The Garden Gang
The Garden Gang was a series of books for children written by Jayne Fisher. They were published by Ladybird Books during the late 1970s and early 1980s as Series 413 and later re-issued as Series 793.[1] Fourteen story books were written, each containing two short stories about a group of characters who were fruit and vegetables living an almost human life, selling over 8 million copies . In addition to the fourteen story books, there were also three other books - an annual and two colouring books. Fisher's books were not dissimilar to the popular Munch Bunch series, also devised by a young girl, the fourteen-year-old Angela Mitson.
At the age of 9 years, Jayne was the youngest author to ever write for Ladybird Books.[2][3] Her writing and illustrating has been an inspiration to others.[4][5]
Books
There are fourteen story books:
- Penelope Strawberry and Roger Radish (1979)
- Percival Pea and Polly Pomegranate (1979)
- Oliver Onion and Tim Tomato (1979)
- Wee Willie Watermelon and Betty Beetroot (1979)
- Lucy Leek and Bertie Brussels Sprout (1979)
- Gertrude Gooseberry and Belinda Blackcurrant (1979)
- Colin Cucumber and Patrick Pear (1980)
- Peter Potato and Alice Apple (1980)
- Pam Parsnip and Lawrence Lemon (1980)
- Grace Grape and Robert Raspberry (1980)
- Sheila Shallot and Benny Broadbean (1980)
- Avril Apricot and Simon Swede (1980)
- Pedro Pepper and The Cherry Twins (1983)
- Oscar Orange and Augustus Aubergine (1983)
A larger and relatively hard-to-find story book (or annual):
- Meet The Garden Gang (1981)[6]
Two colouring books:
- The Garden Gang Have Fun (1979)
- The Garden Gang At Home (1979)
See also
References
- "The Garden Gang". Easy on the eye. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
- Collins, Maria C (2009-12-27). "Why age is not a barrier to writing". helium.com. Missing or empty
|url=
(help) - http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/public/ladybird_authors.php?id=965 Jayne Fisher biography and books at The Wee Web
- Koomson, Dorothy (2011-05-08). "Why I Write". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
- Lord, Damon (2009-01-17). "How Jayne "Garden Gang" Fisher was my inspiration to write". damonlord.net. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
- Meet the garden gang / by Jayne Fisher; additional material, based on Jayne Fisher's characters, created by Lynne Bradbury and Graham Marlow. National Library of Australia. 1981. ISBN 9780721475172. Retrieved 2012-06-29.