Lodge, Jo 1966-

Personal

Born April 4, 1966 in Surrey, England; daughter of Bernard (an illustrator) and Maureen (an illustrator; maiden name Roffey) Lodge; married Rob Eager (a horticul- tural designer), October 7, 1995; children: Ben, Louis. Education: Kingston Polytechnic (Surrey, England), B.A., 1985, advanced honors degree, 1988.

Addresses

Home—Hilva, The Street, Poynings, Brighton BN45 7AQ, England.

Career

Author and illustrator. Artwork Apparel, knitwear designer, 1989-92; knitwear designer for Next, Marks & Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, Scotch House, Hennes, Harvey Nichols, and Elle magazine, 1992-94.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN; SELF-ILLUSTRATED POP-UP BOOKS

If You're Happy and You Know It, Barrons (Hauppauge, NY), 1996.

This Is the Way We Pull a Face, Bodley Head (London, England), 1996, published as This Is the Way We Make a Face, Barrons (Hauppauge, NY), 1996.

Patch Bakes a Cake, Campbell Books (London, England), 1996, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Patch Grows Flowers, Campbell Books (London, England), 1996, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Patch Goes on Holiday, Campbell Books (London, England), 1996, published as Patch Takes a Vacation, Red Wagon (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Patch Goes to the Park, Campbell Books (London, England), 1996, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Patch and His Favorite Things, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1996.

Patch in the Garden, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1996.

Patch's House, Campbell Books (London, England), 1997, published as Play and Count in Patch's House, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1997.

Going to Bed with Rabbit, Bodley Head (London, England), 1997, published as Can You Do What Rabbit Can Do? In the Evening, Barrons (Hauppauge, NY), 1997.

Getting up with Dog, Bodley Head (London, England), 1997, published as Can You Do What Dog Can Do? In the Morning, Barrons (Hauppauge, NY), 1997.

Busy Farm Carousel, Campbell Books (London, England), 1998, published as Busy Farm: A Counting Book with Pull-out Tabs, edited by Phyllis Fogelman, Dial (New York, NY), 1999.

Hide and Seek with Duck, Barrons (Hauppauge, NY), 1998.

Pass the Parcel with Pig, Barrons (Hauppauge, NY), 1998.

Playschool, Campbell Books (London, England), 1999.

Rainbows Are Best, Bodley Head (London, England), 1999.

Bedtime Is Best, Bodley Head (London, England), 1999.

(Illustrator) Busy Preschool: An Interactive Book with Pull-out Tabs, edited by Toby Sherry, Dial (New York, NY), 1999.

Happy Birthday, Moo Moo, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2001.

Moo Moo Goes to the City, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2002.

What's on the Beach?, Little Simon (New York, NY), 2004.

What's in the Garden?, Little Simon (New York, NY), 2004.

Knock! Knock! Mr Croc, Hodder Children's (London, England), 2004.

My Little Case of Farm Animals, Scholastic Children's (London, England), 2005.

My Little Case of Creepy-Crawlies, Scholastic Children's (London, England), 2005.

Jungle Animals, Mantra Lingua (London, England), 2005.

Time to Help, Campbell Books (London, England), 2006.

Time for Nursery, Campbell Books (London, England), 2006.

Time for Bed, Campbell Books (London, England), 2006.

Time to Play, Campbell Books (London, England), 2006.

Jungle Animals has been published in nineteen languages, including Somali, Swahili, Spanish, Portuguese, and Tagalog.

ILLUSTRATOR

Maureen Roffey, Noah's Ark, Scholastic Children's (London, England), 2004.

Lara Jones, Poppy Cat's Christmas, Campbell Books (London, England), 2004.

Sidelights

Beginning her career as a textile designer in the fashion industry, British illustrator and author Jo Lodge is known for creating novelty children's books. Using pop-up and pull-out engineering, Lodge allows young children to interact with a host of creatures in books such as What's on the Beach?, Jungle Animals, and My Little Case of Creepy-Crawlies. Adding to the interactive fun, Lodge often designs her board books in the shape of take-along containers; What's on the Beach?, for example, is designed as a beach pail and tells the story of a tiny crab who sets about building a sand castle for his sea-bound friends. Another book by Lodge, Jungle Animals, has been published in a number of African languages as well as Spanish and English.

As Lodge once noted: "Although I originally trained in fashion design, I have always been interested in children's books. Having both parents in the same business has been a big influence and also a great help. During a quiet period in the knitwear business, I put together some ideas and took them along to show Rod Campbell of Campbell Books. He was very interested but obvi- ously I had much to learn. Rod kindly taught me all about paper engineering, which I have found invaluable. It has been a great advantage for me to be able to do my own paper engineering.

"I am married to Rob Eager, who has his own garden design company. We have two boys, Ben and Louis. I get many of my ideas from reading, playing, and making things with the boys. Juggling my career with raising two children takes up most of my time, but when I get the opportunity I do enjoy walking in the countryside."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 1999, Ilene Cooper, review of Busy Farm: A Counting Book with Pull-out Tabs, p. 786.

Publishers Weekly, September 23, 1996, p. 78; September 23, 1996, p. 78; March 24, 1997, p. 85; September 29, 1997, p. 91; April 22, 2002, p. 72; May 10, 2004, review of What's in the Garden?, p. 61; June 7, 2004, review of What's on the Beach?, p. 53.