Longstocking'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Pippi Longstocking in the South Seas'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Pippi Longstocking Goes Aboard'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Emil and the Sneaky Rat'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Emil's Clever Pig'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''The Book of Not Entirely Useful Advice'' (2020), by A.F. Harrold * ''Lotta Makes a Mess'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Lotta Says 'No! (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Karlsson on the Roof'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Karlsson Flies Again'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''The Children of Noisy Village'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Nothing but Fun in Noisy Village'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Happy Times in Noisy Village'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Money-Go-Round'' (2021), by Roger McGough

Awards and recognitions

;Awards Grey has won three annual book awards. * 2004 '' Biscuit Bear'' won the

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 r ...

, ages category 6–8 years. * 2005 ''Traction Man is Here'' won the

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

, Picture Book. * 2007 '' The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon'' won the

. ;Runners-up, etc. * 2003 ''The Pea and the Princess'' made the Greenaway Medal shortlist. * 2005 ''Biscuit Bear'' made the

Blue Peter Book Award The Blue Peter Book Awards were a set of literary awards for children's books conferred by the BBC television programme ''Blue Peter''. They were inaugurated in 2000 for books published in 1999 and 2000. The awards were managed by reading charity ...

shortlist. * ''Traction Man is Here'' made the 2005 Greenaway shortlist, the 2006 Blue Peter shortlist, and the 2007 Hampshire Illustrated Book Award shortlist."Hampshire Illustrated Book Award"
(top page). Hampshire County Council. * 2006 ''The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon'' was bronze runner up for the Smarties Prize, ages 0–5 years. * 2011 ''Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion'' made the Greenaway shortlist.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Mini Living people British women children's book illustrators British women children's writers Kate Greenaway Medal winners People from Taplow Pseudonymous women writers Writers from Buckinghamshire Writers from Newport, Wales Writers who illustrated their own writing Year of birth missing (living people)