Sally Gardner

Not to be confused with Sallie Gardner.

Sally Gardner is an English children's writer and illustrator. She won both the Costa Children's Book Award and the Carnegie Medal for Maggot Moon (Hot Key Books, 2012).[1][2][3]

Life

Sally Gardner is the daughter of two lawyers, raised in Birmingham. She has severe dyslexia, diagnosed at 12[2] and didn't learn to read until she was 14. But she did very well in art college and then in drama college, and worked as a theatre set designer before turning to illustration and writing. She lives in London.

Writer

Her first book as a writer was published by Orion Books in 1993: The Little Nut Tree, a children's picture book that she also illustrated.[2][4] Her first full-length novel[2] was a breakthrough, as I, Coriander won the Smarties Prize in 2005 (reader category 9–11 years). It is set in Cromwellian London and tells the story of Coriander, the unhappy daughter of a silk merchant.

The Red Necklace: A story of the French Revolution and its sequel The Silver Blade are set primarily in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, also in contemporary London. They feature an aristocratic girl and a gypsy boy who are 12 and 14 years old when the story opens. The boy Yann has been trained to assist a stage magician but has or develops genuine magic powers; a starred review (unusually good) by the American service Kirkus labels even The Red Necklace fantasy.[5][6]

The Double Shadow is historical fantasy that opens in 1937 Britain.[7] Tinder (2013) is a historical novel set during the Thirty Years War.[8]

Maggot Moon (2012) won the Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, which annually recognises the best new book for children or young adults published in the UK.[2][9] The alternate history is set in 1950s England during the space race, under the thumb of the so-called Motherland.[10] Kirkus says the unnamed "Motherland's distinguishing features scream “Nazi Germany”" and suggests that we "call it Auschwitz lite". Its reviewer judged that the book must fail between younger and older readers: on the one hand, "short chapters and simple vocabulary and syntax ... oversimplified characters, a feeble setting and inauthentic science"; on the other hand, brutal content.[11] Three months later it was recommended for ages 11+ by the panel of British librarians that named it to the Carnegie Medal shortlist with the comment: "A stunning book with an underdog hero, Maggot Moon offers a powerful depiction of an utterly convincing and frightening dystopia. With clever plotting, conspiracy theory and a truly original concept at the heart of it, this is a real tour de force without a hint of sentimentality."[12]

Books

As writer and illustrator

  • The Little Nut Tree (Orion Books, 1993)
  • My Little Princess (1994)
  • A Book of Princesses (Orion, 1997) – classic fairy tales retold dagger
  • The Strongest Girl in the World (1999) double-dagger
  • The Fairy Catalogue: everything you need to make a fairy tale (2000)
  • The Smallest Girl Ever (2000) double-dagger
  • The Boy Who Could Fly (2001) double-dagger
  • The Glass Heart: a tale of three princesses (2001)
  • Mama, Don't Go Out Tonight (2002)
  • The Invisible Boy (2002) double-dagger
  • Boolar's Big Day Out (2003)
  • Fairy Shopping (2003)
  • The Boy with the Magic Numbers (2003)
  • The Countess's Calamity (2003)
  • A Hoof in the Door (2005)
  • The Boy with the Lightning Feet (2006)

(dagger) Five classic fairy tales retold and illustrated by Gardner in A Book of Princesses (1997) were reissued by Orion in 2011, singly, as the Magical Princesses series: Cinderella; The Frog Prince; The Princess and the Pea; Sleeping Beauty; Snow White.[13]

(double-dagger) The Magical Children series, originally published by Dolphin Paperbacks, comprises "stories about ordinary children who suddenly develop magical powers". OCLC 69020874

As writer only

  • I, Coriander (2005)
  • Lucy Willow (2006)
  • The Red Necklace: A Story of the French Revolution (2007)
  • The Silver Blade (2008)
  • The Double Shadow (2011)
  • Maggot Moon (2012), illus. Julian Crouch
  • Tinder (2013), illus. David Roberts
  • Operation Bunny: the fairy detective agency's first case (2012) ^
  • Three Pickled Herrings (2012) ^
  • The Vanishing of Billy Buckle (2013) ^
  • The Matchbox Mysteries (2014) ^

(^) Wings & Co: The Fairy Detective Agency series of novels by Gardner, illustrated by Roberts and published by Orion.

As illustrator only

  • Robert and the Giant (Hamish Hamilton, 1990), by Marjorie Newman
  • Suzi, Sam, George & Alice (1993), Beverley Birch
  • Playtime Rhymes (1995)
  • Gynormous!: The Ultimate Book of Giants (1996), Adrian Mitchell
  • Hello? Is Anybody There? (1997), Jostein Gaarder, 144 pp. – orig. Hallo? Er det noen her? (Norwegian), 1996 OCLC 222263518
  • The Real Fairy Storybook (1998), Georgie Adams
  • Polly's Running Away Book (2000), Frances Thomas
  • Polly's Absolutely Worst Birthday Ever (2001), Thomas
  • Polly's Really Secret Diary (2002), Thomas

Awards and nominations

References

  1. 1 2 "Hilary Mantel wins 2012 Costa novel prize". BBC News. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (Carnegie Winner 2013). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  3. 1 2 Alison Flood (19 June 2013). "Carnegie medal winner Sally Gardner attacks Gove". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
  4. ↑ "The little nut tree". WorldCat. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  5. ↑ OCLC 181368668. OCLC 311783665.
  6. ↑ "THE RED NECKLACE by Sally Gardner". Kirkus Reviews. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  7. ↑ OCLC 751735207.
  8. ↑ Viv Groskop (14 December 2013). "Sally Gardner interview: 'Poor young men in Britain are still cannon fodder for the army' ". The Observer. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  9. 1 2 "Press Desk: 'Unteachable' author and emerging illustrator enter children's books hall of fame". Press release 19 June 2013, with press kit. CILIP. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  10. ↑ "Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner". GailC's blog. 28 February 2014. Alachua County Library District (aclib.us). Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  11. ↑ "MAGGOT MOON by Sally Gardner". Kirkus Reviews. 15 December 2012. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  12. ↑ "2013 Awards: Carnegie shortlisted books". CILIP. 2014-07-02.
  13. ↑ 'Magical Princesses gardner' (search report). WorldCat. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  14. 1 2 Nestlé Children's Book Prize. Booktrust. Archived 8 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ Michelle Pauli (3 December 2003). "Debut wins Smartie gold medal". theguardian.com. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  16. ↑ Michelle Pauli (14 December 2005). "Dyslexic writer savours Nestle victory". theguardian.com. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  17. ↑ British Book Awards.
  18. ↑ "'Oscars' for children's books". The Northern Echo. 2 March 2007. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
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