Mini Grey
Mini Grey was given her name after being born in a mini in a car park in South Wales. After taking a foundation Course in Fine Art, she studied for an English degree at UCL, afterwards working as a theatre designer, then a primary teacher, before studying for an MA in sequential design at Brighton University.
Mini's first picture book for children, Egg Drop, a surreal story of an egg that dreams of being able to fly, was published in 2002. It established her as both a visually exciting illustrator of detailed, colourful artwork and a highly accomplished storyteller, who often narrates from an unusual point of view, such as that of the pea in The Pea and the Princess (2003) (shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway illustration award); the biscuit in Biscuit Bear (2004) - winner of the Nestlé Smarties Gold Prize (under 5s category) - and the spoon in The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (2006).
Books
Biscuit Bear
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Random House
Interest age: 4+
Reading age: 6+
In a baking session with his mum, Horace makes Biscuit Bear, but he has to wait until the following day to eat him.
Egg Drop
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Red Fox
Interest age: 4+
Reading age: 6+
Egg has attitude! A burning ambition to fly and a refusal to accept that it can't. But it is very young and knows next to nothing.
Space Dog
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Interest age: 5+
Reading age: 7
Visually and graphically inventive, packed with tongue-in-cheek humour and witty details, this comic-style picture book delights in subverting the conventions of epic space adventure!
The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Random House
Reading age: 5+
We all know that the dish ran away with the spoon but Mini Grey's new book explores what happened to the nursery rhyme characters next.
The Greatest Show on Earth: The 4.6 Billion Year Story of Life on our Planet
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Puffin
Interest age: 6-8
Reading age: 6-8
Rod the Roach and his troupe of cockroach performers (what better animals to tell the story than the insects known to be the best at surviving?) are about to perform the Greatest Show on Earth from their Shoebox Theatre in the middle of a rubbish dump – and it’s a pretty great show.
The Last Wolf
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Interest age: 4-7
Reading age: 6+
The Last Wolf ranks alongside Mini Grey’s other picture book masterpieces, with all her trademark rich, characterful illustration, quirky humour and perfect pacing. The story has an environmental message but is in no way preachy or boring.
The Pea and the Princess
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Random House
Interest age: 4+
Reading age: 7+
This is the real story of the princess and the pea, which recounts events from the Pea’s perspective.
Three by the Sea
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Red Fox Picture Books
Interest age: 3+
Reading age: 6+
Dog, Cat and Mouse are perfectly happy until a stranger arrives and begins to suggest to each that the others are boring and lazy, resulting in a dreadful row between the friends.
Toys in Space
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Interest age: 3+
Reading age: 6+
The toys have been left outside in the garden one summer night. To help to pass the time till morning, Wonderdoll begins to tell a story about the arrival of a mysterious alien spaceship...
Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Jonothan Cape
Interest age: 5+
Reading age: 7+
The saga of Traction Man reach the beach with the latest in Grey’s series about a small boy’s imaginings of the adventures of the toy who has an outfit (and an answer) for everything
Traction Man is Here
Author: Mini Grey
Publisher: Random House
Interest age: 4+
Reading age: 5+
Transformed in an instant from combat cool to sartorial nightmare, can Traction Man ever be a superhero again?