Babette Cole


Babette Cole was an English children's writer and illustrator.

Life and career

Cole was born on Jersey in the Channel Islands. She attended the Canterbury College of Art and received first-class BA Honours. She worked on such children's programmes as Bagpuss and Jackanory for BBC television.
As a children's writer, Cole created more than 150 picture books. Her best-seller Doctor Dog has been adapted as a successful children's cartoon series. Much of her work is earthy comedy, having titles like The Smelly Book, The Hairy Book, The Slimy Book and The Silly Book.
She spent her time writing, visiting schools and travelling. After a short illness she died on 15 January 2017, aged 66.

Awards

Cole won the Kurt Maschler Award, or the Emil, for Drop Dead, which she wrote and illustrated. The former award from Maschler Publications and Booktrust annually recognised one British "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other."
She was one of several commended runners-up for the Kate Greenaway Medal, the annual Library Association award for illustration in British children's books, for both Princess Smartypants and Prince Cinders.
Cole won many other awards for her books: