Butterworth, Christine 1945–

(Chris Butterworth)

PERSONAL:

Born August 6, 1945, in Essex, England; married John Butterworth; children: two. Education: University of Lancaster, B.A., 1967; University of London, Postgraduate Certificate of Education, 1968, M.A., 1978. Hobbies and other interests: Painting, writing, gardening, reading.

ADDRESSES:

Home— London, England.

CAREER:

Writer. Freelance writer and children's book writer. Also worked as a teacher and university lecturer.

MEMBER:

London Society of Authors.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Gryphon Honor Book, Center for Children's Books, 2007, for Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea; John Burroughs Award, John Burroughs Association, 2007, for Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea.

WRITINGS:

What Can I Hear?, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1988.

What Can I Taste?, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1988.

Beaver's Home, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Bees and Their Hive, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Inside an Ant's Nest, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Inside a Beehive, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Swallows' Summer, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Swallows' Nest, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Fruit, Award (Nottinghamshire, England), 1993.

Vegetables, Award (Nottinghamshire, England), 1993.

Beans, Award (Nottinghamshire, England), 1993.

Bread, Award (Nottinghamshire, England), 1993.

Special Clothes, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1994.

Hiccups and Burps, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1994.

What's Cooking?, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1995.

Zoom: Set E, The Five Foxes, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1997.

Football, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1997.

Basketball, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1997.

Firefighters, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1998.

Rats, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1998.

Life under the Sea, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1998.

Theme Parks, Ginn (Oxford, England), 1999.

Disaster!, Heinemann (Oxford, England), 2000.

Dreams, Nelson (Walton-on-Thames, England), 2000.

Fairs Then and Now, Nelson (Walton-on-Thames, England), 2000.

What Are Walls For?, Nelson (Walton-on-Thames, England), 2000.

Young Heroes and Heroines, Nelson (Walton-on-Thames, England), 2000.

A History of the Flu, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2001.

Bridges and Tunnels, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2001.

Shackleton the Survivor, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2001.

Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea, illustrated by John Lawrence, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

"MY WORLD" SERIES

Rabbit's Day, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Beaver's Day, Nelson (Walton-on-Thames, England), 1988.

Working Horses, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Baby Rabbits, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Red Squirrel, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

My Pony, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

My Hamster, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

My Goldfish, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

My Dog, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

My Cat, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

My Canary, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Guinea Pigs, Gerbils, and Dormice, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Grey Squirrel, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

The Cat Family, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Unusual Fish, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

Unusual Birds, Macmillan Education (Basingstoke, England), 1988.

(With Donna Bailey)Cats, illustrated by Gill Tomblin, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

Ants, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

Beavers, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

Bees, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

(With Donna Bailey)Birds, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

(With Donna Bailey)Hamsters, illustrated by Gill Tomblin, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

(With Donna Bailey)Dogs, illustrated by Gill Tomblin, Silver Burdett (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

(With Donna Bailey)Fish, illustrated by Gill Tomblin, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

Rabbits, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

(With Donna Bailey)Horses, illustrated by John Canning, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

Squirrels, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

Swallows, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Silver Burdett Press (Morristown, NJ), 1988.

Working Dogs, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1990.

"ANIMAL WORLD" SERIES

(With Donna Bailey)Eagles, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1990.

(With Donna Bailey)Butterflies, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1990.

(With Donna Bailey)Frogs, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1990.

(With Donna Bailey)Snakes, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1990.

(With Donna Bailey)Kangaroos, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1990.

(With Donna Bailey)Bears, illustrated by Paula Chasty, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1990.

(With Donna Bailey)Alligators, Steck-Vaughn Library (Austin, TX), 1991.

(With Donna Bailey)Chimpanzees, Steck-Vaughn Library (Austin, TX), 1991.

(With Donna Bailey)Crabs, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1991.

(With Donna Bailey)Foxes, Steck-Vaughn Library (Austin, TX), 1991.

(With Donna Bailey)Owls, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1991.

(With Donna Bailey)Deer, Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1991.

SIDELIGHTS:

Christine Butterworth is a writer of children's books. Born in 1945 in Essex, England, she attended the University of Lancaster and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and philosophy in 1967. The following year she received a Postgraduate Certificate of Education from the University of London. Ten years later she returned to the University of London and earned a Master of Arts degree in 1978. She spent nearly twenty years teaching at the primary and university levels.

In 1988 she began writing children's fiction and nonfiction books, usually writing several books each year. Butterworth wrote books that helped teach kids about their senses, such as What Can I Hear? and What Can I Taste? She wrote about the workings of animal habitats in Inside an Ant's Nest and other books. She wrote about food and body functions in other books, including Beans, Bread, and Hiccups and Burps. In the "My World" series, Butterworth wrote about domestic animals in books, such as Unusual Fish, Hamsters, and My Cat. In a second series, called "Animal World," she wrote about animals she thought kids should know about, including Butterflies, Frogs, Chimpanzees, and Owls.

In 2006 Butterworth published Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea. Illustrated by John Lawrence,Sea Horse, which won the John Burroughs Award and was named a Gryphon Honor Book in 2007, tells the life of the sea horse across thirty-two pages and is geared towards four-to-eight-year-olds. Butterworth discusses its unusual shape and appearance and what it can do to change its look. She also discusses the mating dance and the unique role of the male in carrying the eggs in a specialized pouch until they hatch. Reviews for the book were mostly positive. Larissa McKay, writing on Eclectic Home School Online, noted that Sea Horse "goes further than just answering the obvious questions though; it keeps walking right on into elementary science book territory." Reviewing the book in School Library Journal, Janet S. Thompson stated: "thoroughly engaging, this is a brilliant marriage of art and science." A contributor to Publishers Weekly remarked that "the layout can sometimes feel a bit busy … but the pages brim with information." The same reviewer concluded that "this compact book is sure to fascinate." Booklist contributor Jennifer Mattson found the book full of "stunning pictures and engaging words" and "capped by useful endnotes." Danielle J. Ford, writing in Horn Book Magazine, agreed that "text and illustrations work together to accurately portray the graceful appeal of the … sea horses." While writing in the New York Times Book Review, David Small praised the combination of science and fun illustrations, commenting that "as a mostly right-brained child, I would have loved to encounter as much science as possible this way."

Christine Butterworth once commented: "I've written since I was a child but only wrote professionally once I'd had my own children. I write about anything I'm interested in, and writing a book is a way of learning more and of trying to persuade the reader to feel as I do about the topic. My books might—in a very general way—be categorized as being about the environment, and try to reach out to make the reader appreciate the richness and variety of what's about us (and which needs looking after)."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklinks, September, 2006, Jennifer Mattson, review of Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea, p. 6.

Booklist, April 15, 2006, Jennifer Mattson, review of Sea Horse, p. 46.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October, 2006, Elizabeth Bush, review of Sea Horse, p. 61.

Horn Book Magazine, July 1, 2006, Danielle J. Ford, review of Sea Horse, p. 460.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2006, review of Sea Horse, p. 402.

Language Arts, January, 2007, Patricia E. Bandre, review of Sea Horse, p. 294.

New York Times Book Review, November 12, 2006, David Small, review of Sea Horse, p. 26.

Publishers Weekly, May 8, 2006, review of Sea Horse, p. 65.

School Librarian, spring, 2000, review of Theme Parks.

School Library Journal, April, 1989, Carol Kolb Phillips, review of Dogs, p. 94; April, 1989, Carol Kolb Phillips, review of Fish, p. 94; April, 1989, Carol Kolb Phillips, review of Hamsters, p. 94; August, 1990, Karey Wehner, review of Eagles, p. 136; August, 1990, Karey Wehner, review of Frogs, p. 136; August, 1990, Karey Wehner, review of Kangaroos, p. 136; September, 1990, J.J. Votapka, review of Bears, p. 213; September, 1990, J.J. Votapka, review of Butterflies, p. 213; September, 1990, J.J. Votapka, review of Snakes, p. 213; June, 2006, Janet S. Thompson, review of Sea Horse, p. 134; October, 2006, review of Sea Horse, p. 30.

Times Educational Supplement, February 24, 1989, Suzanne Hewitt, review of What Can I Hear?, p. 14; February 24, 1989, Suzanne Hewitt, review of What Can I Taste?, p. 14.

ONLINE

Eclectic Home School Online,http://www.eclectichomeschool.org/ (November 28, 2007), Larissa McKay, review of Sea Horse.

Word Pool,http://www.wordpool.co.uk/ (November 28, 2007), author interview.