Alfie Outdoors

Alfie gets out and about in the garden with Dad, in this glorious book about growing, playing and sharing. Seeds are planted; the carrots are going to be a gift for a special friend of Alfie's. But there are suprises in store...Shirley Hughes is the creator of the bestselling, best-loved, Dogger.

Alfie Outdoors is another classic and should be an immediate addition to every child's library, Wonderful - a brand new Alfie book! Alfie is such an engaging character and he has captivated millions of children - and their parents - since his first appearance. Alfie loves to be out in the garden and now his Dad suggests they grow vegetables - to Alfie's surprise, they don't come straight from packs in the supermarket! Digging turns out to be great fun, with some unexpected surprises, but plants are quite slow to grow... As ever, a quite charming story with the added benefit of showing children the excitement of growing vegetables - and a very special goat to eat the produce! Alfie's Year in the Garden is an enchanting two page spread which gives lots to discuss about the changing seasons and the fun of being outdoors, A really gorgeous celebration of what children love about the outside world: getting muddy, making dens, playing and growing., Wonderfully well-written and filled with Shirley’s distinctive drawings, it’s another title to add to your expanding Alfie collection.

Shirley was born in West Kirby, near Liverpool, and studied fashion and dress design at Liverpool Art School, before continuing her studies at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. She then embarked on a career as a freelance illustrator in London, where she still lives today. She illustrated other writers' work, including Noel Streatfeild, Alison Uttley, Ian Seraillier, Margaret Mahy and notably Dorothy Edwards's My Naughty Little Sister series.Shirley began to write and draw her own picture books when her children were young. Her first book - Lucy and Tom's Day - was published in 1960, and she followed it with, among others, Dogger and the Alfie series.Shirley Hughes has won the Other Award, the Eleanor Farjeon Award, and the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration twice, for Dogger in 1977 and for Ella's Big Chance in 2003. In 2007 Dogger was voted the public's favourite Greenaway winner of all time. Shirley received an OBE in 1999 for services to Children's Literature, and a CBE in 2017. She is the first recipient of Booktrust's Lifetime Achievement Award.