Who Was Judith Kerr Judith Kerr was a

Who Was Judith Kerr? Judith Kerr was a famous author and illustrator. This means it was her job to write stories and draw the pictures for books. Judith wrote lots of books in her life and her well-known book ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ is now over 50 years old.

Growing Up Judith was born in Berlin, Germany, on 14 th June 1923. She grew up in Germany with her parents and her older brother, Michael. When Judith was ten years old, a group called the Nazis took power in Germany. Judith’s family didn’t agree with their views so they left their home. First, they went to Switzerland, then France, before moving to Britain when Judith was 13 years old. Britain Germany France Switzerland

Always Drawing When Judith was growing up she loved to draw. Judith spent lots of her time drawing people and she was very good at noticing things. She spotted how people moved, how their clothes looked on them and what made them stand out. Judith would remember these features and draw them to make up her own characters. Judith’s mother loved her drawings and was very proud of them. Nobody else in Judith’s family drew pictures, so her mother collected them all. Judith wanted to be a painter so she went to art school to study art and make her dream come true. When Judith started drawing, she always drew people from the feet up. Talk About It How do you draw a person? What part would you start to draw first?

Making up Stories After art school, Judith got a job writing scripts for the BBC. She forgot about drawing until she had her children, Tacy and Matthew. Judith used to take her children to the zoo a lot and made up stories about the animals they saw there. Her daughter loved the story Judith made up about the tiger the most so Judith wrote the story down and drew the pictures. This was her first ever book, called the ‘Tiger Who Came to Tea’. Judith’s books were inspired by trips to the zoo with her daughter. Talk About It Where do you like to go and what might you write a book about?

Books About Animals Judith and her husband had lots of cats over the years, including a cat called Mog. This inspired Judith to write a book called ‘Mog the Forgetful Cat’. This book was so popular that Judith carried on writing about Mog’s adventures. She wrote 17 Mog books altogether. Although Mog is based on her own cat, Judith thought about lots of Fun Fact different cats and their personalities when she created the character of Mog.

Later Life Judith carried on writing and illustrating books all of her life. She won lots of awards for her wonderful books and drawings, including a very special award called an OBE. Judith wrote more than 30 books and finished her last book just before she died, aged 95 years old. Judith always wanted to draw. She spent most of her life being an Talk About It illustrator and a writer. What job would you like to spend your life doing?