Jane Hissey (born 1952) is a British author and illustrator of children's books. She is best known for her series of children's books Old Bear and Friends, which became the basis for a BAFTA award-winning television series Old Bear Stories , episodes of which were released on VHS by Carlton Video. [1]
Hissey was born in Norwich and attended Norwich High School for Girls. [2] She studied Design and Illustration at Brighton. She taught Art at a sixth form college until the birth of her first child. Hissey and her husband Ivan live in East Sussex. They have three children, Owen, Alison and Ralph. [3]
Hissey has written that "Old Bear" was given to her as a baby by her grandmother. During her childhood he was a main focus of her games, and when she was an adult he provided the inspiration for her first illustrated book. He was later joined by other soft toy characters. In 1986 her Old Bear was published, and made it into Booklist's "Editor's Choice" list for children's books for that year; [4] in an earlier starred review, Barbara Elleman praised Hissey's use of perspective, texture, and colours. [5]
A Hat Full of Sky is a comic fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld and written with younger readers in mind. It is labelled a "Story of Discworld" to indicate its status as children's or young adult fiction, unlike most of the books in the Discworld series. First published in 2004, the book is set two years after The Wee Free Men, and features an 11-year-old Tiffany Aching.
Jane Hyatt Yolen is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella. Her other works include the Nebula Award−winning short story "Sister Emily's Lightship", the novelette "Lost Girls", Owl Moon, The Emperor and the Kite, and the Commander Toad series. She has collaborated on works with all three of her children, most extensively with Adam Stemple.
Shannon Hale is an American author primarily of young adult fantasy, including the Newbery Honor book Princess Academy and The Goose Girl. Her first novel for adults, Austenland, was adapted into a film in 2013. She is a graduate of the University of Utah and the University of Montana. She has also co-written with her husband, Dean.
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a historical novel by the American author Avi published in 1990. The book is marketed towards children at a reading level of grades 5–8. The book chronicles the evolution of the title character as she is pushed outside her naive existence and learns about life aboard a ship crossing from England to America in 1832. The novel was well received and won several awards, including being named as a Newbery Honor book in 1991.
Dr. Franklin's Island is a young adult science fiction book by Ann Halam published in 2001. It is narrated in the first person. Loosely based on H. G. Wells' 1896 novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, it tells the story of three teenagers who end up on an island owned by Dr. Franklin, a brilliant but insane scientist, who wants to use them as specimens for his transgenic experiments.
Gallows Hill is a 1997 supernatural thriller novel for young adults by Lois Duncan. It was her first and only young adult novel written after the death of her daughter. It was written eight years after her previous young adult novel, Don't Look Behind You. It is about a girl who moves to a small town with a secret.
Old Bear Stories is a BAFTA award-winning stop-motion animation television series for children based on the Old Bear and Friends books by Jane Hissey. Jane Hissey also created the television series, starting it on 22 September 1993, and creating 3 seasons, which ended on 24 December 1997 with a double-length Christmas special. In all, 41 episodes were made.
Old Bear and Friends is a popular series of children's books written by British author and illustrator Jane Hissey. The books became the basis for a BAFTA award-winning television series Old Bear Stories.
Diana Pharaoh Francis is an American fantasy author and professor, best known for her novels Path of Fate and The Cipher.
Patricia McCormick is an American journalist and writer of realistic fiction for young adults. She has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award.
Life As We Knew It is a young adult science fiction novel by American author Susan Beth Pfeffer, first published in 2006 by Harcourt Books. It is the first book in The Last Survivors series, followed by The Dead and the Gone. The book follows a teenage girl named Miranda and her family, who live in northeastern Pennsylvania and struggle to survive after an asteroid hits the Moon and brings it closer to Earth.
Grandpa Never Lies is a children's book written by Ralph Fletcher and illustrated by Harvey Stevenson. It was first published in 2000.
The Frog Princess is a novel by E. D. Baker. First published in 2002, the story is a spoof on the German fairy tale "The Frog Prince." The 2009 Disney film The Princess and the Frog is loosely based on this novel.
The Quest Begins is the first novel in the Seekers series. It was written by Erin Hunter, which is a collective pseudonym used by authors Cherith Baldry, Kate Cary, and Tui Sutherland and editor Victoria Holmes. The novel details the adventures of four bears, Toklo, Kallik, Lusa and Ujurak, who are stranded together in the wild and must learn to survive. The declining environment around the bears is a theme explored throughout the novel. The development of the Seekers series began as a result of a request from HarperCollins for another series about animals to the authors who wrote the Warriors series about feral cats under the name of Erin Hunter. The novel was published on 27 May 2008. The book sold well and had generally positive critical reception with reviewers suggesting the series would appeal to fans of Warriors.
Duncan and Dolores is an American children's picture book by Barbara Samuels published in 1986. The book won a Christopher Award and was a featured book on an episode of Reading Rainbow. The book was followed by a number of other books featuring Dolores and Duncan, and it was preceded by Faye and Dolores. Prominent subjects in Samuels' books include the relationship between two sisters and cats. Duncan and Dolores is included in the United Animal Nations' Humane Education Ambassador Reader program.
Elizabeth Partridge is an American writer, the author of more than a dozen books from young-adult nonfiction to picture books to photography books. Her books include Marching for Freedom, as well the biographies John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, and Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange. Her latest book is the middle grade novel, Dogtag Summer.
Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth-Century America is a 1995 history book about nineteenth century slave children in America by Wilma King. As the first full-length book on the subject, it began the scholarship of slave childhood. The book uses historical documents to argue that enslaved children were deprived of experiences now understood to constitute childhood, due to early work responsibilities, frequent bodily and emotional trauma, and separations from family. The book covers themes of the children's education, leisure, religion, transitions to freedmen, and work expectations. It was published in the Indiana University Press's Blacks in the Diaspora series, and a revised edition was released in 2011.
Barbara Rosenblat is a British actress. She is best known as a prolific narrator of audiobooks, for which AudioFile named her a Golden Voice. She has also appeared on screen such as in the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black as the character Miss Rosa.
Toad Rage is a children's novel by Australian author Morris Gleitzman. It was first published in Australia in 1999 by Puffin Books.
Gramps and the Fire Dragon is a 2000 book by children's author Bethany Roberts, with illustrations by Melissa Iwai. The book, which tells of a grandson and grandfather who must escape a dragon that emerged from the flames of their fireplace, was published to positive reviews.