Raymond Briggs has changed the face of children's picture books, with his innovations of both form and subject. Stylistically versatile, he has illustrated some sixty books, twenty of them with his own text, and first became a household name in the late 1970s and early 1980s with a handful of books - Father Christmas, Fungus the Bogeyman, The Snowman, When the Wind Blows - that were entertaining and subversive and appealed to both children and adults. The refrains of his work are class, family, love and loss. Nevertheless, his default mode of expression is humour. Briggs is always funny, and the balance between this and melancholy is his defining characteristic, though his style ranges from the romantic to the grotesque, from the fanciful to the direct. Encompassing sixty years of Raymond Briggs's work, from political picturebooks to children's classics, this study explores his themes of class, family and loss, and how he demonstrates both emotional power and great technical skill.

An overview of the life and work of much-loved children's illustrator and author Judith Kerr, creator of classics such as The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and Mog. A thoughtful and intimate portrait, this book is not only a celebration of Judith Kerr's classic work, but a record of the hard work, development and serious intent behind it. Referencing Kerr's biographical novels, Joanna Carey introduces us to the illustrator as she goes about her daily life, showing us into her studio, exploring her materials, her relationship with her publisher and editors, and her reflections over the years. Drawing on a great range of previously unpublished visual material, we see behind the scenes of Kerr's unforgettable creations.

While almost everybody knows Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline, the fact that the illustrator published over forty other titles remains a well-kept secret. The first title in Thames & Hudson's brand-new series, this book offers a visually rich insight into the life and work of this important artist and writer. Ludwig Bemelmans grew up under the Austro-Hungarian empire and emigrated to the United States in his late teens, just escaping the outbreak of the First World War. His illustrations for the Madeline books offer a classic vision of Paris that has created a lasting impression on millions of readers. And every illustrator would love to know how he conveyed all the emotions of a spirited little girl drawn with just a few lines and dots; how did he achieve such clarity in simplicity? Laurie Britton Newell's illustrated essay gathers material from Bemelmans' diverse oeuvre, from novels, autobiographical stories, humorous articles and comic strips to murals and menus for hotels and restaurants. The book makes accessible this mesmerizing material, which is otherwise lost to the public, and connects it to the artist's intriguing life. An icon of a fascinating era, Bemelmans through his magical work gives us glimpses of a life that embodied both hard work and glamour, in Paris and New York.