Rod Campbell facts for kids

Rod Campbell (born 4 May 1945) is a famous Scottish author and illustrator. He is well-known for creating many popular children's books, especially the classic lift-the-flap board book Dear Zoo.

Rod Campbell was born in Scotland in 1945. He spent some of his childhood growing up in Zimbabwe before returning to Britain. There, he studied science at university. In 1980, he started working in children's publishing. He became known for designing new and exciting books with parts you could interact with, like flaps, and stories that used repeated phrases.

In 1987, Rod Campbell started his own publishing company called Campbell Blackie Books with his publisher, Blackie. This company later became known as Campbell Books in 1989. In 1995, Campbell Books was sold to Macmillan Publishers.

Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Classic

Rod Campbell's most famous book is Dear Zoo, which was first published in 1982. He shared that he got the idea for Dear Zoo after seeing other early lift-the-flap books, like Spot the Dog. He wanted to make a story where the flaps made perfect sense as part of the adventure. He imagined explorers sending animals to zoos a long time ago in special crates. This idea led him to create the book's structure, where each flap opens to reveal a different animal inside a container.

Dear Zoo Around the World

Dear Zoo quickly became incredibly popular with young children, especially in Britain. Its fun and interactive style has helped it be translated into many different languages. Some of these include Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and Vietnamese. The book has also been released in various formats and has inspired many related products.

Dear Santa: A Christmas Spin-Off

Following the success of Dear Zoo, Rod Campbell created a Christmas-themed book called Dear Santa. This book was first published in 2004. It uses the same popular lift-the-flap style, but this time, children get to discover different gifts that Santa is considering, hidden under the flaps.

Celebrating Dear Zoo's Anniversary

In 2017, people celebrated the 35th anniversary of Dear Zoo. To mark this special occasion, there was a partnership with London Zoo. An Anniversary Edition of the book was also published, which came in a special slipcase.

Other Popular Books by Rod Campbell

Rod Campbell has written and illustrated many other beloved children's books. Here are some of his notable works:

• Dear Zoo
• Dear Santa
• ABC Zoo
• Oh Dear!
• It's Mine!
• I'm Hungry!
• I Won't Bite!
• Baby's Busy Book
• My Presents
• Noisy Farm
• Farm 123
• Farm Babies
• Buster's Day
• Buster's Zoo
• Here's Buster, But Where's Teddy?
• Buster Goes To Playschool
• Buster Gets Dressed
• Buster Keeps Warm
• Buster's Bedtime
• The Pop-Up Farm
• The Pop-Up Jungle