Barbara Firth

About Barbara Firth

Barbara Firth (20 September 1928 to 18 February 2013) was a British children's book illustrator, best known for her pictures for Martin Waddell's Little Bear books, beginning with Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? (1988), which won the Kate Greenaway Medal.

Born in Cheshire, Firth drew animals and plants from childhood, though her school would not let her take art as an examination subject. She trained in pattern cutting and design at the London College of Fashion, then spent about 15 years at Vogue as a production designer on craft books, also drawing freelance knitting and crochet diagrams. At 40 she began evening classes and completed a foundation course.

In the early 1970s she moved into freelance illustration through Marshall Cavendish partworks. Amelia Edwards, later creative director of Walker Books, commissioned non-fiction titles from her such as The Spider (1982) and Country Animals (1983), and her work on David Lloyd's Great Escapes series led to her partnership with Waddell. Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? won both the 1988 Greenaway Medal and the Smarties Book Prize, and The Park in the Dark (1989) won the Kurt Maschler Award. Four Little Bear sequels followed: Let's Go Home, Little Bear (1991), You and Me, Little Bear (1996), Well Done, Little Bear (1999) and Sleep Tight, Little Bear (2005). She also illustrated books by Sarah Hayes, Charles Causley and Jonathan London. Her Walker publisher praised the warmth and storytelling of her drawings.

For collectors

The Walker Books first edition of Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? (1988) is her Greenaway Medal book and the start of the five-book Little Bear series. The Park in the Dark (1989) is her Maschler Award book.