About the Author

Raymond Briggs was born in Wimbledon Park, South London in 1934. Developing an early interest in illustration, he attended the Wimbledon School of Art at the age of fifteen. After completing a typography course at the Central School of Art, he went on to study at the Slade School of Fine Art. A passionate proponent of the art of the strip cartoon, Briggs has created many of his best-known books in this format. His is a formidable canon of work, beginning in the late 1950s. Several of his books have been made into highly acclaimed animated films. In addition to the Kate Greenaway Medal (for the Mother Goose Treasury and Father Christmas), Briggs has also received the Kurt Maschler Award and the Children's Book of the Year Award (for The Man), the British Book Award's Best Illustrated Book of the Year (for Ethel and Ernest) and the Smarties Silver Prize (for Ug). He lives in Sussex.

Reviews

"A best seller in Britain, this winsome little book is one family's twentieth century, told as a comic strip that fast-forwards through the decades. Briggs's artful rendering of his parents' striving captures the English working class, and as the tale progresses, you find yourself slowly sucked into their daily patter, amused by their cooing voices, impressed by their bravery. At the end, you're hardly prepared for the emotional wallop." --"Time "In the details of Briggs's sparkling cartoons, the characters become richly specific and endearing . . . both pathetic and heroic in the face of overwhelmingevents. [They are] what make you read through Ethel & Ernest over again." --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "New York Times "Ethel & Ernest works brilliantly and artfully as an archetype. It is the author's willingness to frame his love and anguish so piercingly that makes it such a singular piece of work. We should be grateful that Briggs is so brilliantly equipped to remind us of what we u sed to be, and why." --Nick Hornby, "New York Times Book Review "From the Trade Paperback edition.

This wonderful book by noted children's author/illustrator Briggs (The Snowman) is something quite new: the story of his parents' quiet lives, played out against the stirring events of the century, done as a comic strip. Ethel was a rather timid ladies' maid, Ernest a dashing milkman, when they first saw each other in 1928. He swept her off in a whirlwind courtship, and they bought the little London row house where they were to live the rest of their days. In pictures exquisitely attuned to the niceties of English domestic architecture and period clothes, Briggs takes Ethel and Ernest fondly through the decades. He is born, a source of great joy, but it's a difficult birth and Ethel is told she can't have any more children. World War II approaches, and little Raymond is sent off to the country as an evacuee. After the war, Ernest, an ardent Socialist, believes that utopia has arrived, while the more cautious and conservative Ethel keeps bringing him back to earth. Then come the wonders of their first car, the advent of television, Raymond's eventual marriage in the swinging '60s and the aging couple's gradual decline into senility, floowed by their deaths within weeks of each other. The dialogue is heartbreakingly accurate, the pictures cinematic in their conveyance of delight and drama; the whole book is not only a deeply moving testament to "ordinary" folk but a precious piece of social historyÄthe essence of a lower-middle-class English life over seven decades. This was deservedly a bestseller in England and warrants no less here. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Briggs, a children's author, tells the story of his parents in this affecting memoir. Though his parents led simple lives, the adept illustrations and loving portrayal is heartrending and beautiful. A frequent favorite on critics' best graphic novels lists. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.