SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: The Ogre Who Wasn’t Two Hoots
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.emilygravett.com/
CITY: Brighton
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: SATA 402
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1972, in Brighton, England; daughter of a printmaker and an art teacher; partner’s name Mik; children: Oleander (daughter).
EDUCATION:Brighton University, B.F.A. (illustration), 2001.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and illustrator.
AVOCATIONS:Gardening.
AWARDS:Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration and Nestlé Award Bronze Medal, both 2006, and Macmillan Illustrator’s Prize, all for Wolves; Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration, 2008, for Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears; Independent Bookshop Week Award for Best Picture Book, 2017, for Tidy.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
British artist Emily Gravett became a book illustrator and author while raising her young daughter and her first two published works were based on a college project. Heralded by School Library Journal contributor Kirsten Cutler as an “imaginative, cleverly designed story” paired with “eloquent multimedia illustrations,” Gravett’s award-winning debut Wolves stands at the cornerstone of a career that has been heralded for its innovation. While her artwork has appeared in stories by several other writers, her fans know her primarily for original self-illustrated stories such as The Odd Egg, Blue Chameleon, The Rabbit Problem, Old Hat, and her “Bear and Hare” picture books.
One of the books that has its roots in Gravett’s college studies, Orange Pear Apple Bear restricts its text to five nouns, including the four comprising the book’s title. Each page features a different combination of these nouns, some of which double as adjectives in Gravett’s accompanying ink-and-watercolor artwork. The illustrations for Orange Pear Apple Bear “have a fresh spontaneity yet reflect careful deliberation,” observed Horn Book writer Nell Beram, and in School Library Journal, Maryann H. Owen concluded that the “softly hued watercolor illustrations loosely outlined in black pen and ink are delightful.” A “deliciously playful romp” that features a “genial bear,” Orange Pear Apple Bear unfolds as “a masterpiece of superbly controlled pacing,” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer.
Featuring two different endings, Wolves follows Rabbit as he visits the local library to find a book about wolves. While walking home with his nose in his book, long-eared Rabbit is surprised when a bushy wolf tail and sharp wolf claws begin poking out from the pages. As a big, bad wolf slowly makes its appearance, it is brought to life in charcoal drawings that artfully reflect the creature’s scruffy wildness. In Booklist, Michael Cart commented on the sophistication of Gravett’s concept here, dubbing Wolves a “postmodern picture book” and a “sly celebration of libraries and reading.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor proclaimed the same book to be “brilliant fun,” while in the New York Times Book Review, J.D. Biersdorfer commended Gravett’s innovative approach: combining “an eye-catching collage of hand-drawn sketches and photography” to create “a modern trompe l’oeil effect—complete with 3-D shadows and playful shifts in scale and perspective.”
While Wolves earned Gravett her first Kate Greenaway medal for illustration, a second award honored her picture book Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears. Here a fearful young rodent is determined to vanquish her phobias by expressing her feelings in drawing and writing. An interactive book featuring liftable flaps, die-cut holes, and fold outs, Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears is an “ingenious worrier’s guide to phobias,” according to London Sunday Times contributor Nicolette Jones. Meg Smith cited the combination of Gravett’s “spare text and delightful illustrations” in her positive appraisal in School Library Journal review.
Little Mouse faces new challenges when readers rejoin her in Little Mouse’s Big Book of Beasts. Again featuring a mix of jokes, flaps, and other elements, Gravett’s rodent character bravely (de)faces images of a lion, shark, and bear, using paints, scissors, and origami to produce what a Publishers Weekly critic described as “a riot of beautifully produced paper-art pyrotechnics.” “Older children will delight in the novelty of this singular story,” suggested Kristy Pasquariello in Horn Book Guide, and School Library Journal critic Susan Weitz deemed the volume “colorful, clever, and wonderfully witty” as well as full of “entertainment and artistic inspiration.”
In Meerkat Mail, Gravett serves up another unique picture-book experience. Here readers meet Sunny, an adventure-seeking meerkat (or mongoose) that decides to leave his large and busy family and their Kalahari Desert home and visit several enclaves of cousins. As readers learn from reading Sunny’s postcards and letters home, the hospitality of the Marsh mongoose is overshadowed by its damp abode, and the Malagasy mongoose is far too much of a night owl to become Sunny’s long-term friend. Ultimately, Sunny’s overly hot and overcrowded desert home begins to seem very attractive. “Along with humor and suspense, [Gravett] … folds snippets of natural history into the tale,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews writer, and a Publishers Weekly critic noted that Meerkat Mail effectively “conveys not just how a landscape looks, but also how its lighting and climate feels to a very small mammal.”
When Sunny returns in Meerkat Christmas, the young mongoose contemplates celebrating the holidays in his Kalahari home. Deciding that the desert lacks snow and a certain coziness, he returns to the road and takes a circuitous route, finding the most Christmas-y feel at the place where his globe-trotting travels began. Citing the affectionate energy in “Gravett’s watercolor and pencil illustrations,” a Publishers Weekly critic recommended Meerkat Christmas as a good holiday choice for children who enjoy lift-the-flap stories.
Other picture books written and illustrated by Gravett include Monkey and Me, a story of an imaginative little girl and her beloved toy monkey, and Dogs, which Daniel Kraus recommended in Booklist as “a wonderfully warmhearted ode to four-legged friends.” In her self-illustrated Blue Chameleon a lonely amphibian searches for his soul mate among a succession of unusual but slightly chameleon-like objects, and an order-loving badger strives to impose neatness on a leaf-strewn woodland in Tidy. According to a Publishers Weekly contributor, Gravett’s “art charms” in Blue Chameleon where colored-pencil drawings “repay attention as readers spot similarities to and differences from the things the chameleon mimics.” Referencing the die-cut holes in Tidy, Julie Roach wrote in Horn Book that a simple rhyming text pairs with “emotionally engaging illustrations burst[ing] with comedy, personality, and interesting details.” Citing the environmental focus in this picture book, a Kirkus Reviews critic added of Tidy that its “alarming, timely, gorgeous, and open-ended” story also encourages children “to think for themselves.”
In Old Hat, Harbet the dog treasures the colorful knitted hat his grandmother made for him, and he has worn it in chilly weather since his puppyhood. When his animal friends begin to tease the dog about his unstylish headwear, he trades up to the latest style, a hat covered with colorful fruit. Although peer pressure pushes him to don a succession of hats as style trends change, Harbet ultimately decides to stop chasing fashion and embrace practicality. Describing Old Hat as “a story about teasing and pressure,” a Kirkus Reviews writer praised its multimedia illustrations as “cheeful, delicate, and funny.” A “sweet and simple” picture book, according to Jasmine L. Precopio in School Library Journal, Old Hat melds “vibrant … illustrations and witty storytelling.”
Gravett explores the up-side of friendship in her rhyming text for Cyril and Pat. Combining what a Kirkus Reviews critic described as “the purest scansion and a hilarious setup,” her story describes the relationship that grows between a lonely squirrel named Cyril and Pat the rat as they ignore their differences as well as the fears and stereotypes voiced by others. Weaving a discussion of prejudice into this friendship story, Gravett also employs her characteristic “colorful and witty illustrations,” in the view of School Library Journal contributor Elizabeth Blake.
Readers meet two likable toddler stand-ins in Gravett’s “Bear and Hare” books, which include Bear and Hare Go Fishing, Snow!, Where’s Bear?, and Bear and Hare … Share! An “amiable story” mixing “perfect pacing and clever page turns,” according to Kitty Flynn in Horn Book, Bear and Hare Go Fishing established the engaging friendship between lumbering and loveable Bear and energetic and sometimes impatient Hare. On a summer walk in Bear and Hare … Share!, Hare has trouble giving his friend a taste of his ice cream, and Martha Sibert suggested in Horn Book Guide that the author/illustrator’s “slice-of-life story” here “will resonate with readers.” While the “simple declarative sentences” in this book “make it perfect for beginning readers,” according to School Library Journal critic Marianne Saccardi. Sarah Grant asserted her Booklist review of Snow! that Gravett’s “delightfully kind animals and their soft, adorable faces will be ones readers will enjoy getting to know.”
A colorful counting book, Gravett’s 10 Cats features one mama cat and nine kittens—two black, three striped, and four patchwork. At least, they look that way when the mother falls asleep, but some mischief with primary-color paint cans adds a series of varicolored dots, spots, splotches, and splats. When the surprised mama wakes up, bath time beckons. Gravett admits that the pencil-and-watercolor illustrations were given a modest boost through digital means. A Kirkus Reviews writer remarked that Gravett’s cats are “adorable, with wide, expressive eyes and all the moves … of real felines.” In Booklist, Becca Worthington affirmed that Gravett does “exceptionally well” at using “delightful images and a mere handful of words to cover counting, color naming, and color mixing,” all while endowing the felines with “precious personalities.”
Gravett revisits the loveable woodland of Tiny with Too Much Stuff!, starring magpies Meg and Ash. While waiting for their four eggs to hatch, the magpies—with a bit of an affection for shiny objects—go beyond building a sturdy nest to collect everything from socks and clocks to a trash bin and bicycles. A car proves the proverbial last straw: the bough breaks, everything tumbles down, and only after friends and neighbors help haul stuff away do the hatched chicks emerge safe and sound. The back matter promotes local libraries and the four Rs of recycling.
Gravett told Fiona Noble of the Bookseller that she was inspired to write Too Much Stuff! by people’s modern-day habits of buying things left and right. About the magpies she remarked: “They’re a bit like all of us nowadays, with too much stuff and internet shopping habits. … We’ve been over-consuming at a mad rate since the 1960s, and the general feeling is that we’ve got to stop.” In Booklist, Carolyn Phelan praised Gravett’s witty rhyming verse text, her “exuberant artwork,” and the message of “encouragement for giving away unneeded stuff.”
Among the works Gravett has illustrated for other authors are two books by Matt Haig—one a World Book Day production—starring a girl named Evie who can communicate telepathically with animals. School Librarian reviewer Emily Morpugo observed that in Evie and the Animals, with help from Gravett’s sketches, the “characters are sharply portrayed.” Matt Haig’s Lily and the Night Creatures, in the vein of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, finds an illness-stricken girl forced to battle the coal-eyed impostor family that takes over her home while her baby sibling is being born. Four talking animals from the garden lend a hand. In Booklist, Julia Smith affirmed that Gravett’s “atmospheric illustrations” contribute to the depiction of a “truly menacing foe for Lily to defeat.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that Gravett’s “grayscale illustrations … unsettle through off-kilter architecture and whimsical figures” as the artwork, story, and protagonist alike “evolve toward hope.”
Gravett delighted in adding to the lore of Harry Potter’s world by illustrating one museum-worthy artifact after another for an expanded edition of J.K. Rowling’s Quidditch through the Ages. She told Noble of the Bookseller, “I was really able to play with different styles, different ways of working. I could do a 16th oil painting one day, a newspaper article the next day, and then make an actual broomstick. It was really, really enjoyable.”
In an interview on the Books with Baby website, Gravett discussed her reason for focusing on animal characters in her picture-book stories: “Drawing animals, I can bypass age, race, and even gender which means that the reader can focus on the personality of the character and the story.” She explained, “Human beings identify with animals in a way they don’t always with other human beings.
“Animals often have features which are great to use as emotional emphasis. For example, a rabbit’s ears can easily show joy and sadness just by a quick position change. But lastly, I think the main reason I use animals in my books is that I just really love drawing them!”
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Gravett illustrated Michael Morpurgo’s book The Ogre Who Wasn’t, imported from the U.K. Diminutive Princess Clara loves to play in the garden, adopting creepy crawlies and making friends with them. After her mother died, her father the king has little time for her, so the bossy and grumpy butler, nanny, and gardener raise her with strict rules that they bark at her. When she captures a tiny ogre and puts it in a shoe she keeps under her bed, it tells her it’s not an ogre but King Toad who can grant her a wish for a new mother, attentive father, and long days playing in the garden. “The delightful illustrations, created with colored pencil and watercolor and finished digitally, sparkle with energy,” declared a Kirkus Reviews critic. The fairy tale themes are “shuffled and reassembled to produce a telling that feels both fresh and familiar,” noted a reviewer in Publishers Weekly.
Gravett joined with writer Nick Lake for the emotional novel, The House with a Dragon in It, about fourth grader Summer who meets a dragon who lives in a sink hole that just appeared in her foster family’s living room. Summer goes down the hole and finds a glass bottle with a warning that it contains a witch. She opens it and a cranky witch and her black cat appear. The witch grants Summer three wishes and a promise that she will let Summer escape the vengeance the witch plans to wreck on the town. As the witch gets more sinister, Summer must decide if she wants to make wishes to relieve her loneliness and desire for familial love, or to be selfless and wish to save the town. “Lake’s succinct fantasy manages to deliver exciting action without compromising Summer’s emotional and moral struggles,” according to Booklist reviewer Julia Smith. In School Library Journal, Jessica Calaway noted that the dragon of the title has little do in the story, but added: “the novel offers an insightful look into the emotional challenges faced by foster children.”
Island of Whispers is a middle-grade gothic, seafaring, coming of age story written by Frances Hardinge and illustrated by Gravett. The Ferryman brings the souls of the dead, who follow the shoes they wore in life, from Merlank to the Island of the Broken Tower where they can journey to the afterlife. After the Lord of Merlank’s daughter dies, he kills the Ferryman and captures his elder son, and commands his magicians to use her slippers to resurrect her. But the Ferryman’s 14-year-old younger son Milo takes his father’s job, steals the slippers and his father’s boots and travels to the island hoping to free their souls. In a starred review, a Publishers Weekly critic noted that Gravett “enhances the otherworldly tone with black, white, and light blue illustrations that are by turns bold and ethereal.” Rather than giving the novel a timeless feel, “The stark, bold illustrations, featuring characters in cloaks and ruffs, plumes and doublets, look like medieval woodcuts,” declared Marjorie Ingall in New York Times Book Review.
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 1, 2006, Michael Cart, review of Wolves, p. 52; June 1, 2007, Julie Cummins, review of Orange Pear Apple Bear, p. 84; December 1, 2008, Janice Del Negro, review of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears, p. 56; January 1, 2009, Julie Cummins, review of The Odd Egg, p. 92; March 15, 2010, Daniel Kraus, review of Dogs, p. 46; May 1, 2013, Ann Kelley, review of Again!, p. 89; March 1, 2014, Sarah Hunter, review of Matilda’s Cat, p. 77; February 1, 2015, Michael Cart, review of The Imaginary, p. 51; November 1, 2015, Sarah Grant, review of Snow!, p. 64; December 15, 2016, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Tidy, p. 60; February 1, 2019, Julia Smith, review of The Afterwards, p. 76; September 2024, Julia Smith, review of The House with a Dragon in It, p. 78.
Bookseller, October 7, 2005, “Nestlé Shortlist Revealed,” p. 10; April 7, 2006, Katie Hawthorne, review of Orange Pear Apple Bear, p. 13.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, September, 2013, review of Again!, p. 21; March, 2014, Jeannette Hulick, review of Matilda’s Cat, p. 359; July-August, 2015, April Spisak, review of The Imaginary, p. 547; February, 2017, Deborah Stevenson, review of Tidy, p. 267.
Daily Mail, August 6, 2010, Sally Morris, review of Cave Baby, p. 62.
Guardian (London, England), May 19, 2007, Julia Eccleshare, review of Monkey and Me, p. 20; March 22, 2008, Julia Eccleshare, review of The Odd Egg, p. 22; June 28, 2008, Joanna Carey, “With Thanks to My Daughter’s Pet Rats …,” p. 14; July 31, 2010, Julia Eccleshare, review of Cave Baby, p. 12.
Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), February 3, 2007, Sara Valentin, “It Turns out Words Can Be Fun Too,” p. 13.
Horn Book, July-August, 2007, Nell Beram, review of Orange Pear Apple Bear, p. 377; January-February, 2009, Rebecca E. Schaffner, review of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears, p. 78; January-February, 2009, Christine M. Heppermann, review of The Odd Egg, p. 79; January-February, 2011, Robin L. Smith, review of The Rabbit Problem, p. 78; July-August, 2013, Robin L. Smith, review of Again!, p. 104; March-April, 2015, Shoshana Flax, review of The Imaginary, p. 96; January-February, 2017, Julie Roach, review of Tidy, p. 81.
Horn Book Guide, fall, 2014, Gail Hedges, review of Matilda’s Cat, p. 30; spring, 2016, Kitty Flynn, review of Bear and Hare Go Fishing, p. 10; fall, 2016, Kitty Flynn, reviews of Snow!, p. 11, and Where’s Bear?, p. 12; spring, 2017, Martha Sibert, review of Bear and Hare … Share!, p. 10, and Kristy Pasquariello, review of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Beasts, p. 33.
Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2006, review of Wolves, p. 678; April 15, 2007, review of Orange Pear Apple Bear; September 1, 2007, review of Meerkat Mail; August 1, 2008, review of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears; December 1, 2008, review of The Odd Egg; September 1, 2009, review of Spells; February 15, 2010, review of Dogs; January 15, 2014, review of Matilda’s Cat; January 15, 2015, review of The Imaginary; May 1, 2015, review of Bear and Hare Go Fishing; September 15, 2015, review of Bear and Hare; April 15, 2016, review of Bear and Hare … Share!; January 15, 2017, review of Tidy; November 1, 2017, review of Old Hat; December 15, 2018, review of The Afterwards; March 1, 2019, review of Cyril and Pat; August 1, 2023, review of 10 Dogs; September 15, 2024, review of The Ogre Who Wasn’t.
New York Times Book Review, September 10, 2006, J.D. Biersdorfer, review of Wolves, p. 19; November 9, 2008, Daniel Handler, review of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Frears, p. 19; October 11, 2009, Lawrence Downes, review of Spells, p. 23; November 8, 2009, Sherie Posesorski, review of The Odd Egg, p. 23; December 8, 2024, Marjorie Ingall, review of Island of Whispers, p. 18.
Publishers Weekly, March 19, 2007, review of Orange Pear Apple Bear, p. 62; September 17, 2007, review of Meerkat Mail, p. 53; October 27, 2008, review of The Odd Egg, p. 53; October 12, 2009, review of Spells, p. 49; January 25, 2010, review of Dogs, p. 116; October 18, 2010, review of The Rabbit Problem, p. 48; January 31, 2011, review of Blue Chameleon, p. 46; January 6, 2014, review of Matilda’s Cat, p. 57; December 2, 2016, review of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Beasts, p. 39; January 2, 2017, review of Tidy, p. 55; September 21, 2020, review of Meerkat Christmas, p. 94; May 19, 2025, review of The Forest of a Thousand Eyes, p. 71.
School Librarian, winter, 2010, Chris Brown, review of Cave Baby, p. 217; spring, 2013, Becky Carter, review of Matilda’s Cat, p. 30; summer, 2014, Sue Roe, review of Bear and Hare Go Fishing, p. 91; spring, 2015, Chris Routh, review of The Imaginary, p. 37; fall, 2016, Trevor Dickinson, review of Tidy, p. 154; fall, 2019, Clare Morpurgo, review of Evie and the Animals, p. 166.
School Library Journal, August, 2006, Kirsten Cutler, review of Wolves, p. 87; August, 2006, Rick Margolis, “Like a Rolling Stone” (author profile), p. 31, and January 6, 2014, review of Matilda’s Cat, p. 57; April, 2007, Maryann H. Owen, review of Orange Pear Apple Bear, p. 106; January, 2009, Susan Weitz, review of The Odd Egg, p. 76; October, 2009, Wendy Lukehart, review of Spells, p. 92; March, 2010, Kathleen Finn, review of Dogs, p. 119; December, 2010, Wendy Lukehart, review of The Rabbit Problem, p. 82; April, 2014, Luann Toth, review of Matilda’s Cat, p. 121; November, 2015, Sara White, review of Snow!, p. 81; February, 2016, Yelena Alekseyava-Popova, review of Where’s Bear?, p. 67; June, 2016, Marianne Saccardi, review of Bear and Hare … Share!, p. 66; October, 2016, Susan Weitz, review of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Beasts, p. 76; January, 2017, Marianne Saccardi, review of Tidy, p. 71; January, 2018, Jasmine L. Precopio, review of Old Hat, p. 58; May, 2019, Elizabeth Blake, review of Cyril and Pat, p. 84.
Sunday Times (London, England), August 5, 2007, Nicolette Jones, review of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears, p. 47; July 27, 2008, Nicolette Jones, review of Spells, p. 48; July 25, 2010, Nicolette Jones, review of Cave Baby, p. 50; January 30, 2011, Nicolette Jones, review of Wolf Won’t Bite, p. 53.
Times, August 30, 2008, Amanda Craig, review of Spells, p. 15; May 29, 2010, Amanda Craig, review of Blue Chameleon, p. 12; February 19, 2011, Amanda Craig, review of Wolf Won’t Bite!, p. 12.
ONLINE
Bookseller, https://www.thebookseller.com/ (July 10, 2020), Fiona Noble, “Emily Gravett Talks about Her Picture Book Too Much Stuff!, the Prelude to a Busy Upcoming Year.”
Books with Baby, https://bookswithbaby.com/ (February 26, 2019), author interview.
Emily Gravett website, http://www.emilygravett.com (July 18, 2023).
Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin website, https://literaturfestival.com/ (July 8, 2023), author profile.
Reading Realm, https://thereadingrealm.co.uk/ (November 16, 2022), Ian Eagleton, “10 Cats: An Interview with Emily Gravett.”
Publishers Weekly, www.publishersweekly.com/ (August 2024), review of Island of Whispers; (October 2024), review of The Ogre Who Wasn’t.
School Library Journal, https://www.slj.com/ (October 11, 2024), Nick Lake, review of The House with a Dragon in It.
University of Brighton website, http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/ (March 5, 2021), author profile.*
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emily Gravett
Born 1972 (age 52–53)
Brighton, England
Occupation(s) Author and illustrator
Children 1
Emily Gravett (born 1972) is an English author and illustrator of children's picture books. For her debut book Wolves published in 2005 and Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears published three years later, she won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal recognising the year's best-illustrated British children's book.
Life
Emily Gravett was born in Brighton, England, the second daughter of a printmaker father and an art teacher mother. After her parents separated, she lived with her mother, but she and her father would "go out drawing" in museums. She left school at 16 with a GCSE qualification only in Art (grade A) and travelled Great Britain for eight years, living in "a variety of vehicles" and meeting her partner Mik.[1]
By 1997, they had settled in Wales and had a daughter, Oleander (Olly).
Gravett "realised that I wanted a career, and drawing was my only skill", so she began an art course. The family returned to Brighton in 2001, where persistence rather than qualifications got her an interview for the illustration degree course at the local university. She matriculated that September and graduated three years later.[1]
After bringing up her daughter in Brighton, Emily and her partner moved to rural Wales in 2023
Career
During her second year as a student, Gravett entered one of her school projects for the Macmillan Prize for Children's Illustration, a competitive annual award to art students established in 1985.[1] She earned a "Highly Commended" then and won the prize in her final year, when she entered two books that the judges ranked first and second. That ensured a contract publication of Wolves by Macmillan Children's Books (now the Children's Books imprint of Pan Macmillan). The editorial director later said, "It was quite obvious who the winner was going to be. Emily entered Wolves in a beautiful dummy format, and really we had to do very little work on it before it was published. She's a bookbinder as well as an artist; a real creator of books."[1] Two years after graduation she won the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, recognising Wolves as the previous year's (2005) best-illustrated new children's book published in the United Kingdom.[2][3] By that time, rights had been sold in five other countries.[1]
Next year (officially dated 2007)[a] she made the Greenaway shortlist for Orange Pear Apple Bear. The year after that she won a second Medal (no one has won three) for her fourth book, Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, and made the shortlist as well for fifth book, Monkey and Me.[4][5] WorldCat reports that Orange Pear Apple Bear is her work most widely held in participating libraries. According to one library summary, it "[e]xplores concepts of color, shape, and food using only five simple words, as a bear juggles and plays."[6]
For 2008 Gravett was official illustrator for World Book Day (United Kingdom)[7] — an honor with duties such as specially commissioned illustrations and recorded demonstration of characters from her books.
The former Children's Laureate (2011–2013) Julia Donaldson wrote and Gravett illustrated Cave Baby, a 32-page picture book featuring a prehistoric baby's tour atop a woolly mammoth, published by Macmillan in 2010. It has been published in Welsh-language and Chinese editions but not in the United States.[8] She is the illustrator of J K Rowling's Quidditch Through the Ages, illustrated edition (2020) published by Bloomsbury Children's Books. Gravett made many physical artefacts, including a broom, silk badges and ceramics that were then photographed for the illustrations [9]
Style
Gravett completed Wolves in six weeks as an illustration course project and added only the back endpaper spread during the editorial process. Some projects take longer but she wrote and sketched Orange Pear Apple Bear in merely 11 hours, waking one Mother's Day with the four words in her head and staying in bed for "the whole book in one go".[1]
Gravett's books are interactive. She encouraged the pet dog to chew the dummy for Wolves "to simulate the impact of the wolf's teeth". That didn't work so she chewed it herself.[1]
She wanted Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears to look genuinely chewed, so she painted yoghurt on plain white paper and laid it in the cage of the two pet rats. They nibbled it and peed on it, which she scanned to produce background for drawing.[7][10] The front cover illustration shows the title Little Mouse's Emily Gravett's Big Book of Fears, a mouse looking through a hole it has chewed, and damage along the book edges.[5]
Little Mouse is also a movable book, with "lift flaps and a fold-out map" (quoting a review).[7]
Works
As author and illustrator
Wolves (Macmillan, 2005, ISBN 1-405-05082-9)
—published as Wolves by "Emily Grrrabbit" in the United States (Simon & Schuster, 2006)[11]
Orange Pear Apple Bear (2006)
Meerkat Mail (2006)
Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears (2007)
Monkey and Me (2007)
The Odd Egg (2008)
Spells (2008)
Dogs (2009)
The Rabbit Problem (2009)
Blue Chameleon (2010)
Wolf Won't Bite! (2011)
Again! (2011)
Matilda's Cat (2 August 2012)[12]
Little Mouse's Big Book of Beasts (2013)
Bear and Hare: Go Fishing (2014)
Bear and Hare: Snow! (2014)
Bear and Hare: Where's Bear? (2015)
Bear and Hare: Mine! (2016)
Tidy (2016)
Old Hat (2017)
Cyril and Pat (2018)
Meerkat Christmas (2019)
Too Much Stuff (2020)
10 Cats (2022)
10 Dogs (2023)
Bothered by Bugs (2024)
Bear's Nap (2025)
As illustrator
Cave Baby (2010), written by Julia Donaldson
The Imaginary (2014), written by A. F. Harrold
The Afterwards (2018), written by A. F. Harrold
Evie and the Animals (2020), written by Matt Haig
Evie in the Jungle (2020), written by Matt Haig
A Song of Gladness (2021), written by Michael Morpurgo
Locked Out Lily (2021), written by Nick Lake
The House With a Dragon in it (2023), written by Nick Lake
Island of Whispers (2023), by Frances Hardinge
The Ogre Who Wasn't (2023), written by Michael Morpurgo
The Forest of a Thousand Eyes (2024), by Frances Hardinge
Awards and recognitions
Gravett has won annual British book awards three times.
Awards
Wolves won the 2005 Kate Greenaway Medal.[2][3][a]
Monkey and Me won the 2007 Booktrust Best Emerging Illustrator for children up to five-years-old.[13]
Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears won the 2008 Kate Greenaway Medal.[4][5]
Tidy won the 2017 Indie Book Awards for Picture Book category.[14]
Runners-up, etc.
2005, Wolves was bronze runner-up for the Smarties Prize, ages 0–5 years.
2006, Orange Pear Apple Bear made the shortlist for the Booktrust Early Years Pre-School Award.
2007, Orange Pear Apple Bear made the Greenaway shortlist.[15]
2007, Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears was bronze runner-up for the Smarties Prize, ages 6–8 years.
2007, Wolves made the shortlist for the Hampshire Illustrated Book Award.
2008, Monkey and Me made the Greenaway shortlist.[15]
2012, Wolf Won't Bite! made the Greenaway shortlist.[15]
2013, Matilda's Cat made the Indie Book Awards shortlist.
2022, Too Much Stuff made the Greenaway shortlist.[16]
Emily Gravett has a rare talent for creating exceptional books for children. The winner of two CILIP Kate Greenaway Medals, her skill and wit are second to none. Emily first sprang into the limelight with the ground-breaking Wolves, which has been followed by such modern classics as Meerkat Mail, Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, Monkey and Me and Again! and the fabulous Bear and Hare series for younger readers, as well as the beautiful Tidy, Old Hat, Cyril and Pat and Meerkat Christmas. Each book is unique and different from the last – and each features endearing, beautifully drawn characters that touch the heart and tickle the funny bone. Emily lives in Brighton with her family.
The Forest of a Thousand Eyes
Frances Hardinge, illus. by Emily Gravett.
Amulet, $19.99 (128p)
ISBN 978-1-4197-7778-3
An intrepid girl braves a sentient, predatory wilderness to save her community in this uplifting fantasy from previous collaborators Hardinge and Gravett (Island of Whispers). For "a long while," the Wall--a towering stone structure stretching hundreds of miles--protected the cities and towns of the plains from the "voracious encroachment" of the Forest and its lethal flora and fauna. The insidious green eventually punched through, however, forcing folks to move inside strongholds such as Greyman's Gate, home to young Feather and her people. Because "ragged, undulating ruin" now separates the strongholds, nobody travels the Wall--or so Feather believes. Then she encounters a coast-bound stranger while Feather and her scaled ferret, Sleek, are foraging in crevices. After the stranger tricks Feather and makes off with Greyman's Gate's lone spyglass, guilt and devotion drive the girl to give chase, seeking shelter within other settlements along the way. Lush, quixotic worldbuilding and elegant yet visceral prose immerses readers in this kindhearted tale, which champions compassion and eschews isolationism. Green and graphite pencil-and-water-color art amplifies the story's shifting whimsical and unsettling tenor. Characters are depicted with varying skin tones. Ages 10-14. (Aug.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Forest of a Thousand Eyes." Publishers Weekly, vol. 272, no. 20, 19 May 2025, pp. 71+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A841723026/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=23db8242. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Frances Hardinge's ''Island of Whispers'' is lush and poetic, and holy moly is it eerie.
ISLAND OF WHISPERS, by Frances Hardinge; illustrated by Emily Gravett
How often do you find a book that can enchant 10-year-olds and grandparents, that feels both timeless and quirkily specific, that's super creepy but also hugely life-affirming?
With ''Island of Whispers,'' Frances Hardinge delivers.
Milo, 14, is the son of the Ferryman, who takes the Dead from the land of the living to the Island of the Broken Tower -- a mysterious place whose location in the misty seas is unfixed, ever-changing. When a person dies, a pair of their shoes, brought to the Ferryman by a loved one, accompanies them on the journey. Without their shoes, the Dead can't move on.
Milo knows he'll never inherit the Ferryman mantle himself. He's always been too softhearted, too imaginative for such a dangerous job ... or so his father has told him. His stolid, uncurious big brother, Leif, is more suited to it.
But of course, this is a fable, and that's not how things work out. After the young daughter of the imperious lord of the land dies, the lord decides to use magic -- and his daughter's shoes -- to bring her back. His men kill the Ferryman and capture Leif; Milo grabs his father's boots and the girl's slippers and escapes to the Ferryman's boat. He's determined to help his father and the lord's daughter (also 14) get to the Island of the Broken Tower. He's unprepared, but there's no one else.
And though none of us knows what happens after death, we do know that death is immutable, and bringing things back to life rarely ends well. (Think Stephen King's ''Pet Sematary.'')
What follows is a race between the Ferryman's boat and the lord's boat. It's made even more unnerving by the fact that the lord's daughter doesn't want to be dead, the lord's magicians use all manner of traps to stop Milo from reaching the island, and tricks of light turn out be real.
This is both a gothic ghost story and a seafaring tale. Hardinge's language is lush and poetic (''unheard words left an uneasy smear across his mind, like the mood of a dream after waking'') but never self-indulgent. Everything feels necessary. The story is told in barely 100 pages.
And holy moly is it eerie: ''Far above, wheeling through the mist, there was a bird. It was the size of a gull, and a rich, earthy brown. There was something wrong in the way it flew. It did not teeter or tilt the way seabirds do when they ride the wind. ... When it alighted on the top of the mast, [Milo] saw that it had no head.''
There are three of these undead birds -- one brown, one gray, one ''mottled like old cheese.'' All have tiny monkey hands instead of feet. One tries to fly into the hold, where the girl's shoes are stored; Milo slams the hatch on it and cuts it in half. There's no blood.
Terrifying! And don't get me started on the bridge of bones.
Such a hallucinatory, primal tale isn't for everyone. But I can imagine families cuddled on a couch, reading this aloud together and freaking each other out. Or listening to the audiobook on a long car ride, as dusk turns to dark, to visit Grandma for the holidays.
Fortunately, Milo's fundamental kindness and receptiveness to the emotions of the Dead aren't the curse his father had predicted. He begins to hear the Dead's whispers, their regrets, the things they're sad to have left undone. His openheartedness helps him forge a stronger connection with his town's living.
While we continue to struggle with the losses of the pandemic, and to yearn for community in a fractured time, there's something incredibly hopeful about the note on which this book ends. Reader, I wept.
That said, I could have lived without the last page, which overexplains what's come before.
Sadly, I'm not a huge fan of Emily Gravett's illustrations. The story feels perfectly timeless, but Gravett (a two-time winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal for the best illustrated British children's book) has created art that feels grounded in a too-specific period and place. The stark, bold illustrations, featuring characters in cloaks and ruffs, plumes and doublets, look like medieval woodcuts. Make no mistake, her art -- in black, white and muted shades of blue -- is gorgeous and accomplished, but it feels imagination-limiting rather than expansive.
And you know what? I'm not terribly bothered. My experience with Hardinge's work has been her young adult novels, which are almost all more than 400 pages long; dense and knotty; richly descriptive but languorously paced. I know lots of adults, but far fewer young readers, who adore them. ''Island of Whispers'' has all their quirkiness and uncanny beauty, in a tighter and more accessible package.
ISLAND OF WHISPERS | By Frances Hardinge; illustrated by Emily Gravett | (Ages 10 and up) | Abrams | 120 pp. | $19.99
Marjorie Ingall is the co-author of ''Getting to Sorry'' and the author of ''Mamaleh Knows Best.''
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PHOTO: From ''Island of Whispers.'' This article appeared in print on page BR18.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 The New York Times Company
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Ingall, Marjorie. "Ship of Souls." The New York Times Book Review, 8 Dec. 2024, p. 18. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A819221009/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ab3a45c0. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Morpurgo, Michael THE OGRE WHO WASN'T Two Hoots/Macmillan (Children's None) $18.99 10, 1 ISBN: 9781035010264
An ersatz ogre effects lasting happiness.
Upon discovering a tiny ogre in the garden, Princess Clara gives him a new home in a shoe under her bed. They're soon besties, and at bedtime, Clara finds herself confiding in her new pal. Ever since Clara's mother died, her father, the king, has had little time for her. She loves frolicking barefoot, climbing trees, and adopting wild creatures, but the "pernickety nanny," "bossy butler," and "grumpy gardener" charged with her care disapprove of these activities; they bark orders, shriek at her pets, and, in short, make "life a misery." Clara's friend confesses that he's no ogre; he's "King Toad" and will grant Clara's wishes for a mother and a more involved father. He asks to return to the garden, where he invokes an amphibian horde who permanently banish the scolders. Clara throws open her doors to all wild animals. More happiness awaits: Her father returns with a kindly new wife, everyone appreciates running around barefoot, and all enjoy the animals' company, especially that of King Toad. This charming U.K. import reads like an old-fashioned fairy tale with a few modern twists, complete with a satisfying ending. The delightful illustrations, created with colored pencil and watercolor and finished digitally, sparkle with energy, as do the personable characters, especially King Toad. Clara, her father, and the caretaker staff are pale-skinned; Clara's new mother is brown-skinned.
Toad-ally enchanting.(Picture book. 4-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Morpurgo, Michael: THE OGRE WHO WASN'T." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A808343144/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8dff32ae. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Gravett, Emily 10 DOGS Boxer Books (Children's None) $16.99 9, 19 ISBN: 9781914912597
It's not hard to guess what will happen to unattended sausages with dogs around .
Ten pooches of various sizes and species stare longingly at 10 sausages up on the table. One big dog jumps onto the table and sets the rumpus in motion: "1 dog with all the sausages." "9 dogs with none." The table's knocked over, and two dogs play tug of sausage: "2 dogs each with half of them." "8 dogs wanting some." The tussle continues, and three dogs end up with most of the sausages, while the other seven have only three. What follows is sausage guarding, snatching, playing, and catching. Each double-page spread features a different split of 10 until each of the 10 dogs has a sausage and then the inevitable happens (followed by a nap). Gravett's follow-up to 10 Cats (2023) is just as raucous and enjoyable. The pups might look a bit sad at one time or another, but it is obvious they are always playing (until they are eating), and in the penultimate spread they all work together to help the wiener dog get to the final wiener. All will laugh at the antics, and youngsters owned by doggies will easily pick out their canine companions in the crowd they might even learn some simple math. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Fun from the first page to the last. (Picture book. 2-5)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Gravett, Emily: 10 DOGS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A758849045/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=775f5ff9. Accessed 13 June 2025.
The House with a Dragon in It.
By Nick Lake. Illus. by Emily Gravett.
Oct. 2024. 256p. Simon & Schuster, $18.99
(9781665955683). Gr. 3-5.
When a sinkhole appears in the Pattinsons' living room, Summer can't help but feel she is somehow to blame. Her foster family is at a loss as to how to explain it and cautions the children to steer clear of the crevasse until someone can repair it. But late one night, Summer hears a voice coming from the hole's depths and climbs down after it. That's how she comes face-to-face with an ancient dragon and gains possession of an equally ancient glass bottle, sealed with wax and labeled, "Contains one Witch. DO NOT OPEN." But open it she does, and, with a puff of black smoke, two figures emerge: "the spirit of a witch," aka Sarah, and Tobias, a talking cat. Much like a released genie, Sarah promises to grant Summer three magical wishes and to spare the girl when wreaking vengeance on the town. As Summer ponders her situation, weighing deep desires, such as for love and acceptance, against wanting to keep the town safe, the fourth-grader is swept into an unexpected adventure that reveals true friendships and family, as well as the power of names and forgiveness. Adorned with Gravett's emotive charcoals, Lake's succinct fantasy manages to deliver exciting action without compromising Summer's emotional and moral struggles. She battles bravely on all fronts, and readers will adore her for it.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
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Smith, Julia. "The House with a Dragon in It." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 1, Sept. 2024, pp. 78+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A829860871/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f70d75d0. Accessed 13 June 2025.
The House with a Dragon in It
by Nick Lake (text) & illus. by Emily Gravett
S. & S. Oct. 2024. 256p. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781665955683.
Reviewed by Jessica Calaway , Oct 11, 2024
Gr 3-6–Summer is a foster child whose life takes a dramatic turn when a massive hole mysteriously appears in her home. A vengeful witch offers Summer the opportunity to make three wishes and these act as a framework for the story, allowing Summer to learn essential life lessons about herself, her desires, and her relationships. The novel explores common themes such as friendship, love, and self-belief, using magic as a metaphor for personal growth. Through her interaction with the witch, Summer learns how loneliness can shape one’s actions and mindset, reflecting on her own experiences as a foster child. Each wish brings Summer closer to understanding the importance of opening up to others and recognizing the support and love that surrounds her, even when it feels invisible. While the premise is intriguing, the story’s focus on the witch’s revenge and Summer’s internal journey overshadows the expectation of a dragon-centric adventure, which might feel misleading for readers drawn in by the title. Nevertheless, the novel offers an insightful look into the emotional challenges faced by foster children, highlighting how personal growth often stems from unexpected experiences.
VERDICT A modest but heartfelt tale about loneliness, belonging, and the quiet magic of human connection. Although it may not fully meet the fantastical expectations its title suggests, this is a meaningful exploration of what it means to find one’s place in the world.
The Ogre Who Wasn’t
Michael Morpurgo, illus. by Emily Gravett. Two Hoots, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-03-501026-4
Princess Clara finds a small ogre in the palace garden near a pond, and because she’s terribly lonely—her mother has died, and her father is always gone—she takes him home and keeps him in her shoe. (Digitally finished colored pencil and watercolor artwork by Gravett reveals glimpses of the ogre, whose green body and big eyes suggest a more familiar creature.) While the little ogre “was very happy,” Princess Clara dislikes her solitary life as well as the persnickety nanny who makes her dress up, the butler who forbids skipping, and the gardener who calls her “nuisance child.” When the ogre asks Clara about her dearest wish, events unspool quickly and triumphantly. Imaginative vignettes are full of motion and charm, and in the hands of Mopurgo, fairy tale elements are shuffled and reassembled to produce a telling that feels both fresh and familiar. Primary characters are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 3–7. (Oct.)
Island of Whispers
Frances Hardinge, illus. by Emily Gravett. Amulet, $19.99 (120p) ISBN 978-1-4197-7433-1
Fourteen-year-old Milo sails a ship of souls to the realm of the dead in this elegiac fantasy from Hardinge (Unraveller). On Merlank, the dead linger until Milo’s father, the Ferryman, can deliver them to the Island of the Broken Tower, from which they can ascend to the afterlife. The dead are drawn to the shoes they wore in life, so after the death of the Lord of Merlank’s daughter, his wife gives the Ferryman the girl’s favorite pair to help lead her aboard his boat. But the grieving Lord has other plans; he tries to reclaim the shoes so his magicians can attempt to resurrect his daughter. He kills the Ferryman and captures Milo’s brother, but Milo escapes with both the girl’s shoes and his dad’s boots, determined to make the journey to the Broken Tower himself so that the girl and his father can pass on peacefully. Though the Lord gives chase, he is the least of Milo’s concerns along the mystical trials separating him from his destination. Using spare, evocative prose, Hardinge weaves a nuanced and affecting tale about grief, compassion, and the importance of living life fully. Gravett (A Song of Gladness) enhances the otherworldly tone with black, white, and light blue illustrations that are by turns bold and ethereal. All characters are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 10–14. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency. (Aug.)