PENELOPE LIVELY was born in Cairo, Egypt, and spent her childhood there. When she was twelve she came to England and went to boarding school in Sussex, and then to St Anne’s College, Oxford, where she read Modern History. Penelope writes for adults and children, and in 1973 she won the Carnegie Medal for her children’s book The Ghost of Thomas Kempe and the Whitbread Award in 1976 for A Stitch in Time. Penelope is regarded as one of the most talented British authors and was awarded the OBE in 1989 and the CBE in 2002 for her outstanding services to literature.
Penelope is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and lives in London.
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It all started with a scarecrow …
Puffin is over seventy years old. Sounds ancient, doesn’t it? But Puffin has never been so lively. We’re always on the lookout for the next big idea, which is how it began all those years ago.
Penguin Books was a big idea from the mind of a man called Allen Lane, who in 1935 invented the quality paperback and changed the world. And from great Penguins, great Puffins grew, changing the face of children’s books forever.
The first four Puffin Picture Books were hatched in 1940 and the first Puffin story book featured a man with broomstick arms called Worzel Gummidge. In 1967 Kaye Webb, Puffin Editor, started the Puffin Club, promising to ‘make children into readers’. She kept that promise and over 200,000 children became devoted Puffineers through their quarterly instalments of Puffin Post.
Many years from now, we hope you’ll look back and remember Puffin with a smile. No matter what your age or what you’re into, there’s a Puffin for everyone. The possibilities are endless, but one thing is for sure: whether it’s a picture book or a paperback, a sticker book or a hardback, if it’s got that little Puffin on it – it’s bound to be good.
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To my mother
I know not how it may be with others
Who sit amid relics of householdry
That date from the days of their mothers’ mothers,