Christmas is rapidly approaching, almost as fast as Mae Morgan's new sibling is expected on the scene. Mae has a part in the school play as the ``angel Gave-you'' (no one has the heart to correct Continue reading » This led to a year at Liverpool Art School studying fashion and costume design followed by fine art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. Shirley was born in West Kirby, near Liverpool, and studied fashion and dress design at Liverpool Art School, before continuing her studies at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. She then embarked on a career as a freelance illustrator in London, where she still lives today. She illustrated other writers' work, including Noel Streatfeild, Alison Uttley, Ian Seraillier, Margaret Mahy and notably Dorothy Edwards's My Naughty Little Sister series. The lives of a preschooler named Lucy and her toddler brother Tom are recounted with generous doses of the ordinary events of childhood. Ages 2-6. Continue reading »

Alfie and Bernard are very best friends and together they have lots of adventures. Join them as they go to the library, take part in scooter races and make a very special club with only two special members! A heart-warming tale of friendship by the a... Alfie and Grandma are very special friends, and together they have lots of adventures! Whether it's saving the day and finding a lost pet, or explor... Shirley Hughes' much-loved Alfie goes to his first birthday party in this lovely picture book for pre-school children. Meet Alfie's mum. She has reddish brown curly hair which often gets untidy, but Alfie likes it like that. Alfie and Mum love to tell stories together, to explore and have adventures -- over fields, across streams, and even into big dark houses! Bu... Shirley began to write and draw her own picture books when her children were young. Her first book - Lucy and Tom's Day - was published in 1960, and she followed it with, among others, Dogger and the Alfie series.Join Alfie and Dad as they spend time together in this wonderful collection of stories from the award-winning Shirley Hughes. Alfie's dad is always there for Alfie and Annie Rose. He's there to reassure Alfie during a restless night; he's there to fi... Words and pictures merge seamlessly in these simply devised books. Shirley Hughes, now 78, wrote and illustrated her first Alfie book in 1981. Twenty years on, Alfie and Annie Rose are still respectively four and one-and-a-half years old but show no sign at all of dating.

Lily, like most preschoolers, is a creature of habit. So when Mom's flu and Dad's job requires her to spend a day at the house of Melanie, a grown-up family friend she barely remembers, Lily is Continue reading » Mom and Dad have gone out for the night, leaving Maureen MacNally to look after Alfie and Annie Rose. Everything is quiet until water starts dripping from the ceiling! With a little help from Mr. and Mrs. MacNally, the leak is soon under control, but... A trio of small, square books initiates the British artist's Nursery Collection, featuring a lovable toddler, her baby brother and family. With humor and warmth, Hughes shows real people in richly Continue reading » On one special day, he and his best friend, Bernard, make birthday surprises for a very, very old lady. Despite some scepticism from Alfie, who would have preferred to play with Bernard at home, they deliver their goodies to Great-Grandma Hilary who turns out to be much more exciting than they had expected.Young children are able to find the extraordinary in every day ordinary scenes, like losing a beloved stuffed animal, helping your baby sister eat with her spoon, and going to a friend's birthday party.

Visit beautiful Norwich Department store in the Heart of Norwich, or one of our branches in Norfolk Tiny pen-and-ink drawings sparkle in the margins of this meandering fantasy about a lonely girl and a statue that springs to life. Hughes (Stories by Firelight) is a master of expressive line: Continue reading »

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Alfie is excited when he is invited to Bernard's birthday party, though he feels a bit nervous about going on his own. But Alfie has such a great time that he finds he doesn't even need his special blanket -- and he makes a new friend too!... She also collaborated with her daughter, Clara Vulliamy, on the Dixie O'Day series; which saw Shirley with an illustrator for the first time with Shirley writing the text and Clara creating the illustrations. Looking at numbers with Alfie is the very best way to learn to count 1-2-3-go!It''s time to count with Alfie!Alfie and Annie Rose make two, and take you on a journey all the way to 10.It takes two to see-saw, and ... British author Hughes (the Olly and Me series) updates a classic with flapper fashions and an unexpected finish. Red-haired Ella Cinders and her father run their own dress shop, along with their Continue reading » Realistic Fiction for children of this age is hard to find, but every book in this series (that I have come across) is like a breath of fresh air.