Mini Grey is a British illustrator and writer of

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

, especially picture books for young children. She won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the professional librarians, recognising the year's best-illustrated children's book published in the UK, for ''

The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon ''The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon'' is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Mini Grey, published by Jonathan Cape in 2006. It won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the professional librarians, recognising the year's ...

'', published by Jonathan Cape in 2006.

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

reports from participating libraries that her most widely held work is ''Traction Man is Here'', about the household adventures of a boy's

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...

; published in 2005 by Cape and in the US by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

(Alfred A. Knopf).

Life

Mini Grey was born in a

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

car in Newport, a city in southern

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. She uses only her nickname, after the automobile model. She was raised in

Taplow Taplow is a village and civil parish in the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It sits on the left bank of the River Thames, facing Maidenhead in the neighbouring county of Berkshire, with Cippenham and Burnham to the east. It is the ...

, Buckinghamshire, England. As of 2007 she lives in Oxford with her partner Tony and a baby son.

Career

As a professional school project, Grey created a pop-up version of Gulliver's Travels. * ''Egg Drop'' (Cape, 2002; Knopf, 2009) �
Egg Drop at WorldCat
: "... Presents the story of the Egg that wanted to fly." : "The egg has always dreamed of being able to fly, but it doesn't really know much about making the dream a reality. The only method that seems guaranteed to work is to get to a very high place and then jump. Not a good idea for an egg." : inspired by Humpty Dumpty * ''The Pea and the Princess'' (Cape, 2003); US title, ''The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-be'' (Knopf, 2003) : 'Once upon a time there was an enchanting fairytale about a prince who was looking for a real princess to be his bride. This is a reworking of the classic fairytale told from the point of view of the pea.' -- : 'The pea gives its own version of what happened in the fairy tale, "The Princess and the Pea", from the time of its birth in the Palace Garden until it helps arrange a royal marriage.' --, first US edition * ''Biscuit Bear'' (Cape, 2004); US title, ''Ginger Bear'' (Knopf, 2007) �
Biscuit Bear/ Ginger Bear at WorldCat
* ''Traction Man'' ** ''Traction Man is Here'' (2005) ** ''Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog'' (2008) ** ''Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey'' (Cape, 2011; Knopf, 2012) : adventures of Traction Man, a boy's action figures, and his sidekick Scrubbing Brush The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (2006; Cape, Knopf) �
The Adventures at WorldCat

Works

As author and illustrator

All these books have been published by Jonathan Cape in the UK and by the Random House imprint

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

in the US Where one date is given, the American edition appeared in the same calendar year. * '' Egg Drop'' (2002; US 2009) * ''The Pea and the Princess'' (2003); US title, ''The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-be'' * '' Biscuit Bear'' (2004); US title, ''Ginger Bear'' (2007) * ''Traction Man is Here'' (2005) * ''

'' (2006) * ''Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog'' (2008) * ''Three by the Sea'' (2010) * ''Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey'' (2011; 2012) * ''Toys in Space'' (US edition: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013) * ''Hermelin: The Detective Mouse'' (2015) * ''Space Dog'' (2015) * ''The Bad Bunnies' Magic Show'' (2017) * ''The Last Wolf'' (2019) * ''The Greatest Show on Earth'' (2022)

As illustrator

* ''The Crocodile is Coming!'' (2005) * ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'' (2006), by

Lyn Gardner Lyn Gardner is a British theatre critic, children's writer and journalist who contributes reviews and articles to ''The Stage,'' '' Stagedoor'' and has written for ''The Guardian''. Theatre critic and educator A graduate in drama and English from ...

—400-page fantasy novel * ''The Twin Giants'' (2007), by

Dick King-Smith Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE (27 March 1922 – 4 January 2011), was an English writer of children's books, primarily using the pen name Dick King-Smith. He is best known for ''The Sheep-Pig'' (1983). It was adapted as the movie ''Babe'' (1995 ...

—a picture book * ''Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion'' (2009) : —

movable book The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...

edition of the poem by

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...

(1870–1953) * ''Out of the Woods'' (2010), by Lyn Gardner —350-page sequel to ''Into the Woods'' * ''Pippi Longstocking'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Pippi Longstocking in the South Seas'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Pippi Longstocking Goes Aboard'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Emil and the Sneaky Rat'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Emil's Clever Pig'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''The Book of Not Entirely Useful Advice'' (2020), by A.F. Harrold * ''Lotta Makes a Mess'' (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Lotta Says 'No! (2020), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Karlsson on the Roof'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Karlsson Flies Again'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''The Children of Noisy Village'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Nothing but Fun in Noisy Village'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Happy Times in Noisy Village'' (2021), by Astrid Lindgren * ''Money-Go-Round'' (2021), by Roger McGough

Awards and recognitions

;Awards Grey has won three annual book awards. * 2004 '' Biscuit Bear'' won the

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and ...

, ages category 6–8 years. * 2005 ''Traction Man is Here'' won the

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

, Picture Book. * 2007 ''

'' won the Kate Greenaway Medal. ;Runners-up, etc. * 2003 ''The Pea and the Princess'' made the Greenaway Medal shortlist. * 2005 ''Biscuit Bear'' made the

Blue Peter Book Award The Blue Peter Book Awards were a set of literary awards for children's books conferred by the BBC television programme ''Blue Peter''. They were inaugurated in 2000 for books published in 1999. The Awards have been managed by reading charity, ...

shortlist. * ''Traction Man is Here'' made the 2005 Greenaway shortlist, the 2006 Blue Peter shortlist, and the 2007 Hampshire Illustrated Book Award shortlist."Hampshire Illustrated Book Award"
(top page). Hampshire County Council. * 2006 ''The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon'' was bronze runner up for the Smarties Prize, ages 0–5 years. * 2011 ''Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion'' made the Greenaway shortlist.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Mini British children's writers British illustrators British children's book illustrators Kate Greenaway Medal winners Writers who illustrated their own writing Living people Year of birth missing (living people)