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Oliver Jeffers has won numerous awards and delighted millions of kids and parents alike with his beautifully hand illustrated stories.
Jeffers's picture books are wonderfully accessible. They explore themes of friendship, loneliness, independence and imagination. He has written and illustrated, or "made", as he prefers to put it, five hugely successful picture books. The first three - the "boy books" - feature a small boy who sets off on a series of daunting quests. How to Catch a Star (2004), the first of them, was inspired by a Brer Rabbit story he read as a child. In Lost and Found (2005) the boy heroically rows to the south pole for the sake of an unhappy penguin, and in The Way Back Home (2007) he rescues a young Martian whose spaceship has crashed on the moon.
The Heart and the Bottle is wholly compelling for the importance of its message and the brilliance of how that is conveyed in words and pictures. This is a book to return to time and time again says Julia Eccleshare, Lovereading4kids’ editorial expert.
Jeffers was born in Australia in 1977 and brought up in Belfast. He studied visual communication at the University of Ulster, and graduated in 2001. Jeffers became passionate about making picture books when he began to understand the subtle relationship between words and pictures – ‘that was what excited me. Until I got really involved, I hadn't realised how just a few words can totally change the meaning of a picture.’ Now living in New York, he works as a painter, designer, printmaker and installation artist, but remains very busy making picture books.
Did you know?
Oliver loves plastic food, suitcase handles and Elvis, and has developed a bizarre habit of endlessly writing lists he never reads. He remains hell bent on travelling all over the world.
You can see Oliver talking about his artwork in this video:
We have a super set of Oliver Jeffers activity pages to download :
Once Upon an Alphabet colouring in.
The Day the Crayons Came Home maze.
Longlisted for the UKLA 2017 Book Award | Shortlisted for the Children's category of the Books are My Bag Readers Awards 2016 Those obstreperous crayons, colourful stars of The Day the Crayons Quit, are back – or at least, they’re trying to get back… Duncan is at home happily colouring, when a strange set of postcards arrive for him. They’re from his crayons, those which have been lost, forgotten, broken or – in the case of Pea Green – run away. Poor Maroon has had a terrible time, lost down the back of the sofa and sat on by Dad! It’s another piece of picture book brilliance, you’ll believe a crayon can talk. The crayons’ personalities burst out and there are some new characters too including Neon Red and Glow in the Dark, who has a special surprise for readers. Unmissable! ~ Andrea Reece
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month January 2017 The different coloured crayons all have fun colouring in appropriately. Red crayon colours strawberries, hearts, a fire engine and Santa Claus while Orange and Yellow crayons both have fun colouring the sun. Young readers will have fun thinking about their favourite colours. ~ Julia Eccleshare And learn to count with The Crayons' Book of Numbers! Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for January 2017 The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson The Crayons’ Book of Numbers by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers The Crayons’ Book of Colours by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers Jim by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey His Royal Whiskers by Sam Gayton
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month January 2017 Counting from 1-10 is fun in this attractive board book filled with action from the delightful Crayons, the stars of Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers book The Day the Crayons Quit. Oliver Jeffers illustrations bring the personalities of each crayon vividly to life. ~ Julia Eccleshare And learn your colours with The Crayons' Book of Colours! Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for January 2017 The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson The Crayons’ Book of Numbers by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers The Crayons’ Book of Colours by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers Jim by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey His Royal Whiskers by Sam Gayton
Internationally bestselling books The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home brought together in an exquisite slipcase! A review for The Day the Crayons Quit: Award-winning Oliver Jeffers and Drew Daywalt’s highly-entertaining book is now available in board book form. Colouring will never be the same again! When Duncan goes to take out his crayons one day he finds a stack of letters inside. Every crayon has something to say. The red crayon complains he is used too much – too many things such as fire engines and strawberries are red; the purple crayon is a neat minded soul and hates it that so much of Duncan’s drawing goes outside the lines; the black crayon hates just to be used for outlines – and so on! Saddest of all, the peach crayon has lost his wrapping – how can he come out of the box naked? In an attempt to satisfy them all, Duncan does a final drawing. Overall, a brilliant book for every age to enjoy. ~ Julia Eccleshare A review for The Day the Crayons Came Home: Those obstreperous crayons, colourful stars of The Day the Crayons Quit, are back – or at least, they’re trying to get back… Duncan is at home happily colouring, when a strange set of postcards arrive for him. They’re from his crayons, those which have been lost, forgotten, broken or – in the case of Pea Green – run away. Poor Maroon has had a terrible time, lost down the back of the sofa and sat on by Dad! It’s another piece of picture book brilliance, you’ll believe a crayon can talk. The crayons’ personalities burst out and there are some new characters too including Neon Red and Glow in the Dark, who has a special surprise for readers. Unmissable! ~ Andrea Reece
One of our Books of the Year 2016 | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month October 2016 | There are so many adjectives you could use to describe this book - extraordinary, dazzling, original, funny, irresistible, quirky, imaginative, clever, stunning - but none go far enough. A truly unique work of art, it combines the talents of two superstars of the children's book world into something so simple yet so clever. It is a must for every family to share and will bring a positive glow to each and every reader and listener for no sooner than it pulls at the heart strings it will have you chuckling out loud too. A truly special picture book and a classic in the making.
A stunning anniversary edition of John Boyne's powerful classic bestseller, with illustrations from award-winning artist Oliver Jeffers. When Bruno’s father is promoted to a new job, the family have to move from their comfortable home in Berlin to a strange new house in the middle of nowhere. Gone are the neighbours and the friends Bruno used to play with. The only people around are all in the strange fenced-in area which Bruno can just spy from his bedroom window. Who are they and why do they wear striped pyjamas? When Bruno sets off on an Exploration to find out he learns something very shocking which has unexpected and terrible results. Bruno’s childhood experience provides a new way of looking at the horrors of the Holocaust. (12+) ~ Julia Eccleshare
Longlisted for the UKLA 2017 Book Award | Shortlisted for the Children's category of the Books are My Bag Readers Awards 2016 and August 2016 Book of the Month Those obstreperous crayons, colourful stars of The Day the Crayons Quit, are back – or at least, they’re trying to get back… Duncan is at home happily colouring, when a strange set of postcards arrive for him. They’re from his crayons, those which have been lost, forgotten, broken or – in the case of Pea Green – run away. Poor Maroon has had a terrible time, lost down the back of the sofa and sat on by Dad! It’s another piece of picture book brilliance, you’ll believe a crayon can talk. The crayons’ personalities burst out and there are some new characters too including Neon Red and Glow in the Dark, who has a special surprise for readers. Unmissable! ~ Andrea Reece
Award-winning Oliver Jeffers’s endearingly simple Hueys are always asking interesting questions to help them find out more. This time they want to know more about opposites. Some opposites are easy. Everyone knows that Down is the opposite of Up, that the opposite of High is Low and that Cold is what you are when you are not Hot. In his simple and witty illustrations Oliver Jeffers makes all opposites fun and the starting joke is particularly pleasingly played out. ~ Julia Eccleshare If they like Oliver Jeffers they'll love Tom McLaughlin.
A brilliant picture book about a boy with an unusual attitude to books! Henry loves books but not in the same way as most people: Henry loves to eat books… He starts with just a word, then sentences until he’s built up enough stamina to eat up a whole book. With every book Henry eats, he becomes just a little bit cleverer…But there’s a moral, too. Oliver Jeffers sophisticated illustrations are witty and absorbing: the bite out of the corner of the book is a joke on its own! Rob Biddulph on The Incredible Book Eating Boy: One bedtime we were reading a new picture book that I’d bought her called The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver jeffers. The illustrations blew my mind. Each one was painted on an actual page or cover torn from a second-hand book, sometimes incorporating the original typography, and then photographed. It was just so clever. So beautiful. The whole package totally opened my eyes to the fact that a picture book can be a genuine work of art. So I started to look at the books we read each night in a different way. Maybe, I thought, this is something that I could do.
Winner of the UKLA Award 2015 in the 3-6 years category. Winner of the Red House Children's Book of 2015. Shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal 2014 - One of our Books of the Year 2013. | Award-winning Oliver Jeffers and Drew Daywalt’s highly-entertaining book is now available in board book form. Colouring will never be the same again! When Duncan goes to take out his crayons one day he finds a stack of letters inside. Every crayon has something to say. The red crayon complains he is used too much – too many things such as fire engines and strawberries are red; the purple crayon is a neat minded soul and hates it that so much of Duncan’s drawing goes outside the lines; the black crayon hates just to be used for outlines – and so on! Saddest of all, the peach crayon has lost his wrapping – how can he come out of the box naked? In an attempt to satisfy them all, Duncan does a final drawing. Overall, a brilliant book for every age to enjoy.
Winner of the UKLA Award 2015 in the 3-6 years category. Award-winning Oliver Jeffers and Drew Daywalt’s highly-entertaining new book means that colouring will never be the same again! When Duncan goes to take out his crayons one day he finds a stack of letters inside. Every crayon has something to say. The red crayon complains he is used too much – too many things such as fire engines and strawberries are red; the purple crayon is a neat minded soul and hates it that so much of Duncan’s drawing goes outside the lines; the black crayon hates just to be used for outlines – and so on! Saddest of all, the peach crayon has lost his wrapping – how can he come out of the box naked? In an attempt to satisfy them all, Duncan does a final drawing. Overall, a brilliant book for every age to enjoy. ~ Julia Eccleshare Winner of the Red House Children's Book of 2015. Shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal 2014 - One of our Books of the Year 2013.
Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2014 - Shortlisted for the 2013 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize & Shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2013 - Best Story Award-winning David Almond tells a deliciously funny and refreshingly original story of Stanley, a boy who takes off on a journey of enlightenment and discovery after his uncle, whom he lives with, goes distinctly barmy and turns his home upside down by turning it into a canning factory. Stanley’s travels take him to joining a fairground family and taking on some new and surprising challenges which test his courage and resolve. Fast-paced, sometimes magical and always unexpected, this is a brilliant story with stunning illustrations by Oliver Jeffers.
Longlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book Award Julia Eccleshare's Book of the Month September 2016 Award-winning storyteller and artist Oliver Jeffers and typographic fine artist Sam Winston have created an extraordinarily adventurous and original picture book which, through words and pictures, takes children on a journey of discovery through some of the greatest literature of all time. The imaginative eponymous Child of Books floats across a sea of words made from words and lines from classic children’s book stories. It is a journey that recreates fairy tales, forests and monsters showing children the importance and power of their imagination in recreating them. A book to read again and again to glean all of its meaning. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for September 2016 A Poem for Every Night of the Year compliled by Allie Esiri Gruffalo Crumble and Other Recipes by Julia Donaldson A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston Beck by Mal Peet and Meg Rosoff Tom's Midnight Garden Graphic Novel by Philippa Pearce and Edith Jinks and O'Hare Funfair Repair by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntryre
Longlisted for the UKLA 2017 Book Award and One of our Books of the Year 2015 -Julia Eccleshare's Pick of the Year 2015 There are so many adjectives you could use to describe this book - extraordinary, dazzling, original, funny, irresistible, quirky, imaginative, clever, stunning - but none go far enough. A truly unique work of art, it combines the talents of two superstars of the children's book world into something so simple yet so clever. It is a must for every family to share and will bring a positive glow to each and every reader and listener for no sooner than it pulls at the heart strings it will have you chuckling out loud too. A truly special picture book and a classic in the making. ~ Julia Eccleshare
One of our Books of the Year 2015 Those obstreperous crayons, colourful stars of The Day the Crayons Quit, are back – or at least, they’re trying to get back… Duncan is at home happily colouring, when a strange set of postcards arrive for him. They’re from his crayons, those which have been lost, forgotten, broken or – in the case of Pea Green – run away. Poor Maroon has had a terrible time, lost down the back of the sofa and sat on by Dad! It’s another piece of picture book brilliance, you’ll believe a crayon can talk. The crayons’ personalities burst out and there are some new characters too including Neon Red and Glow in the Dark, who has a special surprise for readers. Unmissable! ~ Andrea Reece
Shortlisted for the Little Rebel Children's Book Award 2013. In an entertaining adventure that is also full of charm and whimsy, best-selling author John Boyne champions the right of children to be different. Barnaby Brocket’s parents want only thing – to lead an utterly normal life. But when Barnaby, their third child is born, they know at once that he is very far from normal. The problem is, Barnaby cannot stay on the ground; he floats ever upwards unless weighted down or restrained. Embarrassed by their problem son and the attention he may attract, Barnaby’s parents let him go…Now a free spirit and travelling in many different ways, Barnaby’s adventures take him across the world where he meets all kinds of people who, just because they are not exactly what their parents want them to be, have been similarly disowned by their parents. ~ Julia Eccleshare
Overall Winner of the Red House Children's Book Awards 2015, and winner in books for younger children category - Shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal 2014 - One of our Books of the Year 2014- One of the Lovereading4kids Readers' Choice Books of the Year 2014 Award-winning Oliver Jeffers and Drew Daywalt’s highly-entertaining new book mean that colouring will never be the same again! When Duncan goes to take out his crayons one day he finds a stack of letters inside. Every crayon has something to say. The red crayon complains he is used too much – too many things such as fire engines and strawberries are red; the purple crayon is a neat minded soul and hates it that so much of Duncan’s drawing goes outside the lines; the black crayon hates just to be used for outlines – and so on! Saddest of all, the peach crayon has lost his wrapping – how can he come out of the box naked? In an attempt to satisfy them all, Duncan does a final drawing. Overall, a brilliant book for every age to enjoy. ~ Julia Eccleshare
There's nothing unusual about the Brockets. Normal, respectable and proud of it, they turn up their noses at anyone different. But from the moment Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it's clear he's anything but ordinary. To his parents' horror, Barnaby defies the laws of gravity - and floats. Barnaby tries to keep both feet on the ground, but he just can't do it. One fateful day, the Brockets decide enough is enough. They never asked for a weird, abnormal, floating child. Barnaby has to go...Betrayed, frightened and alone, Barnaby floats into the path of a very special hot air balloon - and so begins a magical journey around the world, with a cast of extraordinary new friends.
Shortlisted for the 2013 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize & Shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2013 - Best Story Award-winning David Almond tells a deliciously funny and refreshingly original story of Stanley, a boy who takes off on a journey of enlightenment and discovery after his uncle, whom he lives with, goes distinctly barmy and turns his home upside down by turning it into a canning factory. Stanley’s travels take him to joining a fairground family and taking on some new and surprising challenges which test his courage and resolve. Fast-paced, sometimes magical and always unexpected, this is a brilliant story with stunning illustrations by Oliver Jeffers. ............................ The Guardian children's fiction prize was founded in 1967. It is awarded annually to fiction written for children aged eight and above, and is the only children's fiction award selected by fellow writers. The judging panel will be chaired by our very own reviewer, Julia Eccleshare and the Winner will be announced on Wednesday 16 October.
In an entertaining adventure that is also full of charm and whimsy, best-selling author John Boyne champions the right of children to be different. Barnaby Brocket’s parents want only thing – to lead an utterly normal life. But when Barnaby, their third child is born, they know at once that he is very far from normal. The problem is, Barnaby cannot stay on the ground; he floats ever upwards unless weighted down or restrained. Embarrassed by their problem son and the attention he may attract, Barnaby’s parents let him go…Now a free spirit and travelling in many different ways, Barnaby’s adventures take him across the world where he meets all kinds of people who, just because they are not exactly what their parents want them to be, have been similarly disowned by their parents.
READ BY RICHARD E. GRANT. In this much-anticipated sequel to the internationally best-selling picture book Lost and Found, we re-visit the boy and the penguin after their trip to the South Pole... The boy and the penguin still enjoy spending all their time together... That is, until the penguin starts to dream of flying, ignoring the boy's advice that it is impossible. Running away, the penguin visits place after place, searching for a chance to get his feet off the ground. But will flying be everything he had hoped? And is the boy missing him as much as he is missing the boy? A heart-warming story about friendship, love and reaching for your dreams, from highly-regarded, multi-award-winning author-illustrator Oliver Jeffers.
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