Tony Ross

Tony Ross (born 1938) is an English author and illustrator of children's books, known for his Little Princess picture books and for illustrating Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry series and the novels of David Walliams.

He was born Anthony Lee Ross on 10 August 1938 in London. He went to Helsby Grammar School and studied at the Liverpool School of Art and Design, then worked as a cartoonist, graphic designer and art director at an advertising agency. For several years he was senior lecturer in art and head of the illustration course at Manchester Polytechnic.

His long association with Andersen Press began in 1976 with his retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. His own Little Princess books were adapted for television. As an illustrator he drew Simon's Horrid Henry, first published by Orion in 1994 and running to more than 20 titles with sales above 21 million copies, as well as Jeanne Willis's Dr Xargle books, Paula Danziger's Amber Brown and Lynne Reid Banks's Harry the Poisonous Centipede. He won the 1986 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis for the German edition of I'm Coming to Get You!, was highly commended for the 1990 Kate Greenaway Medal for Dr. Xargle's Book of Earth Tiggers, and was the UK nominee for the 2004 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

For collectors. His first Andersen Press book was Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1976), and the first Horrid Henry book was published by Orion in 1994.