Jennie was born in London in 1970 to a pair of groovy hippies. Her Mother and Father met at Chelsea School of Art and are both artists. They now run the art magazine ‘Raw Vision’. Jennie went to Central St. Martins School of Art to study Illustration. Jennie’s graduation show included a life-sized replica of Alice in Wonderland’s Tea Party, made out of Paper Mache!
Jennie’s first commission was to design and make the window displays of Harvey Nichols department store as part of London fashion week. She produced a number of nationwide window displays for The Body Shop and Dillons Bookstores. Jennie has always enjoyed working in 3-D, so pop-up books were a natural transition.
After leaving college she had the wonderful fortune of being introduced to Kate Petty. Kate was a truly fabulous and very talented children’s book writer.
Jennie and Kate became inseparable, working on eight books together over Sixteen years. The books they have produced have sold over a million copies worldwide.
“The Great Grammar Book” was nominated for Children’s Book of the Year 1999 and “The Global Garden” was winner of the Aventis Prize 2006. Very sadly, Kate died on May 22nd 2007. Jennie misses her very much, but is continuing to work on pop books; the latest book she is working on is with Kate’s son Will Petty…
Kate Petty
Jennie’s favourite things are; collecting old shop letters, cooking very tall cakes, sketching on holidays, eating mangos and spying on her children when they’re dancing in their bedrooms!
Jennie lives in Hampshire with her husband Marcus, Millie (born 2000), and Rosie (born 2002), three cats, one dog and two mice.
You may like to read Jennie’s profiles on: Random House and Walker. Jennie’s parent’s art magazine: Raw Vision.