Dick King-Smith was a dairy farmer for twenty years, but he always kept pigs. He says,"I am devoted to them. Everything I say about them is absolutely true."
Anita Jeram had never drawn a pig before, but learned about pigs by watching them on farms. "I'd love to own one," she says now, "but I don‘t think my family would approve."
Dick King-Smith was living proof that it’s never too late to find your calling in life. He was a dairy farmer for twenty years before earning his degree at fifty-three and going on to teach six-, seven-, and eight-year-olds. His first book was published while he was in his fifties, and a book a year followed until he stopped teaching. Then, he says, “The books started to spring up like mushrooms.”
Dick King-Smith became the immensely popular author of picture books and chapter books. His book Babe: The Gallant Pig was made into one of the most popular children’s movies ever,. “My favorite farmyard animals are pigs,” said the author, whose distinctive voice—witty, affectionate, and direct—branded even his nonfiction with unmistakable warmth and intimacy. “I don’t care if they’re little pigs or big pigs, with long snouts or short snouts, with ears that stick up or ears that flop down. I don’t mind if they’re black or white, ginger or spotted. I just love pigs.”
MoreDick King-Smith’s love for porcine creatures found an outlet in the Lollipop series: Lady Lollipop, his tenth book for Candlewick Press, and its sequel, Clever Lollipop. “Each time I sit down to write an animal story, I say to myself, ‘What sort of animal?’ and I answer, ‘Pig!’ Then I say, ‘No, no, you’ve just done a pig story.’ So I have to wait. And I have waited. And then came along Lady Lollipop!” When fans of the best-selling Lady Lollipop clamored for more, the author happily obliged with Clever Lollipop. Of this title, Dick King-Smith noted, “When I sat down to write a sequel to Lady Lolliop, all the characters were still there, but I felt that they needed a bit more magic—and so Collie Cob the Conjurer came along.”
Dick King-Smith passed away in January 2011.
For Anita Jeram, illustrating the phenomenal bestseller Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney was a labor of love. Even today, she says, “Every time I read this book, I want to cry. The story reminds me so much of my own son, who often plays this kind of game with me when it’s time for bed.” An immediate problem arose during her early brainstorming for the illustrations, however: she had never actually seen a hare. Trying to be helpful, her paleontologist husband brought a stuffed hare home from the museum. In the end though, the winsome Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare grew out of her imagination.
Anita Jeram’s son inspired her art again when he asked her which of the children in their family was the best—himself, his brother, or his sister. Anita Jeram explained they were all equal in her eyes, and he came back with another question: “Okay, then, who’s the cleanest?” She laughs as she recalls, “There’s always one in every family.” To answer this timeless question—who is the favorite child?—Anita Jeram reunited with author Sam McBratney to create You’re All My Favorites, a comforting tale in which Mommy and Daddy Bear reassure their three worried cubs that there’s plenty of love to go around.
Even before starting her illustrations for You’re All My Favorites, however, Anita Jeram had plenty of practice painting bears—in a noticeably different style. Kiss Good Night, a tender bedtime tale about a mother bear and a little bear, was a collaboration between Anita Jeram and acclaimed author Amy Hest. “I had recently finished illustrating part of In Every Tiny Grain of Sand (edited by Reeve Lindbergh), using acrylic paint for the first time, and I thought acrylics would give the pictures for Kiss Good Night some depth and warmth that I couldn’t seem to get with watercolors,” she says. “I visited the London zoo to look at the bears for inspiration, but it was a cold day and they all huddled asleep. So in the end I think Mrs. Bear is based on myself. She’s rather tall and big built, but I hope she looks like a nice comforting mom to have.” The illustrator carries the same soothing style into two sequels, Don’t You Feel Well, Sam? and You Can Do It, Sam.
The illustrator of many other popular and critically acclaimed books for children, including All Pigs Are Beautiful by Dick King-Smith, Anita Jeram has also written several children’s books of her own. As author-illustrator of Bunny, My Honey, a sweet story of a bunny lost and then found, she was able to exercise her rabbit-drawing skills. A rabbit is also the hero of I Love My Little Storybook, her magical tribute to the wonderful world of books.
Anita Jeram, a native of Portsmouth, England, studied art at Manchester Polytechnic and published her first book for children while she was still a student. Today, she lives in Northern Ireland with her family and a menagerie of animals. In the future she hopes to establish a wildlife sanctuary.
