Augarde, Steve 1950–

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Augarde, Steve 1950–

(Steven Andre Augarde)

PERSONAL: Born October 3, 1950, in Birmingham, England; son of Eric Claude (a builder and interior decorator) and Grace Olive (Eveson) Augarde; married; children: two daughters. Education: Attended Yeovil School of Art, Somerset College of Art, and Rolle Teacher Training College.

ADDRESSES: Home—Great Britain. Agent—c/o Author Mail, David Fickling Books, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. E-mail—gaugarde@onetel.com.

CAREER: Author and illustrator. Worked as an illustrator for many large advertising agencies; animator for the animated television series Bump, British Broadcasting Corporation. Semi-professional musician, playing in jazz group and providing music for two British Broadcasting Corporation series; qualified teacher. Worked as a gardener for the National Trust at Montacute House, England; has also worked as a telemarketer and motorcycle dispatch rider.

WRITINGS:

SELF-ILLUSTRATED; FOR CHILDREN

A Lazy Day, Fabbri & Partners (London, England), 1974.

The River that Disappeared, Fabbri & Partners (London, England), 1974.

The Willow Tree, Fabbri & Partners (London, England), 1974.

Pig, Deutsch (London, England), 1975, Bradbury Press (Scarsdale, NY), 1977.

Barnaby Shrew Goes to Sea, Deutsch (London, England), 1978.

Barnaby Shrew, Black Dan, and the Mighty Wedgwood, Deutsch (London, England), 1979.

Mr. Mick, Deutsch (London, England), 1980.

January Jo and Friends, Deutsch (London, England), 1981.

(With Elinor Bagenal) Tractor Factory: A Pop-Up Book, Golden Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Tractor Trouble: A Pop-Up Book, Lodestar Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Five Speckled Frogs: And Other Counting Rhymes, Cartwheel Books (New York, NY), 1997.

The Hokey Pokey: And Other Party Rhymes, Cartwheel Books (New York, NY), 1997.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider: And Other Hand Rhymes, Cartwheel Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat: And Other Play Rhymes, Cartwheel Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Fire Engine to the Rescue: A Pop-Up Book, Tupelo Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Here Comes the Lifeboat!, Orion Children's (London, England), 1999.

When I Grow Up, Madcap (London, England), 1999, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 2000.

Vroom! Vroom!: A Pop-Up Race to the Finish!, David & Charles Children's (London, England), 2000, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2001.

Big Nose, Small Nose: A Book of Opposites, Mathew Price (Sherborne, England), 2001.

Garage, Charlesbridge Publishing (Watertown, MA), 2002.

We're Going on an Airplane!, Handprint/Ragged Bears (England), 2003.

The New York Yellow Bulldozer, Handprint/Ragged Bears (England), 2003.

"SILLY MONSTERS" SERIES; FOR CHILDREN; AND ILLUSTRATOR

Purple Eyes, Gingham Dog (Grand Rapids, MI), 2004.

Big Nose, Small Nose, Gingham Dog (Grand Rapids, MI), 2004.

Hello, Moon, Gingham Dog (Grand Rapids, MI), 2004.

One Paper Hat, Gingham Dog (Grand Rapids, MI), 2004.

ILLUSTRATOR:

Bill Gillham, Septimus Fry F.R.S.; or, How Mrs. Fry Had the Baby in the World, Deutsch (London, England), 1980.

Eric Charles, Bertha and the Windmills, pictures based on the original television designs by Ivor Wood, Deutsch (London, England), 1985.

Eric Charles, Bertha and the Great Painting Job, pictures based on the original television designs by Ivor Wood, Deutsch (London, England), 1985.

Eric Charles, Bertha and a Mouse in the Works, pictures based on the original television designs by Ivor Wood, Deutsch (London, England), 1986.

Eric Charles, Bertha and the Best Machine Competition, pictures based on the original television designs by Ivor Wood, Deutsch (London, England), 1986.

Eric Charles, Bertha and the Lost Tom, pictures based on the original television designs by Ivor Wood, Deutsch (London, England), 1986.

Eric Charles, Bertha and the Flying Bear, pictures based on the original television designs by Ivor Wood, Deutsch (London, England), 1986.

Bertha Annual, Polystyle Publications Ltd. (London, England), 1986.

This Is Bump, Kingsborn Ltd. (London, England), 1987.

Bump Goes to the Seaside, Kingsborn Ltd. (London, England), 1987.

Mathew Price, Little Red Car Gets into Trouble, Abbeville Press (New York, NY), 2000.

(And paper engineer) Mathew Price, Little Red Car Has an Accident, Abbeville Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Mathew Price, Little Red Car in the Snow, Abbeville Press (New York, NY), 2000.

(And paper engineer) Mathew Price, Little Red Car Plays Taxi, Abbeville Press (New York, NY), 2000.

PAPER ENGINEER

Juan Wijngaard, Buzz! Buzz!, Lodestar Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Humpty Dumpty, illustrated by Moira Kemp, designed by Herman Lelie, Lodestar Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Mathew Price, Don't Worry, Alfie, illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Mathew Price, Where's Alfie?, illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Mathew Price, Patch Finds a Friend, illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 2000.

OTHER

Rosie Goes to Playschool (juvenile fiction), illustrated by Atsuko Morozummi, Mathew Price (Sherborne, England), 2003.

The Various (juvenile fiction), David Fickling Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Also author of Celandine; illustrator of weekly "Bertha" comic strip, Kingsborn Ltd.; illustrator of biweekly "Jack in a Box" comic strip, I.P.C. Ltd.

SIDELIGHTS: Primarily an illustrator of children's books, Steve Augarde has also worked as a paper engineer for a number of children's pop-up books, and he has written the text for his own self-illustrated works. He took a bronze in the 2003 Nestle Smartie Book Prizes for The Various. The book is one of the few novels Augarde has written for older children and the first in a trilogy. In the School Library Journal, Sue Giffard called the novel an "inventive and unusual fantasy,"

The story of The Various focuses on twelve-year-old Midge, the daughter of a classical musician mother who has been left with her uncle Brian while her mother is touring. Brian owns a farm near a forest, and Midge soon discovers that magical fairies are living in an empty barn. Midge's uncle is planning to sell the forest land to a developer, greatly upsetting the many types of fairies who live there and call themselves "the various." Midge is drawn into the world of the various, their complex, human-like society, and caste system. The child attempts to prevent the forest's sale to help her new friends. "The author ably balances moments of drama with large doses of humor," a critic for Publishers Weekly commented.

Augarde once told CA: "Behind the list of book titles, of course, there are real lives going on. At least there ought to be. I would be suspicious of anyone who spent the major part of their time in front of a typewriter or behind a drawing board. Not much going on there."

"Between 1981 and 1986 I had nothing published. This was because I was too busy—too busy having a hard time, in fact. In 1980 I had a brilliant idea and invented the electric pop-up book. To come up with a good invention in England, is, of course, to make a big mistake. In terms of progress, you may as well go rock-carving with your teeth. Still, I enlisted the help of an engineer friend, Richard Bendall, and together we made several working dummies of the book, first of all with batteries in the spine and later progressing to self-contained electronic modules mounted between the pages. We not only had pop-ups but lights and sound to accompany the pictures. We showed the dummy books to publishers who fell about with delight, shook our hands, called us geniuses, and gave us dinner. Well, at least we got the dinner."

"To give the publishers their due, they did try. But always the same reply. Too expensive. Can't be done. I still think that had we been in America, things would have been different. It is notoriously difficult in England to get a new idea funded and off the ground. Time and again we seemed to be about to break through. The tension, build up, and frustration cycle went round and round for five years. Gradually it became clear that the project would just not happen. The idea was being diluted—musical greeting cards began to appear in Japan. The impact was lost and the impetus gone."

"Disenchanted with publishing, I worked instead as a musician, playing in pubs and clubs and for a while with a theatre group. Got a job as a motorcycle dispatch rider, worked in telesales. Nearly went into selling double glazing, couldn't face it, drifted down."

"Five years on, very broke, very pissed off, I was offered the 'Bertha' books to illustrate. From January 1985 I stopped being a sunken businessman, climbed back on to the drawing board and became a floating illustrator once more. That's where the list of titles begins again."

"For anyone who reads these Contemporary Authors books—ignore the number of titles against the author's name. Look for the gaps. That's where something's happening."