British author Allan Ahlberg, who published more than 150 children’s books including “The Jolly Postman” and “Each Peach Pear Plum,” died Tuesday, according to his publisher. He was 87.
Penguin Random House did not give a cause of death.
Many of Ahlberg’s most beloved works were collaborations with his wife Janet, an award-winning illustrator.
After his wife died in 1994, Ahlberg worked with illustrators such as Raymond Briggs and Bruce Ingram. He later worked with his daughter Jessica on books like “Half a Pig” and a pop-up set of anarchic variations on the tale of Goldilocks.
Fellow children’s author Michael Rosen called Ahlberg a “pioneer of great children’s literature.”
In a tribute on X, he wrote: “You were a pioneer of great children’s literature, both in picture books and poetry.
“You were clever, funny and wise. My children loved your books. So did and so do I.”
Goodbye Allan. You were a pioneer of great children's literature, both in picture books and poetry. You were clever, funny and wise. My children loved your books. So did and so DO I.https://t.co/FSQJnp0vJw
— Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 (@MichaelRosenYes) July 31, 2025
Ahlberg was born in Croydon, England, on June 5, 1938, and worked as a postman, plumber and gravedigger before training to become a teacher at Sunderland Teacher Training College. That is where he met Janet.
Janet asked him to write a children’s story for her to illustrate. He later called the 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.
That was followed by “The Old Joke Book,” “Burglar Bill” and “Each Peach Pear Plum” (1978). Janet was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustrators in 1978 for “Each Peach.”
“The Jolly Postman,” published in 1991, won the Kurt Maschler Award and has sold more than 6 million copies.
The second book in the series published later that year, “The Jolly Christmas Postman,” won a second Kate Greenaway Medal.
Here at the Children’s Bookshop we’re reminiscing about our most cherished Ahlberg books after the sad news about Allan passing away.
— Children's Bookshop (@childrensbkshop) August 1, 2025
Sanchita loves Funny Bones, Steven loves Cops and Robbers, and Meena loves Each Peach, Pear, Plum.
What are your favourites? pic.twitter.com/lXAZj0h1Nr
The second book in the series published later that year, “The Jolly Christmas Postman,” won a second Kate Greenaway Medal.
After Janet’s death, Ahlberg sought out a new publisher and met editor Vanessa Clarke, whom he later married.
Ahlberg’s 1986 book “Woof!” which centered around a little boy who turns into a dog, inspired a television series that ran from 1989 to 1997 in the United Kingdom.
Ahlberg also wrote books of jokes, including “The Ha Ha Bonk Book,” and poetry for young children that included “Please Mrs. Butler” and “Heard it in the Playground.”
“Just because a book is tiny and its readers are little doesn’t mean it can’t be perfect,” Ahlberg told The Guardian in 2006. “On its own scale, it can be as good as Tolstoy or Jane Austen.”
Ahlberg made headlines in 2014 when he turned down a lifetime achievement award after learning that it was sponsored by Amazon, which was facing criticism over its tax arrangements at the time.
“Could Booktrust not have found a more moral sponsor?” he wrote. “The idea that my ‘lifetime achievement’ should have the Amazon tag attached to it is unacceptable.”
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