With everyone celebrating the 20th anniversary of beloved children’s book Guess How Much I Love You, now seemed a good time to pay tribute to it’s illustrator, Anita Jeram.
Growing up in Portsmouth, England, Jeram had an interest in illustration from a very young age. She would receive encouragement from her teachers and on concluding her schooling she went to Art College in Portsmouth. Sadly, not enjoying it as she hoped, Anita Jeram decided to leave and get a job. Even after working a variety of jobs, her artistic itch would not go away, so she enrolled for a degree course in illustration at Manchester Polytechnic.
Having a much better experience second-time around. After one of her tutors introduced her to people at Walker books, Jeram was signed up to write and illustrate her first picture book, even before she graduated. That book was Bill’s Belly Button, published in 1991. Over the course of her career, she has illustrated 20 children’s books, many of which she has written. Her Bibliography includes the aforementioned, best-seller and American Library Association Notable Children’s Book, Guess How Much I Love You (1994), Contrary Mary (1995), Bunny, My Honey (1999) and most recently, You’re All My Favourites (2004).
A great place to find more of Anita Jeram’s illustrations is over at the Illustration Cupboard.
