Celebrated children’s author Allan Ahlberg has died aged 87, his publisher Penguin Random House has confirmed.
He wrote 150 books over a career which spanned more than five decades, including The Jolly Postman, Funny Bones, Peepo! and the award-winning Each Peach Pear Plum.
Many of his most well-known works were the result of collaborations with wife Janet, an award-winning illustrator. They went on to sell millions of copies around the world.
Fellow children’s author Michael Rosen described Ahlberg as a “pioneer of great children’s literature”.
In a tribute on X, he said: “You were a pioneer of great children’s literature, both in picture books and poetry.
“You were clever, funny and wise. My children loved your books. So did and so do I.”
Francesca Dow, head of children’s literature at Penguin Random House, said: “Allan was one of the most extraordinary authors I have had the privilege and pleasure to work with.
“His brilliant books – so many of them created with his late wife, Janet, the highly talented illustrator – have been described as ‘mini masterpieces’.
“Allan’s are some of the very best – true classics, which will be loved by children and families for years to come. Dear Allan, we will all miss you enormously.”
Ahlberg is survived by his wife Vanessa, daughter Jessica and stepdaughters Saskia and Johanna.
Born in Croydon in 1938, he was brought up by his adoptive parents in Oldbury, and worked as a postman, plumber and gravedigger before training to become a teacher at Sunderland Teacher Training College, where he met his first wife Janet.
In 1975, the Ahlbergs published their first book together, Here are the Brick Street Boys.
That was swiftly followed by The Old Joke Book, Burglar Bill and Each Peach Pear Plum, for which Janet was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustrators in 1978.
The Jolly Postman, which was published in 1991, won the Kurt Maschler Award and has sold over six million copies.
The second in the series, The Jolly Christmas Postman (1991), won a second Kate Greenaway Medal.
His book Woof!, about a little boy who turns into a dog, inspired a TV series which ran on former ITV between 1989 and 1997.
He made headlines in 2014 when he turned down a lifetime achievement award after discovering it was sponsored by Amazon, which was facing criticism over its tax arrangements at the time.