Quick Facts
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Alex T. Smith (born (1985-08-02)2 August 1985) is an English author and illustrator of children's books, including Primrose, Egg, Ella, and the Claude book series. He was the illustrator for World Book Day 2014 in September 2013.His books have been published in several languages including Welsh, French, German, Swedish, Italian, Hungarian and Chinese.
Education
He graduated in 2006 from Coventry University with a degree in illustration.
Claude series
Claude is a dog. Claude is a small dog. Claude is a small, plump dog. Claude is a small, plump dog who wears a beret and a lovely jumper...
— Alex T. Smith
The adventures of Claude were published in a series of 10 books from 2011 to 2016. Recurring characters include Sir Bobblysock who accompanies Claude, and Mr & Mrs Shinyshoes, Claude's owners.
Claude was chosen as one of Clara Vulliamy's five favorite fictional charactersand appears on gift cards produced by National Book Tokens.
In October 2013, it was announced that Claude had been optioned by Sixteen South for television aimed at boys and girls aged 4–6, and premiered on Disney Junior in June 2018.
Awards
- In 2006 won the second prize in the Macmillan Prize for Children’s Picture Book Illustration.
- In 2009 longlisted for the Greenaway Medal.
- In 2011 My mum has X-ray Vision by Alex T. Smith and Angela McAllister won the Stockport School's Book Award.
- In 2011 Bella & Monty won the Dundee Picture Book Award.
Critical reception of books
- Catch Us If You Can-Can has been called "hilarious" by The Guardian.
- Claude in the Spotlight is thought of as "a very funny book, with lots of great pictures" by The Guardian and Booktrust described it as "An utterly charming book for emerging readers." Metro appreciated the "quirky illustrations and plenty of humour."
- Claude in the City reminded Martin Chilton writing in The Telegraph of "the fine stories of Allan Ahlberg." TheBookBag "loved everything about this book" and especially enjoyed the sense of fun, and how rich the text and pictures were for younger readers.". Claude in the City was described by the kidlit blog, There's a Book, as the "perfect transition from picture books to chapter books."