Allan Ahlberg is one of the UK’s most acclaimed and successful authors of children’s books – including the best-selling Jolly Postman series. Born in Croydon in 1938, he was educated at Sunderland Technical College. Although he dreamed of becoming a writer from the age of twelve, his route to that goal was somewhat circuitous. Other jobs along the way included postman (not an especially jolly one, he recalls), gravedigger, plumber, and teacher.
Ahlberg wrote his first book when he was thirty-seven, after a decade of teaching – a profession that he maintains is “much harder” than being a writer. He says that if he hadn’t become a writer, he would have loved to be a soccer player. He was married for many years to fellow children’s author Janet Ahlberg, with whom he often worked. Their daughter, Jessica Ahlberg, is also a children’s author.
Books in order of publication:
Written by Allan Ahlberg
Most of these books were illustrated by other people, except My Brother’s Ghost.
| Mr. Cosmo the Conjurer | (1980) |
| Please Mrs. Butler | (1983) |
| Woof! | (1986) |
| The Cinderella Show | (1986) |
| Heard it in the Playground | (1989) |
| The Giant Baby | (1994) |
| The Better Brown Stories | (1995) |
| The Night Train | (1996) |
| Janet’s Last Book | (1997) |
| The Snail House | (2000) |
| Friendly Matches | (2001) |
| My Brother’s Ghost | (2001) |
| The Man Who Wore All His Clothes | (2001) |
| The Adventures of Bert | (2001), illustrated by Raymond Briggs |
| The Woman who Won Things | (2002) |
| The Improbable Cat | (2002) |
| A Bit More Bert | (2002), illustrated by Raymond Briggs |
| Half a Pig | (2004), illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg |
| The Boy, the Wolf, the Sheep and the Lettuce: | (2004) |
| A Little Search for Truth??? | (2004), illus. Jessica Ahlberg |
| The Runaway Dinner | (2006) |
| The Boyhood of Burglar Bill | (2007) — autobiographical post-war football story |
| Previously | (2007) |
| The Pencil | (2008) |
| The Baby in the Hat | (2008) |
| Everybody Was a Baby Once and Other Poems | (2010) |
| Goldilocks Variations | (2012), illus. Jessica Ahlberg |
| Hooray for Bread | 2014 |
| Under the Table | 2024 |
By Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Brick Street Boys (Collins, 1975) — five volumes[1]
The Old Joke Book (Kestrel, 1976) board book
Burglar Bill (Heinemann, 1977) board book
Jeremiah in the Dark Woods (Kestrel, 1977) board book
The Vanishment of Thomas Tull (Black, 1977) — with dust jacket
Cops and Robbers (Heinemann, 1978)
Each Peach Pear Plum’ (Kestrel, 1978)
The One and Only Two Heads (Collins, 1979)
Son of a Gun (Heinemann, 1979)
The Little Worm Book (Granada, 1979)
Two Wheels Two Heads (Collins, 1979)
Funnybones (Heinemann, 1980)
A Pair of Sinners (Granada, 1980)
Happy Families (Puffin, 1980)
Peepo! (also released as Peek-A-Boo! in a US version) (Kestrel, 1981)
The Ha Ha Bonk Book (Kestrel, 1982)
Help Your Child to Read (Granada, 1982)
The Baby’s Catalogue (Kestrel, 1982)[c]
Ditto Frieze (1982)
Ten in a Bed (Granada, 1983)
Please Mrs Butler (Kestrel, 1983)
Daisy Chains (Heinemann, 1983)
Yum Yum (Viking, 1984)
Playmates (Viking, 1984)
Foldaways (Viking, 1984)
Red Nose Readers (Walker, 1985)
Woof (Viking, 1986)
The Cinderella Show (Viking, 1986)
The Jolly Postman (Heinemann, 1986)
The Clothes Horse and Other Stories (Viking, 1987)
The Mighty Slide (Viking, 1988)
Starting School (Viking, 1988)
Heard it in the Playground (Viking, 1989)
Bye Bye Baby (Heinemann, 1989)
Funny Bones Early Readers (Heinemann, 1990)
The Jolly Christmas Postman (Heinemann, 1991)
The Bear Nobody Wanted (Viking, 1992)
Mrs. Butler Songbook (Viking, 1992)
It was a dark and stormy night (Viking, 1993)
The Giant Baby (Viking, 1994)
The Jolly Pocket Postman (1995)
The Baby’s Catalogue series, American Board Book editions, copyright 1982[c]
Baby Sleeps (1998)
Blue Buggy (1998)
Doll and Teddy (1998)
See the Rabbit (1998)
Oak Lawn Library Friends 