Adrienne Kennaway facts for kids

Adrienne Kennaway (born in 1945) is a talented artist and author who creates amazing children's picture books. She is especially known for her beautiful illustrations. In 1987, she won a very important award called the Kate Greenaway Medal. This award is given by the Library Association to the British artist who creates the best illustrations for a children's book that year.

About Adrienne Kennaway

Adrienne Kennaway, whose birth name was Adrienne Prudence Moore, grew up traveling to many different places around the world.

She spent part of her childhood in Kenya, a country in Africa. This experience greatly influenced her early artwork. For example, her first books, Game Park Holiday (1967) and The Elephant's Heart and other stories (1968), featured African animals and landscapes. She illustrated these books under her maiden name, Adrienne Moore. These two picture books were written by William Lewis Radford and published in Nairobi, Kenya.

Her Famous Animal Stories

Adrienne Kennaway became very well-known for illustrating animal folk tales. These stories were retold by an author named Mwenye Hadithi. Her illustrations brought African wildlife to life with bright and colorful watercolor pictures.

The first of these popular books was Greedy Zebra, published in 1984. This story explains how animals got their unique fur, spots, stripes, and horns. It also tells how the zebra's love for food led to its famous stripes!

The book that won her the Kate Greenaway Medal was Crafty Chameleon, published in 1987. In this clever story, the Chameleon uses its smart thinking to outwit a Leopard and a Crocodile.

Later Works and Where She Lives Now

Adrienne Kennaway's later work continued to explore animal tales and natural history from all over the world. She has worked as both an illustrator and a writer for these books. Today, she lives in County Kerry, which is in Ireland.

Selected Books Illustrated by Adrienne Kennaway

Here are some of the picture books that Adrienne Kennaway has illustrated:

• Game Park Holiday (1967), written by William Lewis Radford
• The Elephant's Heart and other stories (1968), written by William Lewis Radford
• Making This Book (1978), written by J. C. Gagg

Books with Mwenye Hadithi

These picture books were written by Mwenye Hadithi and illustrated by Adrienne Kennaway:

• Greedy Zebra (1984)
• Hot Hippo (1986)
• Crafty Chameleon (1987)
• Tricky Tortoise (1988)
• Lazy Lion (1990)
• Baby Baboon (1993)
• Hungry Hyena (1994)
• Laughing Giraffe (2008)

Other Illustrated Books

Adrienne Kennaway also illustrated these picture books with different writers:

• Awful Aardvark (1989)
• Curious Clownfish (1990), written by Eric Maddern

Books Written and Illustrated by Adrienne Kennaway

Adrienne Kennaway has also written and illustrated her own picture books:

• Bushbaby (1991)
• Little Elephant's Walk (1992)

See also

• Fable