Nick Sharratt (1962-) Biography

Born 1962, in London, England; Education: Saint Martin's School of Art (London, England), B.A. (with honors), 1984.

Agent—c/o Candlewick Press, 2067 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140.

Children's book illustrator and author.

Under Fives Book Prize (3-5 nonfiction category), SHE/W.H. Smith, 1995, for Ketchup on Your Cornflakes?; Sheffield Children's Book Award, 1997, for A Cheese and Tomato Spider; Gold Winner, Best First Book, Parents magazine, for Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; Best Children's Book selection, Independent, 2001, for Vicky Angel.

FOR CHILDREN; SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Look What I Found!, Walker (London, England), 1991, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1992.

Monday Run-Day, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1992.

The Green Queen, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1992.

I Look Like This, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1992.

Snazzy Aunties, Walker (London, England), 1993, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

Don't Put Your Finger in the Jelly, Nelly!, Andre Deutsch (London, England), 1993, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1997.

Mrs. Pirate, Walker (London, England), Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

My Mum and Dad Make Me Laugh, Walker (London, England), 1994, published as My Mom and Dad Make Me Laugh, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

Caveman Dave, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

The Pointy-Hatted Princesses, Walker (London, England), 1994, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

I Went to the Zoopermarket, Scholastic (London, England), 1995.

Rocket Countdown, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

Stack-a-Plane (board book), Levinson, 1996.

A Cheese and Tomato Spider, Scholastic (London, England), 1996, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 1998.

The Animal Orchestra, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1997.

(With Stephen Tucker) My Day, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1997.

(With Stephen Tucker) My Games, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1997.

Come and Play!, Levinson, 1997.

Ketchup on Your Cornflakes?: A Wacky Mix-and-Match Book, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1997.

What Do I Look Like?, Walker (London, England), 1998.

(With Stephen Tucker) The Time It Took Tom, Scholastic (London, England), 1998.

The Best Pop-Up Magic Book . . . Ever!, Orchard (London, England), 1998.

Dinosaurs' Day Out, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

(With Stephen Tucker) My Days Out, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1999.

Croc with a Clock, Campbell (London, England), 1999.

Bear with a Pear, Campbell (London, England), 1999.

A Giraffe in a Scarf, Campbell (London, England), 1999.

Kangaroo in a Canoe, Campbell (London, England), 1999.

Turning Points, Hodder (London, England), 1999.

(With Stephen Tucker) My Friends, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1999.

(With Stephen Tucker) My Colours, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2000.

Buzz Buzz, Bumble Kitty, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 2000.

Split Ends, Phyllis Fogelman Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Mouse Moves House, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2000.

(Reteller, with Stephen Tucker) Cinderella, Macmillan (London, England), 2001.

(Reteller, with Stephen Tucker) Three Little Pigs, Macmillan (London, England), 2001.

(Reteller, with Stephen Tucker) Jack and the Beanstalk, Macmillan (London, England), 2002.

(Reteller, with Stephen Tucker) Little Red Riding Hood, Macmillan (London, England), 2002.

Once Upon a Time, Walker (London, England), Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Shark in the Park, David Fickling Books (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Sue Heap) Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly, Puffin (London, England), 2003.

Pirate Pete, Walker (London, England), 2003, published as Ahoy, Pirate Pete, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

(Reteller, with Stephen Tucker) The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Macmillan (London, England), 2004.

(Reteller, with Stephen Tucker) Goldilocks, Macmillan (London, England), 2004.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS; ILLUSTRATOR

Louis Fidge, Learning to Spell 4, Parent and Child Programme, 1987.

Carol Watson, If You Were a Hamster, Dinosaur, 1988.

Jill Bennett, compiler, Noisy Poems, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1989.

Jerome Fletcher, A Gerbil in the Hoover, Doubleday (London, England), 1989.

Rosemary Stones, Where Babies Come From, Dinosaur, 1989.

Ruth Merrtens, Adding and Subtracting, Parent and Child Programme, 1989.

Gina Fost, Robots Go Shopping, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1990.

Jill Bennett, compiler, People Poems, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1990.

Jill Bennett, compiler, Machine Poems, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1991.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Story of Tracy Beaker, Doubleday (London, England), 1991, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2001.

Jill Bennett, compiler, Tasty Poems, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1992, (New York, NY), 1998.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Suitcase Kid, Doubleday (London, England), 1992.

Tat Small, My First Sticker Diary, Scholastic (London, England), 1993.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Mum-Minder, Doubleday (London, England), 1993.

Elizabeth Hawkins, The Lollipop Witch, Orchard (London, England), 1994.

Valerie Bierman, editor, Snake on the Bus and Other Pet Stories, Methuen (London, England), 1994.

Judy Hindley, Crazy ABC, Walker (London, England), 1994, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

Judy Hindley, Isn't It Time?, Walker (London, England), 1994, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

Judy Hindley, Little and Big, Walker (London, England), 1994.

Judy Hindley, One by One, Walker (London, England), 1994, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

Vince Cross, compiler, Sing a Song of Sixpence, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1994.

Roy Apps, How to Handle Your Mum, Hippo (London, England), 1994.

Jeremy Strong, My Dad's Got an Alligator, Viking (London, England), 1994.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Bed and Breakfast Star, Doubleday (London, England), 1994, published as Elsa, Star of the Shelter, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1996.

Jacqueline Wilson, Cliffhanger, Doubleday (London, England), 1995.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Dinosaur's Packed Lunch, Doubleday (London, England), 1995.

(With Sue Heap) Jacqueline Wilson, Double Act, Doubleday (London, England), 1995.

Roy Apps, How to Handle Your Gran, Hippo (London, England), 1995.

Jill Bennett, compiler, Playtime Poems, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1995.

Thomas Rockwell, How to Eat Fried Worms, Orchard (London, England), 1995.

Jeremy Strong, The Indoor Pirates, Dutton (London, England), 1995.

David Kitchen, Never Play Leapfrog with a Unicorn, Heinemann (London, England), 1995.

Gillian Cross, The Crazy Shoe Shuffle, Methuen Children's Books (London, England), 1995.

Jeremy Strong, There's a Pharaoh in Our Bath!, Dutton (London, England), 1995.

Jon Blake, Danger Eyes, Mammoth (London, England), 1995.

(With Sue Heap) Jacqueline Wilson, Double Act, Doubleday (London, England), 1995, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1998.

Roy Apps, How to Handle Your Dad, Hippo (London, England), 1996.

Jacqueline Wilson, Bad Girls, Doubleday (London, England), 1996, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2001.

Elizabeth Lindsay, Hello Nellie and the Dragon, Hippo (London, England), 1996.

Jeremy Strong, The Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Dog, Viking (London, England), 1996.

Thomas Rockwell, How to Get Fabulously Rich, Orchard (London, England), 1997.

Jacqueline Wilson, Girls in Love, Doubleday (London, England), 1997.

Jeremy Strong, My Granny's Great Escape, Viking (London, England), 1997.

Gina Willner-Pardo, Spider Storch's Teacher Torture, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1997.

Gina Willner-Pardo, Spider Storch's Carpool Catastrophe, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1997.

Emma Laybourn, Robopop, Yearling (London, England), 1997.

Gaby Goldsack, Flower Power, Hippo (London, England), 1997.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Lottie Project, Doubleday (London, England), 1997, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1999.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Monster Story-Teller, Doubleday (London, England), 1997.

Jeremy Strong, Giant Jim and the Hurricane, Viking (London, England), 1997.

Jeremy Strong, The Indoor Pirates on Treasure Island, Puffin (London, England), 1998.

Gillian Clements, Calligraphy Frenzy, Hippo (London, England), 1998.

Briane Morese, Horse in the House, Mammoth (London, England), 1998.

Anita Naik, Is This Love, Hodder (London, England), 1998.

Jill Bennett, compiler, Seaside Poems, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Jacqueline Wilson, Girls under Pressure, Doubleday (London, England), 1998.

Pat Moon, Little Dad, Mammoth (London, England), 1998.

Gina Willner-Pardo, Spider Storch's Fumbled Field Trip, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1998.

Gina Willner-Pardo, Spider Storch's Music Mess, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1998.

Tony Meeuwissen, Remarkable Animals: 1000 Amazing Amalgamations, Orchard (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Sue Heap) Jacqueline Wilson, Buried Alive!, Doubleday (London, England), 1998.

Roy Apps, How to Handle Your Brother/Sister, Hippo (London, England), 1998.

Geraldine Taylor and Gillian Harker, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Ladybird (London, England), 1998.

Jacqueline Wilson, reteller, Rapunzel, Scholastic (London, England), 1998.

Jill Bennett, compiler, Christmas Poems, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England, and New York, NY), 1999.

Jeremy Strong, Dinosaur Pox, Puffin (London, England), 1999.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Illustrated Mum, Doubleday (London, England), 1999.

Jacqueline Wilson, Girls Out Late, Doubleday (London, England), 1999.

Kaye Umansky, Tickle My Nose and Other Action Rhymes, Puffin (London, England), 1999.

Gina Willner-Pardo, Spider Storch's Desperate Deal, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1999.

Chris d'Lacey, Bubble and Float, Hippo (London, England), 1999.

Roy Apps, How to Handle Your Teacher, Hippo (London, England), 1999.

Kes Gray, Eat Your Peas, Dorling Kindersley Publishing (New York, NY), 2000.

Kathy Tucker, Do Knights Take Naps?, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2000.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Dare Game, Doubleday (London, England), 2000.

Roy Apps, How to Handle Your Friends/Enemies, Hippo (London, England), 2000.

Jeremy Strong, I'm Telling You, They're Aliens!, Puffin (London, England), 2000.

Jacqueline Wilson, Vicky Angel, Doubleday (London, England), 2000, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2001.

Irene Yates, My First Picture Dictionary, Collins (London, England), 2001.

Roy Apps, How to Handle Your Cat/Dog, Hippo (London, England), 2001.

Christine Mabileau and Irene Yates, My First French Picture Dictionary, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 2001.

Christine Mabileau and Irene Yates, My First Spanish Picture Dictionary, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 2001.

Gina Willner-Pardo, Spider Storch, Rotten Runner, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2001.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Cat Mummy, Doubleday (London, England), 2001.

Jacqueline Wilson, Sleepovers, Doubleday (London, England), 2001.

Jacqueline Wilson, Dustbin Baby, Doubleday (London, England), 2001.

Jeremy Strong, Krazy Kow Saves the World—Well, Almost, Puffin (London, England), 2002.

Jeremy Strong, The Monster Muggs, Puffin (London, England), 2002.

Jeremy Strong, The Shocking Adventures of Lightning Lucy, Puffin (London, England), 2002.

Jacqueline Wilson, The Worry Website, Doubleday (London, England), 2002.

Kaye Umansky, Wiggle My Toes, Puffin (London, England), 2002.

Kes Gray, Really, Really, Bodley Head (London, England), 2002.

Jeremy Strong, The Beak Speaks, Puffin (London, England), 2003.

Giles Andreae, Pants, David Fickling Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Pippa Goodhart, You Choose!, Doubleday (London, England), 2003.

Julia Donaldson, Conjurer Cow, Puffin (London, England), 2003.

Thomas Rockwell, How to Fight a Girl, Orchard (New York, NY), 2003.

Kes Gray, You Do!, Bodley Head (London, England), 2003.

Jacqueline Wilson, Lola Rose, Doubleday (London, England), 2003.

Kes Gray, Yuk!, Bodley Head (London, England), 2004.

Julia Donaldson, Wriggle and Roar!: Rhymes to Join in With, Macmillan (London, England), 2004.

English author and illustrator Nick Sharratt is known for his child-appealing early-reader books. Sometimes his texts teach numbers, counting, or colors, but usually they are just plain fun for children who are learning to read, note critics. Sharratt generally illustrates his work in bold, bright colors to portray situations from the everyday to the adventurous. In Look What I Found!, for example, a little girl goes to the beach with her family and discovers fascinating objects along the shore, while in Rocket Countdown, readers learn about numbers while getting ready for a moon trip. Sharratt also uses humor in some of his books to keep young readers entertained. Monday Run-Day depicts funny scenes, such as dogs dressed in ties for Friday's tie day; and in Snazzy Aunties, a little boy's aunts wear or carry bizarre accessories.

My Mum and Dad Make Me Laugh, published in the United States as My Mom and Dad Make Me Laugh, is about a boy who has very odd parents. Father always wears clothes with stripes, while Mother always wears outfits with spots. Simon, however, prefers clothes that are gray. When the family goes on a safari, Father likes the animals that have stripes, such as the zebra, and Mother likes spotted creatures, including the leopards. Simon's favorite, though, is the elephant, and this explains why he always dresses in gray. My Mom and Dad Make Me Laugh drew praise from reviewers who enjoyed both Sharratt's narrative and illustrative techniques. School Library Journal contributor Marianne Saccardi lauded the "pleasant, rhythmic quality" of the author's writing, as well as the "cartoon-style crayon drawings perfectly suit[ed to] the child narrator's tone." Carolyn Phelan, writing in Booklist, especially liked the illustrations, calling them "bold and sassy and full of spotty-stripy detail."

Graphic design also comes into play in books such as Ketchup on Your Cornflakes? Here, Sharratt uses a Dutch-door technique that lets children combine pictures in funny ways. Sharratt's text can be split up as well, so that equally inappropriate combinations can created: "Do you like ice cream in your bathtub?" or "Do you like toothpaste on your head?" "Useful as toy, game, and concept book, this seems likely to provoke endless giggles and riffs on the theme," declared Deborah Stevenson in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. Sharratt uses the same Dutch-door technique in A Cheese and Tomato Spider to combine people, animals, and various kinds of food.

Another book sure to provoke giggles from the pre-school set is Pants, a book that is one long jingle about underpants. And not just any underpants, but underpants that are "bigger, bolder and more ridiculous than any in real life," Julia Eccleshare declared in the Guardian. There are "giant frilly pig pants," "cheeky little monkey pants," even pants meant to be donned by camel humps. Sharratt's illustrations of Giles Andreae's text "reinforce the sense of fun with a series of gleeful, boldly outlined images in an electric palette," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

In Shark in the Park, Sharratt once again combines "bright, cheerful, clean-lined illustrations and bouncy, repetitive text" to create an "enjoyable" easy reader, in the words of Booklist contributor Todd Morning. A little boy named Timothy has just received a new telescope, and now he is testing it out in the park. He keeps thinking that he sees a shark in the duck pond, and indeed, through a hole cut in the page, the reader can see what appears to be a shark's fin. But upon turning the page, the object in view is always shown to be something else: a cat's ear, a crow's wing, his father's black hair. The final spread reveals the truth—there really is a shark in the duck pond—but Timothy does not see it. Sharratt's carefully engineered illustrations combine with his text to make the point that one should beware of drawing hasty conclusions. "This crafty interactive picture book is one hundred percent bliss and very toothsome indeed," Lyn Gardner declared in the Guardian.

Sharratt has also become known to older audiences as the illustrator of Jacqueline Wilson's massively popular books for middle-graders and young adults. Wilson's stories tackle challenging topics, including death, mental illness, abandonment by one's parents, and the formation of blended families, although often with a light tone. Sharratt's cartoon-like illustrations are a good compliment for Wilson's style, reviewers have generally remarked. For example, Sharratt's drawings for The Lottie Project and The Story of Tracy Beaker, both of which are told partially through journals kept by their pre-teen protagonists, "match the book's informal tone and help lighten some of the more serious moments," as Kitty Flynn wrote in a Horn Book review of the first title, while a Publishers Weekly critic said of The Story of Tracy Beaker, "Sharratt's drawings help to keep the mood light."

Sharratt once told SATA, "I've been making pictures for as long as I can remember, and I was nine when I decided I was going to be an illustrator by profession. As a child, I always wanted the same things for birthdays and Christmas: a bumper pack of felt-tip pens and lots of drawing paper, and I liked nothing better than to spend all day in my room, drawing, eating sweets, and listening to the radio. Nothing's changed—except that nowadays I use other media besides felt tips. A complete workaholic, I find it very hard to have weekends off, and I invariably sneak ongoing projects into my suitcase when I'm supposed to be taking a holiday. That's what happens when you really love your work!"