With Alfie getting into his house without his mother and sister, he showed that he doesn’t need their help, and even opened the door himself.

But Alfie has such a great time that he finds he doesn't even need his special blanket -- and he makes a new friend too! Shirley Hughes’ books are so successful because the stories she tells are those of comfort and relatability. In Alfie Gets In First, a window cleaner nearly saves the day by climbing up his ladder to let himself in an open window. Shirley was born in West Kirby, near Liverpool, and studied fashion and dress design at Liverpool Art School, before continuing her studies at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was the first recipient of BookTrust's Lifetime Achievement Award.Alfie gets out and about in the garden with Dad, in this glorious book about growing, playing and sharing. I realised just how discernable Hughes’ work is whilst writing this after I looked up another family favourite, A Throne for Sesame , which I believed to have been written by Hughes thanks to her iconic illustrations. This book is so clever in terms of how it uses the format of the book as a bridge between Alfie and his mum - very few had played around with the book as being an object that could be played around with in this way - Hughes was a trend setter. This delightful tale has a clever (sometimes not-s0-clever) child who finds the best ways to get into mischief.

Alfie and Bernard wish that they could be friends with the most popular big boy, Ian Barger, but Ian never takes any notice of the little kids. On one special day, he and his best friend, Bernard, make birthday surprises for a very, very old lady.Cute, but omigosh I don't think I'd have the energy to make tea for the neighborhood after that adventure. But, the universality of losing something dear to you appeals to a worldwide audience, making Dogger Hughes’ most successful book.

I believe this a good read for young readers because I feel like they would be able to relate well to Alfie's problem. Alfie celebrates his 30th birthday in 2011 and All About Alfie is the perfect gift for the occasion! One of the many joys of being a grandmother is re-visiting the books you read to your child, in reading them to their child! Part of what makes Hughes’ stories so wonderful are the vivid illustrations that accompany her narratives.

Although it is 30 years since Alfie was first brought to life in Shirley Hughes’ intricately illustrated stories, he has lost none of his appeal and still delights with his unique and charming child’s-eye view of the world which makes the ordinary seem extraordinary. I love all of Shirley Hughes books, they are extremely personable, yet a light hearted read for both children and adults.

Shirley Hughes was born in West Kirby, near Liverpool, in 1927, and studied fashion and dress design at Liverpool Art School, before continuing her studies at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. This story of Alfie getting himself into trouble will teach students some resourcefulness, life lessons and a great laugh. She wrote and illustrated over 200 cherished children’s books, including the celebrated Alfie stories. My point there, and one which applies here as well, was that the visual literacy needed to read and appreciate comics is massive - and it all contributes towards becoming literate. The stories are easy for little ones to relate to and the illustrations complement the stories beautifully.Overall, I would highly recommend this book because it is a great read with amazing pictures, and I think that children would find it to be very enjoyable. What's particularly glorious is that, at the same time of these two differing visual narratives, we also have a third layer to the book - that of the text, which describes the whole of the story, quite often ignoring what is going on beneath it, therefore forcing the reader to puzzle out and see what's actually going on. I found that the illustrations in this book really added to the story, and I liked the style that they were done in. We're always happy to answer any questions or queries you might have, please get in touch using one of the methods below.