Cousins, Lucy 1964–

Personal

Born 1964, in England; married; children: four children. Education: Degrees from Canterbury Art College, Brighton Polytechnic, and Royal College of Art.

Addresses

Home—Hampshire, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Walker Books, 87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ, England.

Career

Author and illustrator.

Awards, Honors

Ragazzi prize, 1997, for Maisy's House; National Art Illustration Award high commendation, 1997, for Za Za's Baby Brother; Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, 2002, for Jazzy in the Jungle.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Portly's Hat, Dutton (New York, NY), 1989.

(Adapter) The Little Dog Laughed, Macmillan (London, England), 1989, Dutton (New York, NY), 1990, published as Lucy Cousins' Big Book of Nursery Rhymes, Macmillan (London, England), 1998.

(Adapter) Humpty Dumpty and Other Nursery Rhymes, Dutton (New York, NY), 1989.

(Adapter) Jack and Jill and Other Nursery Rhymes, Dut-ton (New York, NY), 1989.

Country Animals, Walker (London, England), 1990, Tambourine Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Farm Animals, Walker (London, England), 1990, Tambourine Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Garden Animals, Walker (London, England), 1990, Tambourine Books (New York, NY), 19 91.

Pet Animals, Walker (London, England), 1990, Tambourine Books (New York, NY), 1991.

What Can Rabbit Hear?, Walker (London, England), 1991, published as What Can Pinky Hear?, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1997.

What Can Rabbit See?, Walker (London, England), 1991, published as What Can Pinky See?, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1997.

(Reteller) Noah's Ark, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1993.

My Toys, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

Za-Za's Baby Brother, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

Katy Cat and Beaky Boo, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

Katy Cat and Beaky Boo's Play Set, paper engineering by Lisa Boggiss and Rene Jablow, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1997.

(Adapter) Little Miss Muffett and Other Nursery Rhymes, Dutton (New York, NY), 1997.

(Adapter) Wee Willie Winkie and Other Nursery Rhymes, Dutton (New York, NY), 1997.

Jazzy in the Jungle, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Hooray for Fish!, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

Also author of Lucy Cousins' Nursery Rhyme Sticker Book.

"MAISY" BOOKS; SELF ILLUSTRATED

Maisy Goes Swimming, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

Maisy Goes to Bed, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

Maisy Goes to School, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1992.

Maisy Goes to the Playground, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1992.

Maisy's ABC, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

Maisy's Pop-up Playhouse, paper engineering by Bruce Reifel, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

Maisy's House: A Pop-up and Play Book, Walker Books (London, England), 1995.

Count with Maisy, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1997.

Maisy's Colors, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1997.

Happy Birthday, Maisy, paper engineering by Lisa Boggiss, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

Maisy at the Farm, paper engineering by Lisa Boggiss, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

Maisy's Bedtime, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Maisy's Day (sticker book), Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Maisy's Mix-and-Match Mousewear, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Maisy's Pool, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Where Is Maisy's, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Where Is Maisy's Panda?, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Dress Maisy (sticker book), Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Maisy Dresses Up, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Maisy Makes Gingerbread, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

Maisy Drives the Bus, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2000.

Maisy Takes a Bath, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2000.

Merry Christmas, Maisy, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2000.

Maisy's Favorite Animals, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy's Favorite Clothes, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy's Favorite Things, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy's Favorite Toys, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy's Garden Sticker Book, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy's Morning on the Farm, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Doctor Maisy, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy at the Beach (sticker book), Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy at the Fair, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy Drives, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy Goes Shopping, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy Plays, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy's Big Flap Book, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy's Farm: A Pop-up and Play Set, paper engineering by Claire Jones, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Maisy Cleans Up, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Maisy Makes Lemonade, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Maisy's Fire Engine, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Maisy's First Clock, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Maisy's Seasons, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Maisy's Train, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Maisy's Noisy Day, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Go, Maisy, Go!, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Maisy Likes Dancing, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Maisy Loves You, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Maisy's Best Friends, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Maisy's Easter Egg Hunt (sticker book), Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Maisy's Rainbow Dress, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Maisy's Snowy Christmas Eve, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

What Are You Doing, Maisy?, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Where Are You Going, Maisy?, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

How Will You Get There, Maisy?, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Is This Maisy's House?, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Maisy Goes Camping, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Maisy Likes Music, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Maisy's Christmas Sticker Book, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Maisy's Halloween, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Maisy's Pirate Treasure Hunt, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Maisy's Twinkly, Crinkly Counting Book, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Smile, Maisy!, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Squeak, Squeak, Maisy!: Squeak Me!, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

1, 2, 3, Maisy, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Ha Ha, Maisy!, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

Maisy Goes to the Library, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

Maisy's Color Collection, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

Maisy's Traffic Jam, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

More Fun with Maisy!, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

Sweet Dreams, Maisy, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

With Love from Maisy, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

Maisy, Charley, and the Wobbly Tooth, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

Maisy's First Game Book, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

Maisy's Wonderful Weather Book, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

Happy Easter, Maisy!, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

Maisy's Amazing Word Book, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 2007.

Cousins' books have been translated into Afrikaans, French, and German.

Adaptations

The "Maisy" series was adapted as a television series, produced for Noggin network.

Sidelights

British author and illustrator Lucy Cousins is best known for creating the mouse character Maisy, featured in a multitude of books as well as in a television series. The bewhiskered character was born while Cousins was honing her illustrations skills in hopes of building a career in the children's-book field. She entered a competition for art students that was sponsored by Macmillan U.K. and when she placed second, Portly's Hat, her art school graduation project, was published. The win "gave me so much encouragement and it made it easier after college to approach publishers," Cousins later told Claudia Logan in an interview for Publishers Weekly. "I think it would have been much slower going without the competition."

Cousins followed Portly's Hat with several collections of nursery rhymes, each accompanied by her unique art style. The Little Dog Laughed was one of these; it has more recently been republished as Lucy Cousins' Big Book of Nursery Rhymes. The collection features forty of the illustrator's favorite poems accompanied by "amazing and vibrant art," according to Susan Fonseca in Canadian Review of Materials. "The art work is very bold," Fonseca continued, "using solid colors with definite black outlines." According to Booklist contributor Lauren Peterson, the collection contains "something familiar and something new in the same sitting."

In 1990, Cousins's most well-known character, Maisy, first appeared on the picture-book scene, taking center stage in Maisy Goes Swimming and Maisy Goes to Bed. A cheerful young mouse, Maisy has gone on to star in dozens of picture books, board books, pop-ups, and pull-the-flap books. According to Gillian Engberg in a review of Maisy's Rainbow Dream for Booklist, Maisy has "legions of small fans." From the "beguiling twist on the alphabet-book genre" in Maisy's ABC, according to a Publishers Weekly contributor, to "a simple and effective counting book," as Lauren Adams described Count with Maisy in Horn Book, the little mouse educates as well as entertains legions of young fans. "Maisy makes preschool concepts fresh as a daisy," wrote a contributor to Publishers Weekly in a review of Maisy's Colors.

Beyond concept books, the "Maisy" books often provide an entertaining story about friendship. Maisy's Morning on the Farm finds the "lovable pink-whiskered mouse," as she was called by a Kirkus Reviews contributor, doing morning chores and greeting each of the animals on a farm. Where Are Maisy's Friends? presents an interactive game of hide and seek in which young readers can lift flaps to discover where Maisy and her friends have gone. Olga R. Barnes deemed the book "perfect for babies and toddlers" in her School Library Journal review, while Sweet Dreams, Maisy! was considered "a sweet evening serenade for toddlers" by a Kirkus Reviews contributor. In Maisy Drives a Bus, the character once again reveals "a charming personality with plenty of sparkle," according to Susan Marie Pi-tard of School Library Journal.

Along with her "Maisy" books, Cousins has published several standalone titles, among them Jazzy in the Jungle, which won the Smarties Book Prize, and Hooray for Fish! In the latter, Little Fish explores the ocean and greets an array of friends. Bina Williams, reviewing Horray for Fish! for School Library Journal, considered the "appealing oversize book … a swimming good time," while a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "Cousins's exuberant illustrations bring new meaning to the old saying, 'plenty of fish in the sea.'"

Discussing her inspirations, Cousins explained to Logan that her own daughter began "reviewing" her mother's books at the age of seven months. Recalling the reception of some of her cloth books, Cousins told Logan: "She looked at it and chewed it and did all the right things." Cousins' own children have continued to inspire

[Image not available for copyright reasons]

[Image not available for copyright reasons]

her career; as she wrote on the Candlewick Press Web site, she can "create better books and stories now that I have the insight into children's minds that all parents have. It's like having a market research team in my own home!"

Describing the process that results in each of her many books for children, Cousins noted on the Walker Books Web site: "I draw by heart. I think about what children would like by going back to my own childlike instincts."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Bookbird, summer, 1997, review of Maisy's House, p. 56.

Booklist, September 1, 1995, Hazel Rochman, review of Za-Za's Baby Brother, p. 84; February 1, 1996, review of Maisy's Pop-up Playhouse, p. 942; September 15, 1996, Carolyn Phelan, review of Humpty Dumpty and Other Nursery Rhymes, p. 246; April 1, 1999, Lauren Peterson, review of Lucy Cousins' Book of Nursery Rhymes, p. 1416; November 15, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of Maisy Makes Gingerbread, p. 633; October 1, 2001, Carolyn Phelan, review of Doctor Maisy and Maisy's Morning on the Farm, p. 324; December 1, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Maisy's Rainbow Dream, p. 684; April 1, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of Hooray for Fish!, p. 1365; August, 2005, Carolyn Phelan, review of Maisy Goes to the Library, p. 2033.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October, 1996, review of Humpty Dumpty and Other Nursery Rhymes, p. 70.

Horn Book, November-December, 1993, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of Noah's Ark, p. 753; July-August, 1997, Lauren Adams, review of Count with Maisy, p. 442; July-August, 2004, Lauren Adams, review of Maisy Goes Camping, p. 434.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2001, review of Maisy's Morning on the Farm, p. 1287; October 1, 2002, review of Jazzy in the Jungle, p. 1464; May 15, 2005, review of Hooray for Fish, p. 586; August 1, 2005, review of Maisy Goes to the Library, p. 84; September 15, 2005, review of Sweet Dreams, Maisy, p. 1024.

Magpies, November, 1997, review of Katy Cat and Beaky Boo Play Set, p. 6; November, 1999, review of Lucy Cousins' Nursery Rhyme Sticker Book, p. 5; November, 2002, review of Jazzy in the Jungle, p. 26; March, 2005, Jo Goodman, "Before School," and review of Hooray for Fish!, p. 26.

New Statesman, December 4, 1998, review of Lucy Cousins' Big Book of Nursery Rhymes, p. 62.

Publishers Weekly, August 31, 1990, Diane Roback and Richard Donahue, review of Maisy Goes to Bed, p. 62; March 1, 1991, Claudia Logan, "The Fresh Vision of Lucy Cousins," pp. 44-45; August 23, 1991, review of What Can Rabbit Hear? and What Can Rabbit See?, p. 61; February 20, 1995, review of Maisy's ABC, p. 204; July 17, 1995, review of Za-Za's Baby Brother, p. 229; August 5, 1996, review of Jack and Jill and Other Nursery Rhymes, p. 443; October 7, 1996, review of Katy Cat and Beaky Boo, p. 77; January 27, 1997, review of Noah's Ark, p. 108; May 14, 1997, review of Maisy's Colors and Count with Maisy, p. 74; October 19, 1998, review of Maisy at the Farm, p. 82; March 8, 1999, review of Count with Maisy, p. 70; April 5, 1999, review of Maisy's Mix-and-Match Mousewear, p. 243; April 12, 1999, review of Country Animals, p. 77; April 26, 1999, review of Lucy Cousins' Book of Nursery Rhymes, p. 84; August 2, 1999, review of Maisy's Bedtime, p. 86; May 1, 2000, "What a Character," p. 73; September 25, 2000, review of Merry Christmas, Maisy, p. 75; October 21, 2002, review of Jazzy in the Jungle, p. 2002; September 22, 2003, review of Maisy's Snowy Christmas Eve, p. 73; May 30, 2005, review of Hooray for Fish!, p. 59.

School Librarian, autumn, 2000, review of Maisie's Bath-time, p. 130.

School Library Journal, July, 1995, Linda Wicher, review of Maisy's ABC, p. 55; January, 1997, Carolyn Jenks, review of Katy Cat and Beaky Boo, p. 76, and Vicki Emery, review of Humpty Dumpty and Other Nursery Rhymes, p. 83; August, 1998, review of Maisy Goes Swimming, p. 26; October, 1998, review of Happy Birthday, Maisy, p. 93; September, 1999, Gay Lynns Van Vleck, review of Maisy's Pool and Maisy's Bedtime, p. 179; June, 2000, Susan Marie Patard, review of Maisy Drives the Bus, p. 104; December, 2000, Olga R. Barnes, review of Where Are Maisy's Friends?, p. 106; December, 2001, Kathy M. Newby, review of Doctor Maisy and Maisy's Morning on the Farm, p. 97; April, 2002, Maria Otero-Boisvert, review of Maisy Likes to Play, p. S56; May, 2002, Wendy S. Carroll, review of Maisy Cleans Up, p. 105; December, 2002, Sheilah Kosco, review of Jazzy in the Jungle, p. 86; April, 2003, Melinda Piehler, review of Go, Maisy, Go!, p. 118; June, 2003, Ann Wel-ton, review of Jazzy in the Jungle, p. SS59; December, 2003, Melinda Piehler, review of Maisy's Rainbow Dream, p. 112; February, 2005, Andrea Tarr, review of How Will You Get There, Maisy?, p. 96; August, 2005, Bina Williams, review of Hooray for Fish!, p. 86, and Kristen M. Todd, review of Maisy Goes to the Library, p. 87.

Today's Parent, March, 1999, review of Lucy Cousins' Big Book of Nursery Rhymes, p. 14.

ONLINE

Canadian Review of Materials Online, http://www. umanitoba.ca/cm/ (April 28, 2000), Susan Fonseca, review of Lucy Cousins' Big Book of Nursery Rhymes.

Candlewick Press Web site, http://www.candlewick.com/ (June 25, 2006), profile of Cousins.

Maisy's Fun Club Web site, http://www.maisyfunclub.com/ (June 25, 2006).

Storyopolis, http://www.storyopolis.com/ (June 25, 2006), profile of Cousins.

Walker Books Web site, http://www.walkerbooks.co.uk/ (June 25, 2006), profile of Cousins.