The children’s writer Allan Ahlberg, who has died aged 87, could turn his hand to most genres, including fiction, poetry, picture books, fairy tales and comic-strip humour. He was the author of more than 150 books, including the hugely popular Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman.
Ahlberg had been working as a primary teacher for 10 years when his wife, Janet, an artist, asked him to write a children’s story for her to illustrate. Later he described that moment as feeling as if he were a clockwork toy and “she had turned the key”. Their first book together, Here Are the Brick Street Boys, was published in 1975, and the Ahlbergs went on to become one of the most successful writer/illustrator partnerships in children’s literature.
