Joyce Dunbar

Dunbar was born in 1944 in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire,{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} and is one of four children. Her father was a steel-worker and her mother was a fishing net maker. She grew up in Lincolnshire.[http://www.doublecluck.com/authordetails.php?aname=Dunbar,%20Joyce&btype=picture-books Joyce Dunbar interview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622202059/http://www.doublecluck.com/authordetails.php?aname=Dunbar%2C+Joyce&btype=picture-books |date=22 June 2008 }} from Double luck.

Dunbar attended Goldsmiths College in London, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} After that, she did several jobs, working as a nanny, a waitress, a barmaid, and a salesperson.[http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=1228 Author biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203223354/http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=1228 |date=3 February 2009 }} from scholastic.com In 1968, she started working as a teacher in a college drama department of Stratford-on-Avon, England.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} However, due to her gradual loss of hearing,{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Dunbar had to stop her teaching career and in 1989, she became a full-time writer.

Dunbar has two grown up children: Ben, a fashion photographer and Polly, an author illustrator.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080517035747/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article3728295.ece The best new picture book illustrators] from The Times Dunbar currently lives in Norwich.

Dunbar published her first children's book at age 35. In 1985, Dunbar published Mundo and the Weather-Child – a novel about the imaginary friend of a deaf child, which helped her become a runner up for the Guardian Fiction Award.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} In 1990, her book A Bun for Barney was made into an interactive video game by BBC Multimedia Corporation.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In 1998, she wrote Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go To Sleep, which is recommended as a book to help children feel secure. In 2002 Dunbar did a book tour in the United States to promote this book. Her 2005 picture book Shoe Baby, illustrated by her daughter Polly, was made into a puppet show and is part of the 2006 Brighton Festival.

Dunbar most well-known series, Mouse and Mole (illustrated by James Mayhew), has been adapted into a 26-part television animation series by Grasshopper Productions, with voices lent by Alan Bennett and Richard Briers.

Being a deaf person,[http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/authorcb.htm?authorID=100548 Joyce Dunbar] from Random House[http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/entertainment/arts/in-the-picture In the picture] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030182746/http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/entertainment/arts/in-the-picture |date=30 October 2009 }} from Disability now Dunbar has participated in a number of campaigns on behalf of deaf people. In 1998, Dunbar cycled across Cuba in order to raise funds for the National Deaf Children's Society.[https://books.google.com/books?id=xtzU36WuzZ8C&q=The+Glass+Garden&pg=PP3 The Glass Garden] at Google Books Her journal Cycle Cuba, a record of this event, was published in 1999. That same year, she had a trip to the Himalayas in support of the founding of a new ashram. Dunbar has also taught English writing for children from Greek island Skyros.

Dunbar is on the steering group for the Picture project run by SCOPE, which is about the representation of children with disability in picture books.[http://www.childreninthepicture.org.uk/au_steeringgroup.htm Steering Group] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121131025/http://www.childreninthepicture.org.uk/au_steeringgroup.htm |date=21 November 2008 }} from Children in the Picture.

;Children's fiction

• Pat-a-Cake Baby (Candlewick Press, 2015) - "It’s good fun but definitely not quiet bedtime reading, especially since it concludes with multicolored capital letters spelling out “IT’S EATING TIME!”"{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joyce-dunbar/pat-a-cake-baby/ |website=www.kirkusreviews.com |title=Pat-a-cake Baby |date=17 March 2015 |publisher=Kirkus Media LLC |access-date=7 October 2015 }}
• Puss Jekyll Cat Hyde (Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2012) - "This slim British import, which combines beautiful artwork and brief, poetic text, seems more likely to appeal to adult cat lovers than to young listeners, but the dichotomy at its heart may be intriguing to some children, and the lush language pleases the ear and offers plenty to discuss."{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joyce-dunbar/puss-jekyll-cat-hyde/ |website=www.kirkusreviews.com |title=Puss Jekyll Cat Hyde |date=29 March 2013 |publisher=Kirkus Media LLC |access-date=7 October 2015 }}
• Moonbird (Random House, 2006)
• Where's My Sock? (Chicken House, 2006)
• Snow White (Retelling) (Scholastic, 2005)
• Shoe Baby (Candlewick Press, 2005) - "Polly Dunbar’s delightful mixed-media collage illustrations of eccentric creatures great and small burst forth with as much glee as the text in this contagiously exuberant mother-daughter collaboration. "{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joyce-dunbar/shoe-baby/ |website=www.kirkusreviews.com |title=Shoe Baby |date=1 July 2005 |publisher=Kirkus Media LLC |access-date=7 October 2015 }}
• Boo to the Who in the Dark (Scholastic, 2004)
• The Love-Me Bird (Scholastic, 2003)
• Magic Lemonade (Egmont, 2003)
• Tell Me What It's Like To Be Big (Transworld, 2001)
• The Very Small (Transworld, 2000)
• Eggday (Holiday House, 1999) - "Every page bristles with color; brush strokes, dots, blots, and thumbprints create multi-layered scenes that fairly sing."{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joyce-dunbar/eggday/ |website=www.kirkusreviews.com |title=Eggday |date=1 March 1999 |publisher=Kirkus Media LLC |access-date=7 October 2015 }}
• The Glass Garden (Frances Lincoln, 1999)
• Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go To Sleep (Transworld, 1998)
• Baby Bird (Walker, 1998)
• If You Want To Be A Cat (Macdonald, 1997)
• This Is The Star (Transworld, 1996)
• Freddie The Frog (Ginn, 1996)
• Oops-A-Daisy (Walker, 1995)
• Little Eight John (Retelling) (Ginn, 1994)
• The Spring Rabbit (Anderson Press, 1994)
• Seven Sillies (Anderson Press, 1993)
• Can Do (Simon & Schuster, 1992)
• Why Is The Sky Up? (Dent, 1991)
• Ten Little Mice (Methuen, 1990)
• Joanna and the Bean-Bag Beastie (Ginn, 1989)
• "Mouse Mad Madeline'' (Hamish Hamilton, 1988)
• The Raggy Taggy Toys (Orchard, 1987)
• Mundo and the Weather-Child (Heinemann, 1985)
• The Magic Rose Bough (Hodder & Stoughton, 1984)
• Jugg (Scolar Press, 1980)

;Panda & Gander Series

• Panda's New Toy (Walker Books, 1999)
• Gander's Pond (Walker Books, 1999)
• The Secret Friend (Walker Books, 1999) - "Dunbar is especially astute at picking up on the emotional nuances of how children interact."{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joyce-dunbar/the-secret-friend/ |website=www.kirkusreviews.com |title=The Secret Friend |date=1 March 1999 |publisher=Kirkus Media LLC |access-date=7 October 2015 }}

;Mouse and Mole Series (illustrated by James Mayhew){{Cite web |title=Mouse & Mole |url=https://graffeg.com/collections/mouse-mole |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Graffeg Books |language=en}}

• Mouse and Mole (Transworld, 1993)
• Mouse and Mole Have A Party (Transworld, 1993)
• Happy Days For Mouse and Mole (Transworld, 1996)
• A Very Special Mouse and Mole (Transworld, 1996)
• A Fresh Start (Graffeg Limited, 2020)
• The Secret of Happiness (Graffeg Limited, 2021)
• Lo and Behold! (Graffeg Limited, 2021)
• Clink, Clank, Clunk! (Graffeg Limited, 2022)
• Boo to the Who (Graffeg Limited, 2023)
• What Might Have Been (Graffeg Limited, 2024)

Corgi Pups Collection (illustrated by Alison de Verde)

• Hip-Dip-Dip With Mouse and Mole (Corgi, 2000){{Cite web |last=OpenLibrary.org |title=Hip Dip Dip With Mouse and Mole (Corgi Pups) by Joyce Dunbar {{!}} Open Library |url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL699272W/Hip_Dip_Dip_With_Mouse_and_Mole_(Corgi_Pups)?edition=key:/books/OL10590179M |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Open Library |language=en}}
• The Ups And Downs of Mouse and Mole (Corgi, 2001){{Cite web |last=OpenLibrary.org |title=Ups and Downs of Mouse and Mole by Joyce Dunbar {{!}} Open Library |url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL699321W/Ups_and_Downs_of_Mouse_and_Mole?edition=key:/books/OL10590180M |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Open Library |language=en}}

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{{Portal|Children's literature}}

• {{official website |joycedunbar.com}}
• {{LCAuth|n86858216|Joyce Dunbar|43|ue}}

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Category:English children's writers

Category:Living people

Category:1944 births

Category:People from Scunthorpe

Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London