- Comedy
- Picture Books
- Ages 3–7
The shape of it
The shape of this universe.
Emily Gravett is the Kate Greenaway Medal-winning author-illustrator behind some of the most inventive British picture books of the last twenty years. The books are often quietly meta: a mouse paging through a book of fears (Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears), a young animal demanding 'AGAIN!' until the page itself catches fire (Again!), a meerkat sending postcards from his unsuitable cousins' houses (Meerkat Mail). Her drawing is precise and naturalistic, pencil and watercolour, not flat shapes, and the format-play (flaps, postcards, holes, faux-vintage pages) is integral to how the stories work. Pitched 3–7, often funny, occasionally a little melancholy, and very re-readable.
Inventive, design-led picture books that work for thinking 3–7s and the adults reading along, Gravett is one of the form's true craftspeople.
Primary themes
Tone palette
- Funny
- Warm
- Whimsical
- Gentle
Cultural footprint
A shelf of evidence.
What Emily Gravett has done
- Major award winner
- Bestseller
Cultural ubiquity
4/ 5Widely-known cultural fixture — just below household-name status.
Sensitivity
Low, and collection-wide.
Across the collection
All 10 books.
About the creator