Rod Campbell (born 4 May 1945) is a
Scottish author and illustrator of several popular children's books including the classic lift-the-flap
board book
Board or Boards may refer to:
Flat surface
* Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat
** Plank (wood)
** Cutting board
** Sounding board, of a musical instrument
* Cardboard (paper product)
* Paperboard
* Fiberboard
** Hardboard, a ty ...
''Dear Zoo''.
Born in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
in 1945, he was brought up in
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
and returned to Britain where he completed a doctorate in
organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...
. In 1980 he became involved in children's publishing where he began designing innovative books with interactive elements and repetitive phrases.
In 1987 he founded Campbell Blackie Books in partnership with his publisher Blackie. Campbell Books (as it became in 1989) was sold in 1995 to
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...
.
''Dear Zoo''
Campbell's most famous work is ''Dear Zoo'', first published in 1982. Campbell says that he was inspired by seeing other early lift-the-flap books, such as ''
Spot the Dog
Spot is a fictional puppy created by Eric Hill, an English author and illustrator of children's picture books. The success of Hill's books about Spot led to other media productions, including television and home video titles, music albums, and ...
'', and wanted to incorporate the flaps into a story so that they made sense. He then thought of explorers sending animals to zoos years ago in crates, and hit upon the structure of each flap being a container holding a different animal.
Enormously popular among the under 5s in Britain, the book has been translated into Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Persian, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Panjabi, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese, as well as being published in a number of formats and alongside various merchandise.
[
A spin-off Christmas title, ''Dear Santa'', was first published in 2004 and follows the same format, with different gifts being considered by Santa hidden under flaps.
In 2017, the 35th anniversary of Dear Zoo was celebrated through a partnership with London Zoo and the publication of an Anniversary Edition in a slipcase format.]
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Notable works
*''Dear Zoo''
*''Dear Santa''
*''ABC Zoo''
*''Oh Dear!''
*''It's Mine!''
*''I'm Hungry!''
*''I Won't Bite!''
*''Baby's Busy Book''
*''My Presents''
*''Noisy Farm''
*''Farm 123''
*''Farm Babies''
*''Buster's Day''
*''Buster's Zoo''
*''Here's Buster, But Where's Teddy?''
*''Buster Goes To Playschool''
*''Buster Gets Dressed''
*''Buster Keeps Warm''
*''Buster's Bedtime''
*''The Pop-Up Farm''
*''The Pop-Up Jungle''
References
External links
Official websitePan Macmillan website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Rod
1945 births
Living people
Scottish children's writers