Background

Colin was born in 1945 in Blackpool, England, United Kingdom.

Education

Colin studied at Blackpool Art School. He won a scholarship to art school at the age of thirteen.

Career

Colin worked at Daily Express, London as a reportage illustrator in 1971. When the newspaper went through some hard times a few years later, he lost his job and became a freelance illustrator. He also was a teacher at Medway and Norwich, England, Art Schools.

In the mid-1970s, after his first child was born, he and his wife began to assemble ideas for children’s picture books. With Colin’s flair for cartoon drawings and Jacqui’s graphic sense and dogged persistence, they put together a collection of drawings that they collectively titled Witches. The proposed book didn’t get an immediate response from publishers, so the Hawkinses started another project, and then another. Witches eventually attracted the attention of not one publisher, but four, and upon its release in 1981, the Hawkinses’ career took off.

Most of the Hawkinses’ picture-book creations involve their audience in a learning activity, but with so much fun surrounding the lesson, no one is any the wiser. In What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf, children are taught the basic techniques of telling time through the antics of a scruffy wolf. Mr. Wolf makes a return engagement in Mr. Wolf’s Week, as the vagaries of weather are explained. As Books for Keeps contributor Liz Waterland described it, an “ungainly wolf blunders his way through the days of the week... Dressing for the extraordinary changes of climate he encounters.” In addition to providing an introductory lesson in vocabulary, the book “encourages children to memorize... details ... and to connect cause and effect - weather and appropriate clothing,” added a Junior Bookshelf reviewer.

Basic math and reading concepts are introduced to the preschool set through such works as Adding Animals, a lift-the-flap book that uses animals to teach counting skills. Praising the book’s brightly colored drawings for bringing “an energetic, fun-filled appearance’ to a simple math lesson, Booklist contributor Denise M. Wilms noted that while “mathematics is the point,” learning basic sums is transformed into something fun through the couple’s colorful concoction.

While many of the Hawkinses’ books have a serious purpose at their core, others are just plain fun. In the lift-the-flap book Boo! Who? someone or something is hiding out of sight in each picture, and perceptive youngsters can try to guess who or what with the clues provided by the book’s creators. “The hiders are all different from what the reader expects ...,” noted a Publishers Weekly contributor, “a ploy that should keep little ones giggling.” The couple also put their unique slant on a traditional nursery rhyme in Old Mother Hubbard, a “romp” that a Publishers Weekly contributor noted “stands out among countless variations” with its lift-the-flap format and silly verses. And school gets the full comic treatment in the Hawkinses’ aptly titled School, as jokes and riddles abound while readers meet a “veritable gallery of school stereotypes from bullies, toadies, and goody-goodies to the all-seeing teacher with eyes in the back of his head,” according to Julie Blaisdale in School Librarian.

Achievements

• Colin Hawkins together with wife, Jacqui Hawkins has created a wide array of unique picture books that appeal to both youngsters and their parents. Often saturating their work with a sense of humor that borders on the impish, the Hawkinses have seduced a legion of young fans with tales of foxes, bears, pigs, and other creatures engaged in all manner of activity. With titles like Greedy Goat, Daft Dog, and Boo! Who?, books by the Hawkinses have been translated into several languages, and have also found their way onto television. The Foxy stories, which are based on the exploits of the couple’s own two children, were developed into an animated series.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Come for a Ride on the Ghost Train

    (As the Ghost Train makes its way through a dark tunnel, a...)

    1993
  • Whose House?

    (Pictures and rhymes depicts the houses of several well-kn...)

    1998
  • Numberlies: Number Nine

    (Number Nine packs nine breakfasts, nine lunches, and nine...)

    1991
  • Snap Anap

    (A great hairy green monster comes out from under Sally's ...)

    1984
  • Max and the Magic Word

    (Max the dog becomes angry when his animal friends refuse ...)

    1986
  • Spooks

    (Describes different types of ghosts and where to spot the...)

    1985
  • I Spy: The Lift-The-Flap ABC Book

    (A silly text and humorous illustrations make an alphabet ...)

    1989
  • Pirate Ship: 9A Pop-Up Adventure

    (A pop-up model of a pirate ship is accompanied by Captain...)

    1994
  • Tog the Dog

    (This rhyming book focuses on a particular vowel sound, bu...)

    1986
  • Here's a Happy Puppy: Finger Wiggle Board Book

    (A board book which features a puppy and has holes cut for...)

    1996
  • Jen the Hen

    (Jen the hen sends a message to Ken and Ben via Wren to me...)

    1985
  • Knock! Knock!

    (The spooky creatures in a haunted house present a variety...)

    1990
  • Old Mother Hubbard (Lift the Flap Book)

    (Old Mother Hubbard runs errand after errand for her remar...)

    1984
  • I'm Not Sleepy

    (The story of a duckling's search for his mummy.)

    1985
  • Mig the Pig 1984
  • Pat the Cat 1983
  • Adding Animals 1983
  • Zug the Bug 1988
  • Witches 1981
  • Takeaway Monsters 1984
  • Mr Wolf's Week 1985
  • Shriek!: A Compendium of Witches, Vampires and Spooks. Witches. Vampires. Spooks 1985
  • Daft Dog 1999
  • Where's My Mummy? 1985
  • Pirates 1987
  • School 1994
  • What's the Time, Mr. Wolf? 1983
  • How to Look After Your Hamster 1995
  • Busy A. B. C. 1987
  • Mr.Wolf's Birthday Surprise 1987
  • Foxy and His Naughty Little Sister 1997
  • Where's Bear? 1986
  • Incy Wincy Spider 1985

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• “Their (Colin and Jacqui Hawkins) whole philosophy is to make books fun," explained Netted; “regardless of educational fashions, this, they believe, is the only way to get kids reading.”

Connections

In 1968 Colin married Jacqui (a writer and illustrator). They have two children, Finbar and Sally.

Spouse:

Jacqui Hawkins

Son:

Finbar Hawkins

Daughter:

Sally Hawkins

References

• Contemporary Authors, Vol. 184
  2000