SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Gorilla City
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.nickward-illustration.co.uk/
CITY: Hamble
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: SATA 388
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1955, in England; married; children: two.
EDUCATION:Earned B.A. (with honors).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Illustrator and writer. Freelance illustrator. Also worked as a visiting illustration tutor at Coventry University.
AWARDS:Young Book Trust Picture Book of the Year designation, 1994, for Shadowland; Stockport Schools Book Award, 2002, for A Wolf at the Door!; World Book Day Recommended title, 2005, for Who’s Been Eating MY Porridge?; Waterstone’s Book of the Month selection, March 2007, and Red House Award shortlist, 2008, both for The Perfumed Pirates of Perfidy; World Book Day selection, 2010, for Valley of Terrors; Norfolk Children’s Book Award shortlist, 2010, for Baby Pie; Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award shortlist, 2012, for Charlie in the Underworld; Stockton Children’s Book of the Year, 2021, for The Night’s Realm.
WRITINGS
Contributor of illustrations to other books, including Wushu! The Chinese Way to Family Health and Fitness, Mitchell Beazley (London, England), 1981.
SIDELIGHTS
Nick Ward is a British artist who has combined a successful career as a children’s book illustrator with a talent for creating original self-illustrated stories. Beginning with his first picture book, 1979’s Toby, which was published while he was still in college, Ward has divided his time between creating art for books and working on greeting cards and commercial illustration and design. Among his best-known works are his picture books Shadowland, A Wolf at the Door!, Don’t Eat the Teacher!, Superbot and the Terrible Toy Destroyer, and Mortimer’s Picnic, as well as his series of fiction books featuring Charlie Small. As an illustrator, he has brought to life stories by Michael Bond, Alexander McCall Smith, Anne Fine, Bernard Ashley, Paul Stewart, and Erin Dealey.
(open new1)In an interview in the Parrot Street Book Club blog, Ward discussed why he writes books for children. He shared that, since that age of ten, he “was trying to write stories with illustrations and I guess I never gave up. I love writing for this age group as you can really let your imagination run wild. I love adventure stories, I love looking at book illustrations, and I think this age group provides the best opportunity to do both.”(close new1)
Ward reveals his sensitivity to the feelings of young readers in books such as Come on, Baby Duck!, in which a young duckling takes his first swim in a local pond. Depicting the duck’s realization that while it looks easy, swimming on the water takes work to learn, the author/illustrator “understands how little steps can feel huge for a child,” according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. In School Library Journal, Jane Marino dubbed the book “charming,” adding that Come on, Baby Duck! makes “a great choice for sharing.”
Life on an English farm, with all its calm regularity, is the setting for Ward’s reassuring “Farmer George” books, which introduce a character described by a Publishers Weekly contributor as “portly, genial,” and “slightly befuddled.” In Farmer George and the Hungry Guests the tweed-clad farmer worries when his breakfast fixings can’t be found, while Clarrie the hen’s missing offspring is the focus of Farmer George and the Lost Chick. Farmer George and the Field Mice finds a rodent family threatened by George’s wheat-whacking combine, while in Farmer George and the New Piglet! the farmer comes to the rescue of Perry the piglet, only to find that the piglet would rather sleep in the farmhouse than the barn. The farmer and his wife brave a blizzard to rescue Larry the sheep from a snowdrift in Farmer George and the Snowstorm. “Droll, full-color illustrations neatly capture the hilarity of Farmer George’s predicament” in Ward’s cheerful series, according to one Kirkus Reviews writer, while a colleague concluded of Farmer George and the Snowstorm that the “genial atmosphere of cooperation and rhythms of farm life” Ward creates in his series “strike elemental chords.” The Britishisms in Ward’s “Farmer George” stories were noted by several reviewers, Booklist critic Amy Brandt writing that “they enhance the story’s setting and do not interrupt the gentle and easy camaraderie between man and beasts.”
Humor takes a starring role in Ward’s Don’t Eat the Teacher! and its companion volume Don’t Eat the Babysitter!, as Sammy the shark attempts to control his habit of biting when he gets excited. Unfortunately, the young shark loves school, and in his excitement he eats (and spits right back out) his new friends, the story-hour book, his art project, and even his lobster teacher. Sammy’s home is not much safer than his classroom, and in Don’t Eat the Babysitter! the energetic shark gets his teeth into everything from a television set to the family bathtub. Meanwhile, a little fish named Anna attempts to keep order until Sammy’s parents return. Noting the visual jokes that salt Ward’s colorful cartoon artwork here, a Publishers Weekly critic concluded of Don’t Eat the Teacher! that “nervous first-time schoolgoers should appreciate … the … punch lines” in the book’s entertaining text, and a Kirkus Reviews writer predicted that “many children will identify with Sammy’s behavior when he is excited.”
Ward’s “Charlie Small” stories are designed to look as if they have been written down in a much used journal. Although Charlie Small is supposed to be eight-years-old, he stopped aging centuries ago. In Gorilla City: The First Amazing, Astonishing, Incredible, and True Adventures of Me!, Charlie Small, Charlie is captured by a gorilla and taken to Gorilla City, where his captor intends to keep him as a pet. A clever fellow, the diminutive explorer learns gorilla language, becomes their king, and ultimately saves them from an invading pack of mandrills. Globe-trotting Charlie eventually heads off for distant shores, and his adventures on an island inhabited by female pirates are chronicled in The Perfumed Pirates of Perfidy.
The ever-youthful Charlie finds himself trapped by a malevolent power in The Puppet Master, while The Daredevil Desperados of Destiny find him joining a rowdy gang led by Wild Bob and facing down Bob’s nemesis, outlaw Horatio Ham and his band of hired gunslingers. Other books in the “Charlie Small” series include Charlie in the Underworld: The Amazing Adventures of Charlie Small, The Barbarous Brigands of Frostbite Pass, The Mummy’s Tomb, and The Forest of Skulls, the last which finds Charlie stranded in a huge forest overrun with a tribe of rapacious giant rats. To extricate himself from this latest challenge, the explorer helps a tribe of badgers defeat the rodent invaders and restore the natural order of the forest. “Boys of a certain sensibility will cotton to the humor” here, noted a Publishers Weekly critic, and a Kirkus Reviews writer noted that the boy “inserts plenty of quick sketches, maps and even the odd eyeball” into his journal “to prove that it’s all true.”
In the picture book Mortimer’s Picnic, Ward features rabbit Mortimer who is looking forward to a picnic with his friend Oggy. When Oggy gets sick, the plans for the picnic are called off. In an effort to help his friend feel better, Mortimer sets out to bring Oggy food, medicine, a book, and a card. The journey becomes perilous when a strong wind blows Mortimer into a river and a troll, a wolf, and a crocodile demand his food. Still hungry, the villains decide they want to eat Mortimer as well. A chase begins when Mortimer escapes, but Oggy, who has recovered from his illness, appears to save Mortimer in this tale of friendship. A writer in Kirkus Reveiws praised the story, calling the text “lively” and the illustrations “engaging.” “Fun and sweet. A real picnic,” concluded the same critic.
Ward contributes illustrations to Ben Jeapes’s Ada Lovelace, a title in the “First Names” nonfiction series. The book opens with Ada Lovelace’s kidnapping when she was a baby and then follows her life in chronological order. Jeapes traces Lovelace’s unconventional childhood in the Victorian era and her burgeoning interest in mathematics. After studying math and working with Charles Babbage, Jeapes showcases how Lovelace’s career laid the foundation for computer programming. Carolyn Phelan, writing in Booklist, took note of Ward’s illustrations and felt they complimented the text. “Ward’s strong, expressive line drawings clarify events and emotions, while helping young readers envision a different time, place, and society,” explained Phelan.
(open new2)In Mortimer’s Picnic, Oggy gets sick and has to cancel his picnic with friend Mortimer. Mortimer decides to have the picnic at Oggy’s house instead and bring some medicine as well. A storm forces him off course and then a crocodile, a wolf, and a troll take his food. When they decide to eat Mortimer as well, he runs. By the end of the story, Oggy is feeling better and taking care of Mortimer as he recovers. A Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked that “the text is lively, set in varying font sizes for dramatic effect, with pleasingly familiar European fairy-tale elements.”
With Gorilla City: The Lost Diary of Charlie Small, Charlie Small goes exploring with a bag full of useful tools. A storm forces him off his raft and into the jungle. While trying to find his way back home, he learns to talk to a gorilla to get help. Instead of getting home, though, he ends up on a desert island. In a review in School Librarian, Ellen Krajewski labelled it “a fast-paced, exciting and funny adventure punctuated with Charlie’s drawings and maps.”
Pirate Galleon: The Lost Diary of Charlie Small picks up where the previous book left off. A group of female pirates has taken Charlie hostage on the desert island. Charlie uses his wit and gains their trust and even helps save them from danger. In a review in School Librarian, Krajewski called it “a clever lesson in using transferable skills.” Krajewski found it to be “just as entertaining as Charlie’s first story.”(close new2)
Ward told SATA: “I loved books as a child and liked to draw and make up my own stories too, and this carried on into my young adult life at art college. There is really nothing else I wanted to do. I admire many writers and illustrators, particularly Maurice Sendak, Mervyn Peake, Edward Ardizzone, Robert Louis Stevenson, and C S Lewis, and they have all influenced my work in one way or another.
“I just hope my readers enjoy my work. They are mainly written to entertain and amuse and if they can raise a chuckle or two, I think they’ve done their job.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 15, 2001, Amy Brandt, review of Farmer George and the Hungry Guests, p. 1567.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, April 1, 2008, April Spisak, review of Gorilla City: The First Amazing, Astonishing, Incredible, and True Adventures of Me!, Charlie Small, p. 359; April 15, 2020, Carolyn Phelan, review of “First Names” series, p. 46.
Horn Book, November 1, 2013, Martha V. Parravano, review of Deck the Walls! A Wacky Christmas Carol, p. 62.
Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2001, review of Farmer George and the Snowstorm, p. 1764; April 1, 2006, review of Don’t Eat the Babysitter!, p. 359; December 15, 2007, review of Gorilla City; September 1, 2013, review of Deck the Walls!; January 1, 2022, review of Mortimer’s Picnic.
Publishers Weekly, January 3, 2000, review of Farmer George and the Lost Chick and Farmer George and the Field Mice, both p. 224; July 1, 2002, review of Don’t Eat the Teacher!, p. 77; November 29, 2004, review of Come on, Baby Duck!, p. 39; February 25, 2008, review of Gorilla City, p. 79; September 16, 2013, review of Deck the Walls!, p. 55.
School Librarian, June 22, 2009, Chris Brown, review of Baby Pie, p. 92; September 22, 2016, Mary Crawford, review of Superbot and the Terrible Toy Destroyer, p. 161; June 22, 2023, Ellen Krajewski, review of Gorilla City: The Lost Diary of Charlie Small and Pirate Galleon: The Lost Diary of Charlie Small, p. 61.
School Library Journal, November 1, 1983, Margo Showstack, review of Giant, p. 71; March 1, 1985, Betty Craig Campbell, review of Junk, p. 159; February 1, 1987, Ronald A. Van de Voorde, review of Ride the Black Horse, p. 86; February 1, 2000, Martha Topol, review of Farmer George and the Lost Chick, p. 105; September 1, 2001, Coop Renner, review of You Can’t Beat a Cheetah, p. 62; November 1, 2002, Be Astengo, review of Don’t Eat the Teacher!, p. 140; November 1, 2004, Jane Marino, review of Come on, Baby Duck!, p. 120; April 1, 2006, Linda M. Kenton, review of Don’t Eat the Babysitter!, p. 120; October 1, 2013, Maureen Wade, review of Deck the Walls!, p. 69.
Times Educational Supplement, March 16, 2007, Huw Thomas, review of Gorilla City, p. 45.
ONLINE
Nick Ward website, http://www.nickwardillustration.co.uk (August 18, 2024).
Parrot Street Book Club, https://www.parrotstreet.com/ (January 16, 2023), “Nick Ward on Will Jakeman’s Marvellous Mechanimals and His Favourite Chapter Books for Younger Readers.”
Plum Agency website, https://theplumagency.com/ (August 18, 2024), author profile.
Nick Ward
Writer And Illustrator
I was born above a tobacconist shop in the High Street of a small market town, and the atmosphere of that cosy, pungent place still influences me today, especially in my writing. I can remember corridors and stairs, deep cellars and hidden rooms and the spicy smell of snuff and pipe tobacco.
At the bottom of our garden was a brick built shed with a hidden door into my father’s darkroom where there were bottles and jars of strange liquids and multi-coloured marbles. What were they all for? It was all pulled down a long time ago, but I still visit it in my mind’s eye.
I’ve always loved books and book illustration, and after leaving school went on to study Graphic Design. By the time I finished the course, I’d had my first picture book accepted for publication and I’ve been producing picture and story books ever since.
I am married with two grown-up children, and live in a tiny village where I spend my time writing and drawing and painting away, from morning ’til night.
I was born above a tobacconist shop in the High Street of a small market town, and the atmosphere of that cosy, pungent place still influences me today, especially in my writing. I can remember corridors and stairs, deep cellars and hidden rooms and the spicy smell of snuff and pipe tobacco. At the bottom of our garden was a brick built shed with a hidden door into my father’s darkroom, a magical place where there were bottles and jars of strange liquids and multi-coloured marbles. It was all pulled down a long time ago, but I still visit it in my mind’s eye.
I’ve always loved books and book illustration, and by the time I finished studying Graphic Design, I’d had my first picture book accepted for publication. I’ve been producing picture and story books ever since.
As well as writing under my own name, I have also written the Charlie Small and Alfie Small adventure books.
Visit my website: www.nickwardillustration.co.uk
Nick Ward
Nick Ward’s first children’s book was accepted for publication whilst still at college, and published by Kestrel Books in 1979 soon after he had completed the course.
+ full bio
For the next few years he rented a studio with a colleague who was designing for the music industry. Here Nick worked on his second book, as well as providing illustrations for various record covers, for packaging, greetings cards, corporate identity and exhibitions.
After getting married, Nick continued to work as a freelance illustrator for various design agencies, but concentrated more and more on his own books. During this time he also worked as a visiting illustration tutor at Coventry University. Nick’s own books now take up all of his working time. He lives and works in the country, the studio he works from being an old, converted barn.
Represented by:becky@theplumagency.com
Nick Ward on Will Jakeman's Marvellous Mechanimals and his favourite chapter books for younger readers
JAN 16, 2023
Will Jakeman's Marvellous Mechanimals by Nick Ward. Book cover and author photo.
This month our Parakeet subscribers are travelling through space and time with the wildly inventive Will Jakeman's Marvellous Mechanimals. The book is packed with adventure, imagination and fantastically detailed illustrations, and is sure to inspire young readers to create their own marvellous mechanimals. It's perfect for younger and newly independent readers with lots of action and interactive graphic novel elements. Here author and illustrator Nick Ward tells us all about what inspired the book and his favourite chapter books for young readers.
What inspired you to write Will Jakeman's Marvellous Mechanimals?
Will Jakeman was a character in another series of mine, The Charlie Small Journals. They are all about a lost boy adventurer who has spent four hundred years trying to get home. Jakeman's Mechanimals help Charlie out of lots of dangerous situations, and I thought it would be fun to explore Will's childhood and give him some adventures of his own.
Which of Will's inventions is your favourite, and why?
I like all of Will's Mechanimals, but I think my favourite is the Steam-powered Rhinoceros. It was the first animal mechanical that I thought up and appeared in Charlie Small's first adventure, Gorilla City. Although the rhino is not very environmentally friendly, it is a brave and loyal Mechanimal and is super-strong. Jakeman is currently working on a Rhino with zero emissions!
What qualities do you think make a good inventor?
I think an inventor would need to have a very lively imagination combined with a love of the latest technology. They must be interested in the world around them and would want to make the world a better place for everyone to live in.
Where would you most like to go exploring and which Mecahnimal would you take with you?
I would like to go exploring in a deep dark forest or take a canoe along the Amazon river. I would take the Mechanimal Tiger with me through the jungle – it would be able to protect me from any wild beasts – and I would take the Powder-jet Swordfish with me along the Amazon. I could make a quick getaway on that if the need arose!
Can you tell us anything about what happens next to Will?
Will Jakeman discovers he has made a serious blunder in his efforts to try and find the location of his home planet. He tears a hole in the fabric of the universe and a boy falls through it and ends up in Will's strange world. There, they travel through space and encounter a gang of reptilian space pirates. Will they escape? There are lots more Mechanimals and lots of action and adventure in the second book in the series, Will Jakeman's Marvellous Mechanimals and the Space Pirates!
Why did you choose to write books for this age group?
Even at the age of ten, I was trying to write stories with illustrations and I guess I never gave up. I love writing for this age group as you can really let your imagination run wild. I love adventure stories, I love looking at book illustrations and I think this age group provides the best opportunity to do both.
Do you have a favourite place to write and illustrate?
At home, in my little workroom, where I am surrounded by familiar things. Books that I love, pictures that inspire me, and where everything I need is at hand.
Which chapter books for younger readers would you recommend our subscribers read next?
Am I allowed to say the Charlie Small books? I am so proud of this series – they are full of adventure and packed with maps, notes, and sketches. The first two in the series will be republished by Guppy Books in February 2023 with fantastic new covers, so do look out for them. I also love Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Yes, it's an old book but very exciting and is the best pirate book I know. The Narnia books are fantastic, and I used to love Enid Blyton's Adventure series when I was young, especially The Island Of Adventure.
Of more recent books I would urge you to read Maggie Blue and the Dark World by Anna Goodall and Tyger by S F Said.
Ward, Nick MORTIMER'S PICNIC Windmill Books (Children's None) $9.99 1, 15 ISBN: 978-1-4994-8969-9
Mortimer the rabbit sets out to help a friend in need but soon needs some help himself.
When his best pal, Oggy, falls sick, their picnic plans are dashed, so Mortimer decides to take the nosh he prepared to Oggy's house and show him some TLC. Armed with his picnic basket, medicine, a get-well-soon card, and a storybook, he sets off along a winding country lane, but trouble awaits. First, it begins to rain, and a strong wind hauls Mortimer away into a river. Then, a crocodile, a wolf, and a troll force him to surrender the yummy items in his picnic basket in exchange for safe passage. But the bullies aren't satisfied--they want to eat Mortimer too; so, when he flees, they give chase. All hope seems lost until a brilliant deus ex machina finds Mortimer saved just in the nick of time. Ultimately, it is Oggy--who is feeling quite better as the story closes--who ends up taking care of the cold and shivering Mortimer, because "that's what best friends are for!" The text is lively, set in varying font sizes for dramatic effect, with pleasingly familiar European fairy-tale elements. Young readers will be thrilled and surprised to discover the identity of Oggy. Ward's illustrations, rendered in watercolors with a pencil line, are engaging. All of the characters--even a bumblebee in the background on one page--sport spot-on facial expressions.
Fun and sweet. A real picnic. (Picture book. 3-5)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Ward, Nick: MORTIMER'S PICNIC." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A688199688/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=925ae951. Accessed 28 June 2024.
Ward, Nick
Gorilla City: The Lost Diary of Charlie Small
Guppy Books
023, pp.144, [pounds sterling]7.99
9781913101916
Adventure. Jungle. Humour
When Charlie Small goes out exploring, he does not expect to be gone beyond teatime. Equipped with his trusty rucksack of explorer's necessities - ball of string, water bottle, penknife, mint humbugs, notebook, scarf, pyjamas, telescope, wild animal collector's cards (you never know when you might need them!), glue stick, old railway ticket and, of course, a mobile phone - Charlie heads down the river on his raft. As a storm blows up, Charlie gets tossed and turned and ends up in the jungle. As he tries to find his way home, he encounters a myriad of strange creatures, learns to speak gorilla, gets in and out of several scrapes, and eventually finds himself catapulted on to a desert island - but that's the next adventure.
A fast-paced, exciting and funny adventure punctuated with Charlie's drawings and maps.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Krajewski, Ellen. "Ward, Nick Gorilla City: The Lost Diary of Charlie Small." School Librarian, vol. 71, no. 2, summer 2023, p. 61. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A766804640/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d821e9f2. Accessed 28 June 2024.
Ward, Nick
Pirate Galleon: The Lost Diary of Charlie Small
Guppy Books
2023, pp.192, [pounds sterling]7.99
9781913101923
Pirates. Adventure. Humour
We pick this story up where the last one ended and, having landed on a desert island, Charlie finds himself taken prisoner by a motley band of female pirates. Captain Cutthroat and her merry crew are the wives of pirates. They got fed up with their husbands being way and having all the fun, so they became pirates themselves. With cunning and guile, Charlie manages to win their trust, sort of, and rescues them from some daring scrapes using all the skills he acquired in his first adventure in the jungle. And all the while he is trying to find a way to escape.
Charlie's diary continues to be illustrated with his entertaining drawings of the pirates and his inventions.
A clever lesson in using transferable skills, this adventure is just as entertaining as Charlie's first story, and I suspect there are more laughs to come in the future.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Krajewski, Ellen. "Ward, Nick Pirate Galleon: The Lost Diary of Charlie Small." School Librarian, vol. 71, no. 2, summer 2023, p. 61. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A766804642/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=06ac45f7. Accessed 28 June 2024.