June mustn't go by without remembering that it’s the birthday month of the amazing Allan Ahlberg.
So Happy (albeit belated) 80th
birthday Allan Ahlberg!
My children adored Janet and Allan’s gorgeous stories and
illustrations when they were young and the books were part of the staple book diet
in their primary classrooms. Everywhere we went – day trips, visits to
grandparents, holidays – an Ahlberg book came with us. I’ve still got some of
them – including a slightly worn out cassette tape of Burglar Bill!
Burglar Bill, The Jolly Postman series and Funny Bones are
just two of a long, long list of books the pair created and, since Janet’s
death from cancer in 1994, Allan has added countless more titles with other
illustrators.
It’s partly the brilliantly imaginative, humourous style
that made and still makes the Ahlberg stories so successful and popular. They
must be jointly responsible for opening up the world of books and reading to
thousands upon thousands of children. But you may be surprised to know
that Allan himself grew up in an almost bookless home. The Bucket is about his childhood in the 1940’s Black Country.
So before June is out let’s name our favourite Ahlberg
books: mine include Each Peach, Pear, Plum and, of course, Burglar Bill. What
about you?
Hilary Hawkes
2 comments:
My children grew up on Alan and Janet Ahlberg books too, and I know every word of Bye Bye Baby. 'There was once a baby who had no mummy', etc. Ah, wonderful!
When I took oldest daughter up to look at Newcastle as a possible university to apply for I used the excuse to do my first visit to Seven Stories. It had its Ahlberg exhibition on, and, seemingly, the only other person in the gallery was ... Alan Ahlberg! Did we dare accost him? No. And then he was in the cafe when we were. Did we say hello, we're also from Leicester and we love your books? No. But it all made us very happy.
How wonderful, Pippa. Thanks for sharing - the icing on the cake for your visit to the exhibition :)
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