Lester, Alison (1952-…), is a popular Australian iIllustrator and author of children’s picture books. Lester has been praised for her skill at bringing adventure and imagination into the everyday world of preschool children. Her books show how the imagination of a child can transform the ordinary into the fantastical.
Lester’s first book, Clive Eats Alligators (1985), follows seven children as they participate in such common activities as eating lunch or playing. The children appear in five other books in the “Clive Eats Alligators” series: Rosie Sips Spiders (1988), Tessa Snaps Snakes (1990), When Frank Was Four (1994), Celeste Sails to Spain (1999), and Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo (2000).
Lester won the 2005 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Picture Book of the Year award for Are We There Yet?: A Journey Around Australia (2004). Lester and co-author Coral Tulloch won the 2012 CBCA Eve Pownall Book of the Year award for One Small Island (2011), which explores life on remote Macquarie Island off the southeast coast of Australia. Sophie Scott Goes South (2012) describes a little girl’s voyage to Antarctica. Lester also wrote and illustrated The Journey Home and Imagine (both 1989); Isabella’s Bed (1991); Noni the Pony (2012) and its sequel, Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach (2015); and Kissed by the Moon (2013). She has also written novels for young readers, including The Quicksand Pony (1997), The Snow Pony (2001), and Horse Crazy! (2009).
Lester was born in Foster, Australia, on Nov. 17, 1952, and grew up on a beef farm in southern Victoria. In 1975, she received a higher diploma of teaching from Melbourne State College (now part of the University of Melbourne). She taught art in high school in Alexandra and Melbourne from 1976 through 1978, when she become a full-time illustrator and author. From 2012 to 2013, Lester and the children’s author Boori Monty Pryor served as the first Australian Children’s Laureates. The position was created to promote the importance of reading. In 2019, Lester was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to literature. The Order of Australia is Australia’s highest award for service to the country or to humanity.
