Lynne Reid Banks facts for kids

Lynne Reid Banks (31 July 1929 – 4 April 2024) was a British author of books for children and adults.

Banks wrote forty-eight books, including the best-selling children's novel The Indian in the Cupboard, which has sold over 15 million copies and has been successfully adapted to film. Her first novel, The L-Shaped Room, published in 1960, was an instant and lasting best seller. It was later made into a movie of the same name and led to two sequels, The Backward Shadow and Two is Lonely. Banks also wrote a biography of the Brontë family, entitled Dark Quartet, and a sequel about Charlotte Brontë, Path to the Silent Country.

Life

Banks was born in London, the only child of James and Muriel Reid Banks. She was evacuated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada during World War II, and returned after the war was over. She attended St Teresa's School Effingham in Surrey. Before becoming a writer, Banks was an actress, and also worked as a television journalist in Britain, one of the first women to do so.

In 1962, Banks emigrated to Israel, where she taught for eight years on a kibbutz, Yas'ur. In 1965, she married Chaim Stephenson (1926–2016), a sculptor, with whom she had three sons. She lived in Shepperton, Surrey, UK.

Although the family returned to England in 1971, the influence of her time in Israel can be seen in some of her books (including One More River and its sequel, Broken Bridge, and other books, such as An End to Running and Children at the Gate) which are set partially or mainly on kibbutzim.

In October 2013, Banks won the J. M. Barrie award for outstanding contribution to children's arts.

Banks died on 4 April 2024, at the age of 94.

Works

Children's novels

• The Farthest-Away Mountain, illus. Victor Ambrus (London: Abelard-Schuman, 1976); US ed., 1977; also illus. Dave Henderson
• The Adventures of King Midas, illustrated by George Him (J.M. Dent, 1976), ; illus. Jos. A. Smith (William Morrow & Co, 1992),
  • The Indian in the Cupboard (1980)
  • The Return of the Indian (1985)
  • The Secret of the Indian (1989)
  • The Mystery of the Cupboard (1993)
  • The Key to the Indian (1998)
• The Fairy Rebel, illus. William Geldart (1985); US ed., 19
• Harry the Poisonous Centipede, illustrated by Tony Ross
  • Harry the Poisonous Centipede: a story to make you squirm (1997)
  • Harry the Poisonous Centipede's Big Adventure (2001)
  • Harry the Poisonous Centipede Goes to Sea (2006)
• I, Houdini: The Autobiography of a Self-Educated Hamster, illus. Terry Riley (J.M. Dent, 1978); US ed., 1988

• Angela and Diabola (1997)
• Alice-By-Accident (2000)
• Tiger, Tiger (2005)
• Bad Cat Good Cat, illus. Tony Ross (2011)
• Ella and her bad Yellow T-Shirt, illus. Omri Stephenson (OGS, 2011)
• The Wrong-Coloured Dragon, illus. Joanna Scott (Kindle, 2012)
• Uprooted: a Canadian war story (HarperCollins, 2014),
• The Red Red Dragon (Walker Books, 2022)

Short stories

• The Magic Hare, illus. Barry Moser (1993); also illus. Hilda Offen
• Sarah and After: the matriarchs (The Bodley Head, 1975) ; US title, Sarah and After: five women who founded a nation – Bible stories

Older readers

• One More River (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 1973)
• My Darling Villain (Bodley Head, 1977); US ed., 1986
• The Writing on the Wall (1982) ?88
• Melusine: a mystery (1988); US ed., 1989
• One More River, revised edition (NY: William Morrow, 1992),
• Broken Bridge; US ed., 1994 (revised?) – sequel to One More River
• Maura's Angel (1998)
• Moses in Egypt: a novel inspired by the Prince of Egypt and the book of Exodus (1998)
• The Dungeon (2002)
• Stealing Stacey (2004)

Adult novels

• All in a Row: a comedy in three acts (Deane, 1956),
• The L-Shaped Room (Chatto & Windus, 1960); US ed., 1961
• An End to Running (Chatto & Windus, 1962)
• House of Hope (Simon & Schuster, 1962)
• Children at the Gate (Chatto & Windus, 1968)
• The Backward Shadow (Simon & Schuster, 1970) – sequel to The L-Shaped Room
• Two is Lonely (Chatto & Windus, 1974) – completes the L-Shaped Room trilogy
• Dark Quartet: the story of the Brontës (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976); US ed., 1977 – Biographical fiction

• Path to the Silent Country: Charlotte Brontë's years of fame (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977); US ed., 1978
• Defy the Wilderness (Chatto & Windus, 1981)
• The Warning Bell (Hamish Hamilton, 1984); US ed., 1986
• Casualties (1986); US ed., 1987
• Fair Exchange (London: Piatkus, 1998)

Non-fiction

• Letters to My Israeli Sons: the story of Jewish survival (W. H. Allen Ltd, 1979),
• Torn Country: an oral history of the Israeli war of independence (New York: Franklin Watts, 1982)

Picture books

• The Spice Rack, illus. Omri Stephenson (OGS Designs, 2010)
• Polly and Jake, illus. Omri Stephenson (OGS, 2010)