Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411220047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Short
Ahlberg died Tuesday of cancer, her family said.
She was bored with her job as a magazine editor and illustrator of craft books when she begged her husband to write a children's story for her to illustrate. ``The Brick Street Boys'' series began in 1975. Then came ```Burglar Bill'' in 1977, about a burglar who steals a baby.
``Each Peach Pear Plum,'' with pages of intricately drawn nursery characters, published in 1978, won Ahlberg the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration sponsored by the Library Association.
But the first major success was ``The Jolly Postman,'' published in 1986 after five years of work. It won the Maschler Award for balance of word and illustration, and she won another Greenaway Medal.
The book, which sold more than 1 million copies, shows a postman delivering letters tucked inside real envelopes, for readers to open and peruse.
``The Jolly Postman'' was followed by ``The Jolly Christmas Postman'' in 1991.''
``Jolly Pocket Postman'' will be published next year.
The daughter of artists, Janet Ahlberg was born in the town of Huddersfield in northern England, but spent most of her childhood in Leicester, 90 miles northwest of London. She is survived by her husband and daughter.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.