THE WELSH Books Council have announced Rob Lewis, from Nantmel near Rhayader, as the winner of a 2011 English Award for children’s books.
His picture book Three Little Sheep – a twist on the three little pigs story – won the Tir na n-Og English Award which recognises books for children and young people with a Welsh background.
The award was presented at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CLIP) annual conference at Llandrindod Wells on Thursday, May 12.
The book, published by Gomer Press’s Pont Books, was described by judges as an outstanding example of its type.
Rob Lewis is the author and illustrator of nearly 40 books and won the prize previously in 2003 for Cold Jac. He is best known for best-seller Tidy up, Trevor.
“I was absolutely delighted and honoured to have won this major award for the second time,” he said, “Three Little Sheep was a joy to write and illustrate and I hope that readers of all ages will be entertained by this tale of a well-intentioned wolf and three unsuspecting sheep!”
The story turns the three little pigs on its head, as a singing Wolf chases three sheep across fields, woods, rivers and rocks only to turn out to be friendly – at which point they all sit down and have tea. It was inspired by a shaggy dog story told by his father, where a gorilla chases someone through piranha and crocodile infested swamps, only to reach down touch the bloodied, terrified man and say “you’re it”.
“It went on and on and was more gory but I wanted to turn it into a picture book and had to get rid of gory stuff,” said Rob.
Rob lives on a seven-acre smallholding in Nantmel, after moving back to Wales in 1990. Born in London, he spent his early years in Dolgellau. He is about to start on a major project for the Wales Millennium Centre involving seven schools across Wales.
Elwyn Jones, director of the Welsh Books Council, said: “There was a wealth of books to be considered for this year's Tir na n-Og Award, reflecting the quality and range of books for children. It is with great pleasure that we warmly congratulate the author and the publisher on their achievement.”
“It’s sad that books are seen as something for education rather than enjoyment,” said Rob, “If you get children’s enthusiasm going through stories that’s bound to affect the quality of their reading and writing.”
He said it was good to see recognition for picture books of this type: “The heyday for picture books was the 1990s and there are fewer being produced now,” he said,
“Publishers, particularly in England, think picture books are for babies, but I know from my work in schools that young people up to Year Six and beyond still enjoy picture books.”