Elizabeth "Lucy" Cousins (born 10 February 1964) is an English author and illustrator of
children's books. She is best known for her books featuring Maisy Mouse, but she has also published other children's books, such as ''Jazzy in the Jungle'' (2002) and one about
Noah's Ark. She lives in
Hampshire, England.
Biography
Cousins, whose parents were also artists, was interested in children's books from an early age. But it took until the end of six years in art college for her to decide that she wanted to create children's books.
Cousins received BA Honours in
Graphic Design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
from
The Faculty of Arts and Architecture,
Brighton Polytechnic
The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achiev ...
.
She then attended the
Royal College of Art, where she met
Quentin Blake
Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his ...
, who encouraged her work.
Her sense of design and color that she uses to this day, she developed while she was at the Royal College of Art.
Work
Cousins' work, especially Maisy, are a successful publishing brand, with books printed in 27 different languages and over 27 million copies of her books in print. Her books are aimed at preschool-aged children and younger or older, her "simple and vibrant" illustrations are attractive to "the eye of the prereading child."
Her
board books, designed especially for toddlers are considered among the best, according to ''
Horn Book Magazine''. The
Carnegie Library listed ''Maisy's First Colors'' as a 2013 pick for their Best Books for Babies list.
Cousins' character, Maisy, was featured on a postage stamp published by the
U.S. Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...
in their 2006 Favorite Children's Book Animals Series.
Cousins won a Booktrust Best Book Award in 2014 for ''Peck, Peck, Peck''. She received Mathical Honors for ''Count with Maisy, Cheep, Cheep, Cheep!''.
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, Lucy
1964 births
Living people
Alumni of the Royal College of Art
Alumni of the University of Brighton
English cartoonists
British women cartoonists
British women illustrators
English children's book illustrators
English children's writers
20th-century English women writers
20th-century English writers
21st-century English women writers