Peter Bently (born 1960) is a British children's writer. He is best known for his rhyming picture books including ''The Great Dog Bottom Swap'' (illustrated by
Mei Matsuoka), ''Meet the Parents'' (with
Sara Ogilvie), ''The Shark in the Dark'' (with
Ben Cort
Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right.
Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin' ...
) and Potion Commotion (with
Sernur Isik). His books have won several awards including the 2022
Children's Book Award (UK)
The Children's Book Award is a British literary award for children's books, run by the Federation of Children's Book Groups and previously known as the Red House Children's Book Award. Books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar yea ...
for ''Octopus Shocktopus'', illustrated by Steven Lenton. ''Cats Ahoy!'', his first picture book with Jim Field, won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 and ''King Jack and the Dragon'' (with
Helen Oxenbury
Helen Gillian Oxenbury (born 2 June 1938) is an English illustrator and writer of children's picture books. She lives in north London. She has twice won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal, the British librarians' award for illustration and been run ...
) was named as an
American Library Association Notable Book
American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists which are part of the larger ALA awards structure.
* ''ALA Notable Books for Adu ...
of the year.
Life
Peter Bently was born in 1960 in
Tidworth
Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, sout ...
, Hampshire, England.
His father's job as an army bandmaster meant that Bently grew up in a variety of places in England and abroad, including Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong, and was educated at ten schools.
After studying languages at Oxford, Bently worked as a journalist, then as an editor and writer of illustrated reference books.
His first picture book for children, ''A Lark in the Ark'', illustrated by Lynne Chapman, was published in 2008. Since then he has published over seventy titles, his most recent books including ''Octopus Shocktopus'' for Nosy Crow (illustrated by Steven Lenton and winner of the Teach Early Years picture book award 2020 as well as being shortlisted for the BookTrust Storytime prize and the Laugh Out Loud awards 2022); ''Dogs in Disguise'' for HarperCollins Children's Books (illustrated by John Bond); and ''The King’s Birthday Suit!'' for Bloomsbury (illustrated by Claire Powell). He lives in London with his wife Lucy Curtin, an actor and LAMDA teacher.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bently, Peter
Living people
1960 births
British children's writers